The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Ja'Lynn Polk.
Ja'Lynn Polk 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS
- Height: 6-foot-3 3/8”
- Weight: 203
- 40-yard dash: 4.52
- 10-yard split: 1.52
- Vertical jump: 37.5"
- Broad jump: 10'9"
- Arm length: 31 3/4”
Ja'Lynn Polk's 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
STRENGTHS
- Location versatile within the offensive formation. Can line up with multiple splits outside and inside.
- Smooth, linear route runner with deceptive vertical separation ability to get out on top of corners.
- Showed excellent body control to make tough catches away from his frame. Has body contortion and extension.
- Made tough contested catches vs. excellent coverage. Made hands catches with high-level concentration.
- Late hands-on fades and vertical routes prevented corners from reacting to the throw. Has fast hands.
- Tracked deep balls with excellent focus. Strong, soft hands to pluck the ball out of the air. Finishes deep catches well.
- Caught the ball easily with a large catch radius. Scheme and position versatile with inside and slot experience.
- Showed some flashes of quickness as route runner and run after catch, but you want to see more.
WEAKNESSES
- Not sudden or explosive in his movement. Too measured and methodical. Needs more burst into stem-routes.
- Unrefined route runner: No QB indicators, too loose and muddled at top of stem. Did not burst out of breaks.
- Tendency to be a little too mechanical as a route runner. Did not show fluidity and suddenness.
- Overall more of a one-speed receiver. Did not show an extra gear with the ball in the air as a vertical receiver.
- Rarely faced press coverage in Washington’s offense, so that will be a question that needs to be answered.
- There will be legitimate questions regarding his ability to separate and win vs. quality man-to-man coverage.
NFL TRANSITION
Polk is a good-sized, strongly-built wide receiver with extensive experience lining up outside and in the slot. His best traits are undoubtedly his hands and ability to make tough catches away from his frame with outstanding body control and contortion.
Polk is one of this class' best 50-50 ball catchers. He has late, strong hands and the control with his body to react and adjust to balls well outside his frame. Polk plays with a physical component to his game, and his toughness to work through and catch through contact stood out on tape. Those are traits that cannot be overstated at the next level. There are some limitations to Polk’s game and some areas he clearly needs to work on.
It starts with the fact that he is not an explosive athlete. His profile is more that of a measured, methodical one-speed receiver who will not present a true vertical dimension. One technique that can be improved with coaching is Polk’s tendency to be a little slow and sluggish with his stem tempo off the ball with free access. The result is that he is not challenging off-coverage corners to get off their spot or turn their bodies.
My sense is there is more to Polk as he continues to develop with his strong foundation of excellent hands and his outstanding ability to make tough contested catches away from his frame. Plus, it is evident from the tape that he plays with a physical edge and can function effectively through contact. The more I watched Polk, the more I thought of Jakobi Meyers, who has become a quality WR. Their height/weight profile is almost identical. Meyers went undrafted after catching 92 passes in his final season at North Carolina State.
Polk can be a higher-level contributor in a well-schemed pass game, and it would not surprise me if he became a volume target depending on the team and the offensive coordinator.
OTHER NOTES
Polk came out of Texas as a three-star recruit, beginning his college career at Texas Tech before transferring to Washington after one season. He played three years at Washington, finishing with an outstanding 2023 season that included 69 catches, 1,159 yards and nine touchdowns.
Polk’s target breakdown in 2023 had 62 targets from the slot and 52 outside. From the slot, Polk recorded 36-521-14.5-3 TDs. Overall, Polk lined up out wide for 317 snaps and had 222 slot snaps.
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