One can argue that no wide receiver in the 2024 NFL Draft class is more unique than Florida State’s Johnny Wilson. With his 1-of-1 build and athletic profile, how does Wilson’s scouting report project to the modern NFL?
Johnny Wilson’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’6 3/8″
- Weight: 231 pounds
- Length: 35 3/8″
- Wingspan: 84 1/2″
- Hand: 10″
- Position: Wide Receiver
- School: Florida State
- Current Year: Redshirt Junior
The word “superlative” can sometimes be used improperly in the NFL Draft process, but there’s no questioning Wilson’s superlative build and athletic profile. It’s something that’s been confirmed at multiple levels.
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From high school — when a 6’6″ Wilson ran a 40-yard dash in the 4.5-second range — to the 2023 offseason — when Wilson was documented by Bruce Feldman as having 36″ arms, a 35.5″ vertical, a 10’5″ broad jump, and a max speed over 21 MPH.
Wilson’s combination of size and speed shouldn’t be legal. After toiling for two years at Arizona State, the former four-star recruit got a chance to put it all on display in Florida State’s offense in 2022.
Emerging as a top receiving threat for Jordan Travis, Wilson caught 43 passes for 897 yards and five touchdowns, averaging over 20 yards per catch and earning second-team All-ACC honors.
In 2023, the emergence of Keon Coleman slightly detracted from Wilson’s target volume, but the looming weapon still maintained a role, accruing 41 catches for 617 yards and two scores.
If in doubt, throw it to 6’7”, 235lbs WR Johnny Wilson in the end zone 🙌
CFB Live Blog: https://t.co/LXPH5p1LDM
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) October 1, 2022
Ultimately, Wilson’s production earned him an invite to the Senior Bowl, where his size and physicality stood out among his peers. Later, at the NFL Combine, he reaffirmed his reputation as an elite athlete, logging a 4.52-second 40-yard dash, a 37″ vertical, a 10’8″ broad jump, and a 4.11-second shuttle time in the 88th percentile among WRs.
There’s still contention surrounding Wilson’s ultimate projection at the NFL level. Is he truly a WR? Does he translate better at TE? Or is he one of the rare weapons that blends the lines between the positions? The answer ultimately lies in the tape.
Wilson’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Outrageously long receiving threat with a dominating frame and wingspan.
- Offers eye-catching explosiveness and initial accelerative capacity for his size.
- Amped-up athlete with excellent stride frequency when attacking vertically.
- Long strides, combined with stride frequency, amount to legitimate deep speed.
- Flashes impressive short-area quickness and cylindrical twitch as a RAC threat.
- Possesses the burst, energy, and physicality to be a venerable vertical RAC weapon.
- Has stalwart contact balance and leg churn and can explode out of tackle attempts.
- Has shown he can catch short RAC targets with diamond technique away from frame.
- Effortlessly elongates and snares high passes and has stellar sideline awareness.
- Adept contortionist who can make extraordinary midair body adjustments for passes.
- Uses intentional eyes to press upfield and can bend into zones while accelerating.
- Has the zone awareness to veer into DB blind spots and use his frame to convert.
- Has enough short-area freedom to snap and swivel around on intermediate curls.
- Length can be overwhelming for defenders at stems, allowing him to pry himself clear.
- Extremely tenacious blocker who understands leverage and dominates with his traits.
Weaknesses
- At his height, naturally lacks high-end sink and hip flexibility as a route runner.
- Has a tendency to play too tall into stems and struggles to transition back to the ball.
- Needs more time to fully decelerate and regain control after retracting his strides.
- Larger frame makes it more difficult to constrict and manipulate DBs on releases.
- Has room to expand his route tree, but linear build and style limit him past verticality.
- Doesn’t quite have elite long speed when stacking and can’t always get separation.
- Size-adjusted agility is solid but doesn’t have elite short-area freedom and suddenness.
- Clap-catches more often than desired and can stand to have his hands tighter.
- Wide hands approaching the catch point cause instability when attempting to secure.
- Can be late to get his hands in the right spot and experiences lapses with timing.
- Can be prone to body-catches when contorting for high-difficulty passes downfield.
- At times, needs more precision when tracking deep passes while tightly covered.
- Is sometimes overzealous with his length and physicality, resorting to push-offs.
- Sometimes plays too lopsided into physical coverage and loses balance as a result.
- Blocking tenacity, while coveted, can lead to a lack of control at times.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Wilson grades out as a fringe top-100 prospect who could go in the mid-to-late Day 2 range, or sneak past the Day 3 boundary. In a deeper WR class, his physical profile and role projection are more confined and specific than others’ — but his upside is undeniable.
At 6’6 3/8″, 231 pounds, with arms over 35″, Wilson is a towering spectacle with dominating size and length. And at that size, he’s an incredibly impressive athlete. He offers quick acceleration off the snap, instant stride elongation, and has the long-strider speed to threaten defenders down the field.
Also threatening is Wilson’s physical profile, both at and after the catch. He can use his frame to box out DBs and his length to supersede all contested threats. He’s a raging bull after the catch with domineering physicality, tenacity, leg churn, and mass — all made more potent by his searing explosiveness out of contact.
As a weapon, Wilson is exciting — and he can be used with versatility, lining up either on the boundary, in the slot, or hugging the line. He also provides additional value as an elite blocking presence. But while Wilson can be easily weaponized, his operational traits draw more uncertainty.
While Wilson is a smart zone separator with good spatial awareness and window IQ, he’s not a natural sinker or an efficient route runner on breaks. His tall, linear makeup largely limits him to hitches, crossers, and vertical concepts. His Senior Bowl showing emphasized his physicality but also put that lack of hip sink under the microscope.
Going further, while much of Wilson’s production comes down the field, his hand technique can be inconsistent. He consistently leaves his hands too wide at the catch point and can be prone to clap-catches, body catches, and drops.
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Wilson’s limited route-running projection and his hands dilute an otherwise enthralling 2024 NFL Draft scouting report. But even with his drawbacks, Wilson can be an exciting dual-sided RAC and deep threat for an NFL offense.
Wilson may project better as a move-TE at the next level. But either as a mismatch-hunting movement-Z WR or as a position-diverse weapon in a rotation, Wilson’s physicality simply overwhelms defenders, and he has the true speed and explosiveness to capitalize as an offensive sparkplug and utility blocker.
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