Wide receiver

LSU

6-3 210

Draft board overall prospect rank: #44

Draft board overall wide receiver rank: #6

Overall rating: 77 (2nd round)

40 time: 4.55

Games watched: LSU/Mississippi State, LSU/Florida, LSU/Alabama, Arkansas/LSU, Georgia/LSU, LSU/Western Kentucky, LSU/Alabama (Part 2)

Positives

·         Great size

·         Physical with cornerbacks

·         A good blocker

·         Reliable hands

·         An end zone threat

·         Pro style experience

·         Solid route runner

·         Played against top competition

·         Good production in conservative offense in 2011 (53 catches for 917 yards and 8 touchdowns)

·         Wide catch radius

·         Good outside receiver

·         Tough to tackle

·         Solid speed for his size

·         Flashes elite abilities

Negatives

·         Only one season of strong production

·         Never had elite production

·         Really struggled against Dre Kirkpatrick in their 2 matchups (5 catches for 32 yards)

·         Incredibly inconsistent (7 games of 3 catches or fewer in 2011)

·         Still raw

·         Not smooth out of breaks

·         Lacks top end speed

NFL Comparison: Brandon LaFell

A prospect getting some late 1^st round buzz is Reuben Randle. The big 6-3 receiver has good size and speed and had good production even in a conservative offense at LSU last season. He certainly looks like a first round talent at times, but after watching a lot of LSU’s games, it’s clear that he’s incredibly inconsistent. There are some games like the Arkansas game where he is incredibly dominant. Randle caught 9 passes for 132 yards in that game, over 50% of his team’s aerial production.

However, he also had 7 games where he had 3 or fewer catches. Some of this has to do with the inconsistencies of quarterbacks Jordan Jefferson and Jarret Lee, but some of it was also his fault. Against Georgia, Randle really struggled against Brandon Boykin, a much smaller cornerback. The 5-9 Boykin is a good player who is expected to go in the 2^nd or 3^rd round, but it was a matchup he should have won and he didn’t.

Jordan Jefferson played awful in that game, but Boykin blanketed Randle, holding him to 2 catches for 15 yards. He was targeted early and often, but he just wasn’t open. The smaller cornerback was in better position all night and timed his leaps better, getting 2 pass deflections. Randle also really struggled against Alabama’s Dre Kirkpatrick, combing for 5 catches for 32 yards in 2 games this season against Alabama.

Randle compares to another former LSU wide receiver, Brandon LaFell. LaFell is a big receiver and a good blocker like Randle and had good production in LSU’s conservative offense. There was a time when LaFell had some first round buzz, but he eventually went in the 3^rd round. He’s now a solid, but unspectacular #2 receiver in Carolina. In just his 2nd season, he had 36 catches for 613 yards and 3 touchdowns in 2011.

Randle figures to go in the 2^nd round, with an outside shot at the end of the 1^st round if there’s a run of receivers. Either way, he figures to be the 5^th wide receiver off the board behind Justin Blackmon, Michael Floyd, Kendall Wright, and Stephen Hill. That puts him securely in the top 40 picks. Options for him include Houston (26), New England (27 or 31), St. Louis (33 or 39), Indianapolis (34), Minnesota (35), Cleveland (37), and Jacksonville (38).