The 2024 NFL Draft is here, 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 Johnny Wilson.
Johnny Wilson's 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS
- Height: 6-foot-6 3/8
- Weight: 231
- Arm length: 35 3/8"
- 40-yard dash: 4.63
- 10-yard split: 1.59
- Vertical jump: 37"
- Broad jump: 10'8"
Johnny Wilson 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
STRENGTHS
- Rare size for a wide receiver with plus athleticism and movement. Strong size, length, athleticism and hand profile.
- Stride length led to plus play speed that was a foundational part of his game, especially with free access off the line of scrimmage.
- Worked the middle of the field effectively, with his big body and wide catching radius. Caught the ball well on the move.
- Showed short-area quickness to separate at the top of the route stem. Understood how to use his vertical stem.
- Defeated press coverage with physicality and a quick burst to get on top of and stack corners on vertical routes.
- Strong in two important areas: Red zone and contested catches on fades. Showed great body control and hands to win.
- Showed outstanding run-after-catch ability, with competitiveness and physicality to power through contact.
- In 2023, he flashed back shoulder and contested catch ability, which must be a foundation of his game at the next level.
- Elite catch radius, along with rare height and length profile, made him difficult to cover for corners on the outside.
- At times, he showed outstanding short-area quickness in and out of breaks for a receiver of his size.
- There were snaps where he beat press man with short-area quickness, then showed the stride length and accelerating speed to win vertically.
WEAKNESSES
- Does not possess the desired straight-line speed to run away from coverage on vertical routes and in run-after-catch situations.
- Too many drops on routine catches. That must be cleaned up as he continues to develop and mature.
- In 2023, his hands continued to be an issue — too many drops on routine catches and let the ball get too close to his body.
- Struggled to catch the ball when he had to extend his arms away from his frame. A big concern going forward.
- Hands issues really showed up on contested catch opportunities down the field. Let the ball get into his body.
- Did not make the kinds of contested catches he needs to make given his outstanding height and hand size.
- While smooth for his size, does not possess sudden or explosive movement. Does not change tempo and speed.
- At this point, will struggle to separate versus quality NFL man coverage. Must develop more route refinement.
NFL TRANSITION
Wilson is a different evaluation and projection to the NFL based on his rare size, arm length and wingspan for the position. But his traits profile is that of a smaller wide receiver. What immediately stood out with Wilson as you watch all of his pass targets from 2022 and 2023 is that his hands are so inconsistent. This is evident on routine catches and the kinds of contested catches that must be a foundation of his game given his height, length, wingspan and hand size.
There were big time flashes of Wilson making outstanding catches with his long arms extended away from his frame. But there were far too many times he dropped routine throws or did not complete the kinds of contested catches that he needs to given his physical traits.
Ultimately, Wilson did not impose his rare physical traits on corners often enough, resulting in a disappointing contested catch rate. Wilson consistently showed great movement traits, with deceptive quickness, balance and the fluidity of a smaller receiver. That makes him one of the most intriguing wide receiver prospects in the draft.
The larger question is whether or not teams will see him as a wide receiver. Could some teams even see them as a boundary X? Or will teams view him as more of a specific package receiver who fits a receiving tight-end profile regarding formation alignment and route concepts?
Even though Wilson lined up almost exclusively on the outside the last two seasons at Florida State, there may be more of a Marques Colston feel to his game working closer to the formation as a tighter slot receiver.
OTHER NOTES
Wilson played two years at Florida State after transferring from Arizona State where he began his college career. He came out of California as a four-star recruit and a top 10 wide receiver prospect in the nation.
In 2022, Wilson was the X-receiver in the FSU offense with significant snaps to the boundary on the back side of trips, only 15 of Wilson’s 80 targets came in the slot. Wilson was almost exclusively an outside receiver, except for the snaps that Florida State was in empty formations. On those snaps, Wilson lined up in the slot to twins at times.
In 2023, Wilson was almost exclusively an outside receiver with snaps in the slot when Florida State lined up in empty formations — only 24 snaps in the slot.
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