Garrett Wilson profile: Why the New York Jets drafted the WR in the NFL Draft
With the 10th pick in the 1st round of the NFL Draft the New York Jets selected wide receiver Garrett Wilson. Here's what we know about the player.
Garrett Wilson's Strengths:
The number two wide receiver recruit in 2019, Wilson caught 73 passes for 1115 yards and 11 touchdowns through his first 21 games with the Buckeyes. He followed that up by putting up career-highs in 2021, with 74 touches for 1,134 yards and 13 touchdowns in 11 contests, which earned him second-team All-American honors. He played a big role in Ohio State going to the National title game in 2020 and helped make first-year starter C.J. Stroud a Heisman finalist.
Wilson excels at using route-stems and the eyes of defenders against them. He makes the guy across from him impatient a lot by drumming the arms and stuttering his feet before committing to his release. He can be very deceptive with his body-language and get DBs turned the wrong way, to beat them across their face, especially with leaning or slightly drifting that direction.
He did so beautifully in the 2021 season-opener against Minnesota on sort of a corner-post route for a long touchdown. Another one that comes to mind is a big gain on a corner route versus Penn State in 2020, where he got matched up against a safety as the number three in trips. On that one and others, he fools everyone as they watch the end-zone angle. When he has space to approach defenders and set them up as a route-runner, you see those guys chase their tail a lot. And his 4.38 in the 40 at the combine will shut some people up, who thought he wasn’t fast.
Wilson consistently catches the ball away from his body. He displays elite body control and adjusts to the ball in the air exceptionally well, hauling in some big-time catches down the field. You see it especially along the sideline, where his big paws really swallow the ball and he actively taps his feet in bounds.
Wilson displays great concentration with somebody at his hip, to not let the picture be disrupted and tuck the ball in instantly. When defenders try to slow him down, he lands strong swipes, to not let that affect him a whole lot. Yet even when there is contact as he extends, he’s strong like an ox with holding onto that ball. Nobody in this class has a highlight reel quite like Wilson, in terms of the combination of making DBs look foolish as he breaks off routes and also making them look small, when he elevates for the ball.
Wilson has some crazy ability to stop and start with the ball in his hands, considering how big he can play in other areas. He does a great job of using body language and subtle nods to set up blocks by teammates and get defenders on the wrong side of those. He has those hop-steps and hesitation moves that make defenders operate on suspicion, along with some nasty jukes.
What really stands out is how violent he is with the ball in his hands. He lands some absolutely devastating stiff-arms, right on the face-mask of defenders, and forced a missed tackle on more than every fourth pass he caught (27.1%). Wilson also does a great job of breaking down in space as a blocker and keeping his feet moving. At the same time he knows when to let go, in order to avoid holding penalties.
Garrett Wilson's Weaknesses:
Even though I believe he plays bigger than that, measuring in at six-foot flat and 183 pounds is not a glowing endorsement for Wilson as an outside receiver in the NFL.
His lack of size becomes challenging when dealing with contact at the line of scrimmage at times. We saw him have issues to cleanly stem him routes against longer corners in press-alignment. As fun as it is to watch him route guys up, his exhaustive set-up of patterns won’t really fly like that in a timing-based NFL passing attack.
Wilson has a tendency of bringing his pinkies outside late instead of keeping that static hand position, where he can just grab it. The best indication of that is that over-the-shoulder catch he wasn’t able to haul in versus Minnesota last season.
Conclusion on Garrett Wilson:
There’s only so many receivers who you can throw jump-balls up to, but then also hand the ball to on jet sweeps. Wilson gets the job done with both. However, he may just be the toughest guy to guard in this entire class. When defenders sit back on him and he has them at his mercy, as a route-runner.
Unfortunately, the lack of play strength without the ball and answers for press-coverage lessens that trump card of his, compared to the physical dominance from USC’s Drake London or the blazing speed of Jameson Williams.
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