Drake London profile: Why the Atlanta Falcons drafted the wide receiver in the 2022 NFL Draft
The Atlanta Falcons picked Drake London with the eighth pick in the 2022 NFL draft.
A four-star recruit in 2019, London came to USC as an all-state football and basketball player and dressed up for the Trojans on the court for a few games. He was primarily used as a big slot receiver until 2021, when he fully committed to football and transitioned more to the outside. Through his first 14 games (two years), London hauled in 72 passes for 1,069 yards and eight touchdowns.
He surpassed those numbers in just eight games last season (88-1084-7), before getting knocked out with a fractured ankle.
Drake London's strengths
This dude looks more like a tight-end out there, and he was deployed that way, often lining up as a detached number three in trips. However, he proved that he has enough juice to consistently win on the outside in 2021.
London doesn’t need much of a runway to get into his routes and threatens vertically off the snap. His basketball background is apparent when he’s setting up quick routes, where it looks like he’s doing a quick shuffle and then makes a baseline cut, such as on flat routes/screens. And you can watch him defeat inside shades cleanly with quick feet and that burst out of V-releases.
However, when he is stemming downfield, he can break off or bend his routes without having to slow down a whole lot. He understands how to set up defenders and beat them across their face with body-language and footwork, as well as widening his path on curl routes against sinking defenders, forcing them to pivot around by more than 180 degrees.
When working out of the slot, London fluidly was able to tilt away from contact against seam/hook zone defenders. Yet, at the same time he's able to run over guys, who got in his path as well.
London was nearly impossible to stop on quick in-breakers and spot routes from those inside alignments because defenders weren’t able to reach around him even if they got there on time. He displays excellent concentration, to make catches through contact and stay focused in crowded throwing windows. And he has no issues, despite his height, with plucking underthrown passes off the turf.
London led the nation in contested catches last season with 19, despite appearing in only nine games. He showcases an innate feel for working the scramble drill and running himself open. And once again, his experience on the court, to get that late position for the rebound or box guys out, so to speak, can really shine.
In 2020, he ran a lot of deeper routes over the middle on longer downs because he got safeties to back up with attacking vertically in the first place. He was also able to make a play on the ball with bodies in the area.
The USC wide receiver shows good awareness for where defenders nearby are when he turns his back to them, and he immediately gets vertical after the catch. He is a tank with the ball in his hands. He been seen punching at the chest of a defender and riding him for several yards, and even when he’s tripped up, he can carve out some extra yardage, as he kind of stumbles forward.
London makes a lot of those smaller DBs look like kids, trying to wrestle him down. Against UCLA in 2020, he pretty much carried four or five defenders for the last 15 yards, to get into the end-zone. The Trojans threw him plenty of quick screens, but they even got him involved on some fly sweeps.
Against Utah in ’21, they threw him about ten different variations of screen passes, and he seemingly made something happen every single time. Last season, he had one yard more after contact than Arkansas’ Treylon Burks, who played the whole year and is looked at as arguably the premiere YAC threat.
London brings passion and pride as a blocker. There’s some force behind his punch. He keeps those legs driving, and they help him to bury some linebackers. I like how he gives his teammates a clear indication of where to go and shields defenders from the play by establishing proper position early. And he likes to get involved into the action late, where he helps push the pile and drive the ball-carrier forward.
London was actually put inside to seal edge defenders and spring his running back out to the sideline a few times. I mean, they had him sift behind the O-line and kick out edge defenders on split runs a couple of times. That’s all you really need to know here.
Drake London's weaknesses
On the negative side, London doesn’t have great explosion out of his breaks or that extra gear to actually pull away from defenders on routes down the field. There were a bunch of fades on tape, where corners were able to stay stride-for-stride with him, even if he wasn’t really the designated target.
You saw London drop more passes than you’d like when he has to chop his steps a little bit, and he lacks the focus to frame the ball before his eyes transition downfield. Overall, he had eight of 96 catchable passes slip through his hands this past season. And then, of course, having had ankle surgery, there are no exact medicals and there are no combine numbers on him.
Conclusion on Drake London
I know a lot of people don’t love these tall, prototype X-receiver body types because of how many guys with that athletic profile we’ve seen struggle to separate at the next level. However, London has the loose lower half and body control to win as a route-runner. He’s a problem to bring to the turf, and his blocking is at an A+ level.
He won’t necessarily be somebody who scares defenses with just running by people. Because of how dominant he is in contested situations, his quarterback can still lay it up there for him when working down the sideline or seams. He can only get better now that his full focus will be on football.
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