Hey all, we're finally at the final part of my 2024 receiver evaluations and rankings! We'll finish this with my receiver 44-50. If you want to check out part one, part two, and part three, you can find them with the links below:
Part 1: https://fftradingroom.com/427/Top-5-2024-Dynasty-Rookie-Wide-Receivers-with-Detailed-Evaluations-&-Player-Comps
Part 2: https://fftradingroom.com/436/2024-Dynasty-Rookie-Wide-Receiver-Rankings-(6-10)-with-Detailed-Evaluations-&-Player-Comps
Part 3: https://fftradingroom.com/444/2024-Dynasty-Rookie-Wide-Receiver-Rankings-(11-16)-with-Detailed-Evaluations-&-Player-Comps
So, let's finish these rankings and thank you to all that followed along the way!
Tre Mosley, Michigan State (WR44)
Height: 6’1”; Weight: 196 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 22 years and 7 months
Class: RS Senior
Overall Grade: 1.96/4 (Likely Not Worthy Rostering)
Comp: Malachi Dupre
Hands: B
Route Running: C-
Release: C-
Yards After Catch Potential: F+
Jump Ball/Contested Catch: B+
Body Control/Ball Tracking: B+
Future role: C-
RAS: D-
Strengths:
Tre Mosley stepped into the 2023 season expected to be the top receiver for Michigan State and potentially follow a similar path as Jayden Reed. Unfortunately, Mosley was injured near the end of the year and Michigan State’s poor passing offense did him no favors. Despite the poor passing attack, Mosley can overcome off-target throws by contorting his body to misplaced throws. Mosley showed he can routinely rise up and go low for balls while also having good focus with his feet around the sidelines.
Not only can Tre Mosley rise for balls, but he can also rise through defenders and finish catches even if he is draped by defenders. Mosley also does a good job quickly securing the ball to finish the catch. Though Mosley isn’t a great route runner as his grade indicates, he has some nice touches with decent use of tempo in his routes, getting consistent leverage, and a good eye for zone coverage layering to find openings for the quarterback. Also, though Mosley isn’t very dynamic with the ball in his hands, he has good vision and follows his blocks to pick up what he can on the ground.
Areas of Improvement:
Tre Mosley’s route running and separation are going to need to improve if he wants a serious shot at an NFL roster. Mosley doesn’t have a great way to get defenders out of his hip pocket and needs to rely on winning jump balls. Mosley’s cuts are also very rounded and typically need extra steps if he tries to make tighter cuts. Mosley also lacks nuance in his routes with little to no head fakes and jab steps.
Though Mosley is capable of surviving press, he is a bit too willing to absorb contact without using moves to beat it cleanly. Also, Mosley has solid hands and generally used good hand technique, but he also had a few focus drops to clean up and seemed to have too late of hands needing to resort to trapping the ball with his body at times. Mosley also just doesn’t provide much in YAC situations with his slow acceleration and just seems too lumbering in space with his lack of long speed. Finally, Mosley is a willing blocker but a rather ineffective one due to poor form.
Conclusion:
Tre Mosley would be a lot more exciting as a jump ball specialist if he was taller. However, at 6’1” and lacking explosiveness and athleticism just makes it hard to get that invested in him. Due to neither having great athleticism and both having their share of struggles as route runners and getting separation, I have Malachi Dupre as Mosley’s comp. Dupre bounced around a lot but struggled to stick with a team due to not being able to provide much over other replacement options and I have concerns Mosley could have the same fate.
Sam Pinckney, Coastal Carolina (WR45)
Height: 6’3”; Weight: 209 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 24 years and 6 months
Class: RS Fifth-Year Senior
Overall Grade: 1.83/4 (Likely Not Worth Rostering)
Comp: Antonio Gandy-Golden
Hands: B
Route Running: D
Release: D-
Yards After Catch Potential: D+
Jump Ball/Contested Catch: B+
Body Control/Ball Tracking: A-
Future role: C-
RAS: F
Strengths:
The first thing that will jump out when watching Sam Pinckney is literally his jumping and jump ball skills. Pinckney has great ball tracking skills on lofted balls and can contort to back shoulder fades and misplaced balls. There were times where it felt like if a ball was in Pickney’s vicinity, he could make a play on it. Pinckney also showed that he can finish catches over his shoulder and had good foot awareness around the sidelines.
Sam Pinckney can snatch balls out of the air and quickly secures them to increase his success in 50/50 ball and contested catch situations. Pinckney also plays with late hands to give defenders less of a chance to make a play on the ball. Pinckney does a good job working back the quarterback to make him an even friendlier target for the quarterback.
Areas of Improvement:
Where I really lose Sam Pinckney is his athleticism and separation. Pinckney just can’t separate in his routes and really struggles to get defenders out of his hip pocket. Pickney also ran a limited route tree from my watch and had sloppy cuts that needed a lot of extra steps to execute. Pinckney can stack defenders, but struggles so much with physical coverage and press that he will often lose his balance more often than he can stack his corner.
Speaking of press, Sam Pinckney is going to have to figure out a way to beat press if he wants to become a jump ball specialist. Pinckney doesn’t have a reliable way to beat press at this time and sometimes just drives his body into corners to run through them with limited success. Pinckney also doesn’t always have his hands ready and opens himself up to some strong jabs from corners. Honestly Pinckney has suboptimal and sometimes just absolutely no arm counters at times.
Sam Pinckney wasn’t punished for it, but he also had some shaky hand technique with a number of clap attacks and double clutches. Pinckney can also be a bit too patient or have delayed attacks with his hands allowing the defense to make a play on the ball. Pinckney can also work to improve his body positioning on 50/50 balls to make these attempts easier for himself. Finally, Pinckney offers very little after the catch due to having poor acceleration, little straight-line speed, and not looking like a fluid runner.
Conclusion:
Maybe Sam Pinckney makes it as a jump ball specialist, but I have a hard time seeing a team willing to give a 6’3” receiver with a 4.75 40, poor success against press, and poor separation skills a serious shot. Stranger things have happened, but I think Pinckney needs to at the very least greatly improve his release skills for a serious shot at playing time. Due to both being good jump ball specialists, coming from smaller schools, and difficulties separating and against press, I have Antonio Gandy-Golden as Pinckney’s comp. Gandy-Golden was pushed out of the league due to never making the improvements needed so hopefully Pinckney can find a way to overcome his current deficits.
Phoenix Sproles, James Madison (WR46)
Height: 5’11”; Weight: 193 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 21 years and 8 months
Class: Sixth-Year Senior
Overall Grade:
Comp: Kendall Hinton
Hands: B
Route Running: D+
Release: D
Yards After Catch Potential: C+
Jump Ball/Contested Catch: C-
Body Control/Ball Tracking: B-
Future role: D+
RAS: D+
Strengths:
Phoenix Sproles is a solid, rather unexciting player. Sproles has some solid vision to follow blocks and a decent transition to get moving downfield on screens in a hurry. Sproles also has some nice shiftiness to give him a chance to make defenders miss.
Phoenix Sproles also has some solid hands and generally catches the ball away from his body. Sproles also showed that he can catch the ball away from his frame and also finish catches downfield over his shoulder. Sproles also seemed to do a decent job stacking defenders when he ran vertical routes and ran a fair number of diverse routes. Finally, Sproles was a productive returner which could earn him a roster spot with a team.
Areas of Improvement:
As I mentioned, Phoenix Sproles is a solid player but just lacks the athleticism to make him that interesting. I’m not sure if Sproles realizes he lacks top-end athleticism and thought he’s actually named Darren Sproles. There were too many times when he got too fancy trying to make defenders miss and allowed other pursuing defenders to catch up. Unfortunately, Phoenix Sproles just isn’t that dynamic, lacking both long speed and good acceleration to earn a consistent role as a YAC guy in the NFL.
Phoenix Sproles’ route running needs some serious work as well. Sproles struggles to create separation with defenders due to a lack of tempo and nuance in his routes. Sproles does have some flashes of using a nice stutter step against defenders, but he is too often rushing his routes with rounded cuts. Also, Sproles struggled with physical coverage and with identifying holes against zone coverage.
While Phoenix Sproles had reliable hands, he had lapses in hand technique when the ball was lower than his number and in general seemed like he had a hard time getting a read on balls on balls this low. There were also a number of times when he had to trap balls below his number to his body and went down to the ground, limiting YAC opportunities. Sproles also played nearly exclusively from slot and will struggle against NFL press and will need to work on his hand strength due to difficulties finishing catches in traffic.
Conclusion:
I could see a clearer path for Phoenix Sproles if he had amazing testing numbers but it’s hard to see a clear path to relevancy at this time. Due to both being projects entering the NFL, I have Kendall Hinton as Sproles’ comp. Hinton converted from quarterback to receiver but needed to learn polish and nuance to route running like Sproles needs. Hinton had some moments of playing time and maybe Sproles can also find his way to the field.
Lideatrick Griffin, Mississippi State (WR47)
Height: 5’10”; Weight: 181 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 23 years and 3 months
Class: Senior
Overall Grade: 1.83 (Likely Not Worth Rostering)
Comp: Ray-Ray McCloud
Hands: C-
Route Running: D+
Release: D
Yards After Catch Potential: B+
Jump Ball/Contested Catch: C+
Body Control/Ball Tracking: B-
Future role: D+
RAS: C
Strengths:
I know this is supposed to be the strengths section but I need to lead off by saying that Lideatrick Griffin is such a frustrating player. Griffin is a YAC specialist and brings his kickoff return vision to the receiver position. Griffin is great at identifying cutback opportunities and even hugging his blocks well. I was also surprised by the curvilinear movements Griffin has to easily move upfield while following his blocks.
Lideatrick Griffin can also show some tough hands and though he didn’t have a lot of opportunities, converted a high number of his contested catch targets this year per PFF. When Griffin focuses, he catches the ball with good hand technique. Finally, Griffin showed some flashes of good body adjustments being able to adjust to balls behind him.
Areas of Improvement:
However, this is where the frustrations begin. I admittedly don’t have a great eye for it and I try to give players the benefit of the doubt. However, the effort Lideatrick Griffin plays with is just depressing at times.
Lideatrick Griffin looks lackadaisical as a ball catcher and route runner which led to a number of focus drops and sloppy route running. Griffin already ran a limited route tree but his cuts are very rounded and his routes lack tempo and nuance to present any real threat to the defense. Griffin also doesn’t do a great job driving into his breaks and struggles to establish leverage.
Lideatrick Griffin is too reliant on body catches and isn’t effective at catching balls away from his frame. There were also a number of moments where Griffin seemed to misjudge balls and missed catches that he should have made. Griffin was also moved to slot this year to help protect him from press and I feel this will be necessary in the NFL. With the ball in his hands, Griffin lacks explosiveness in his cuts and movements to make him a more interesting YAC player.
Conclusion:
I don’t like to be this harsh in my evals, but I couldn’t complete Ledeatrick Griffin’s eval without getting this frustrated. Obviously, I’m not an NFL scout, but if I’m getting this frustrated, I can only imagine how frustrating this would be to watch as part of your job. It isn’t due to an effort comp, but due to both being unpolished players with solid return contributions, I have Ray-Ray McCloud as Griffin’s comp. McCloud earned roster spots with his return skills and gadget ability and I think this will be Griffin’s only chance at an NFL roster at this time.
Tayvion Robinson, Kentucky (WR48)
Height: 5’10”; Weight: 191 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 23 years and 6 months
Class: Fifth-Year Senior
