2025 NFL Draft Wide Receiver Scouting Report (Part 6) - Jordan Watkins, Josh Kelly, Kaden Prather, KeAndre Lambert-Smith, and Kobe Hudson
Hey all,
Back with another part of the WR Scouting Series! For part 6, I’ll be doing in-depth evals of Jordan Watkins, Josh Kelly, Kaden Prather, KeAndre Lambert-Smith, and Kobe Hudson.
As usual, I have a video and Spotify/Audio-only option below if anyone prefers to watch/listen to the eval.
Video Link:
Spotify/Audio-Only Link:
Jordan Watkins, Ole Miss
Height: 5’11”; Weight: 196 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 23 years and 2 months
Class: Fifth-Year Senior
Overall Grade: 2.37/4 (Needs Improvement to Contribute)
2024 Stats:
Receiving: 68 targets; 49 receptions; 906 yards; 9 touchdowns
Drops: 2 (Drop Rate: 3.9%)
Snap Distribution: Wide (77.9%); Slot (22.3%)
Hands: C
Route Running: C-
Release: D+
Yards After Catch Potential: B
Jump Ball/Contested Catch: B+
Body Control/Ball Tracking: C+
Future role: C
RAS: B+
Strengths:
Good use of body to box out defenders
Good results in contested catch situations
Good contact balance after the catch
Good vision after catch and on returns
Versatility
Areas of Improvement:
Doesn’t extend arms on catches enough
Limited route runner
Inconsistent separator against man coverage
Ineffective release
Stiff with change in direction
Comp: Chad Williams
While his teammate Tre Harris received most of the attention during the season, Watkins made an impact of his own by finishing with nearly 1000 receiving yards and had 9 touchdowns for the season. His straight-line speed stood out in yards after the catch situations. His fluid transition upfield after the catch also stood out and let him quickly get up to full speed. He also runs with good vision and pad level to help survive arm tackles. His strength also shows in his release as he can often power through the contact in his release to try to stay on his route path. His speed also helps him stack defenders and then finish the vertical play thanks to being able to finish catches over his shoulders. He even shows awareness around the sidelines to make some difficult catches. In addition to finishing some difficult catches, he makes passes easier for himself and the quarterback by working back to the quarterback. When he’s doing this, he also does a good job boxing out the defender to let him swallow the ball with his body. It isn’t always the prettiest process, but it often leads to him being successful in contested catch situations with a success rate of 55.56% this year and 45.9% for his career. Also, despite not being the prettiest route runner, he has a good eye spotting openings against zone coverage and making himself a ready target for the quarterback. Finally he offers a lot of versatility to be used anywhere in the formation. He has experience playing out wide, in the slot, being moved in motion, and even in the backfield.
Despite that versatility, there aren’t a lot of singular things that Watkins does well. Starting with his route running, it’s rough with little to no nuance in his routes. He also typically will round his cuts and has little explosion in the cuts he does try to make. Those issues led to infrequent separation. His hands also scare me. He doesn’t look that comfortable making catches away from his frame and can sometimes mistime his hands potentially due to a ball tracking issue. That led to him either unnecessarily body catching balls or making awkward approaches at the ball. For the attacks that he tried to make with his hands and not his body, he often lacked full arm extension which could lead to more incompletions in college. His release also is pretty ineffective and has suboptimal arm use. He often doesn’t use his arms enough to clear contact which caused issues establishing leverage and affected his separation. Unfortunately, his feet aren’t quick enough to slip past defenders and he has far too limited of a release package to be able to trick defenders. Speaking of feet or movement skills, he is a pretty stiff athlete with some difficulties quickly changing direction which made it hard for him to make defenders miss. Also, he seemed pretty uncreative in open space and often just tried to run past defenders. Finally, it is worth noting that nearly a third of his season receptions, about a half of his receiving yards, and nearly all his touchdowns came in just two games against Duke and Arkansas. He wasn’t terrible in the other games. However, he was pretty pedestrian from a productivity standpoint.
I was curious to see if Watkins would impress me on a deeper dive after stepping up after Tre Harris missed time. Unfortunately, I’m whelmed at best and feel like he just doesn’t have the ball skills, technique, or fluidity to be a consistent contributor for an NFL offense. As for a comp, I have Chad Williams as his comp. Both are developmental players but had their moments of big games. Also, both are tough to bring down after the catch. However, both have serious deficits in their route running and release which will limit them in the NFL. Also, both are stiff athletes which limits their playmaking ability. Williams was pretty unproductive as an NFL player and I have a bad feeling Wakins could be too. There’s just a lot of holes in his game that a good 40-time can’t fix.
Josh Kelly, Texas Tech
Height: 6’1”; Weight: 186 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 24 years and 9 months
Class: Sixth-Year Senior
Overall Grade: 2.37/4 (Needs Improvement to Contribute)
2024 Stats:
Receiving: 123 targets; 89 receptions; 1023 yards; 5 touchdowns
Drops: 6 (6.3%)
Snap Distribution: Wide (8.3%); Slot (91.7%)
Hands: A-
Route Running: B
Release: D+
Yards After Catch Potential: C+
Jump Ball/Contested Catch: B
Body Control/Ball Tracking: A-
Future role: C
RAS: F
Strengths:
Great ball skills
Great cuts in routes
Really good nuance in routes
Well-timed cuts to make defenders miss
Great effort as a blocker
Areas of Improvement:
Potentially limited route tree
Cuts have limited explosiveness
Really struggles with physicality in routes and release
Thin frame which doesn’t stay up after hits
Vertical speed severely lacking
Comp: K.J. Hill
I admittedly didn’t pay too much attention to the Texas Tech receivers when I watched them this year as I was more focused on running back Tahj Brooks. After the combine, I really didn’t feel a huge desire to watch Josh Kelly after a poor athletic testing performance including a 4.7 40-yard dash. Now that I got a chance to do a closer watch for him, call me a fan. I was extremely impressed by the polish he brings to his route running. He’s a smooth operator and always looks in control in his underneath routes. He has efficient footwork to set up his defender and cross him over with his clean cuts. He brings great timing with his cuts and good use of fakes to get his defender to bite. His tempo also is crucial in his ability to win on his routes since it helps him mask his lack of great speed. All of those great skills help him quickly establish leverage and get consistent separation underneath. On top of that, he also has a great eye for openings against zone coverage and is very quick at identifying when to cut off his route to stop himself from running into a defender. He also has very good hands as he consistently catches the ball with good hand technique and away from his body. He also uses late hands and works back to the quarterback to make it more difficult for the defenders to make a play on the ball. The adjustments he can make to throws and the good timing he has in his ball attacks also make things harder on defenders. He has a great “ball is mine” mentality with the attacks he makes. He’s also fearless in the middle of the field and will go for a catch regardless of incoming defenders. He also has good timing with his cuts to force more missed tackles than he should be able to at his size and without great athleticism. He also has a quick transition to turn upfield and be ready for defenders. That ability to be ready for defenders pairs well with his great vision as he’s able to accurately read his blocks and take the best course to get the most out of his opportunities. He also shows great effort as a blocker as you can consistently find him holding his block downfield for his teammates. He blocks with active feet, a good base, and well-placed hands to help hold up for a fair amount of time.
So there’s a lot that makes me excited about Kelly and I would love to have him as one of my sleepers. However, it’s hard to look past his physical limitations. Starting with his frame, it caused a lot of issues in his separation downfield. Defenders could very easily shut him down by getting their hands on him on routes past the sticks or in his release. That led to the majority of his targets being behind the sticks which we can see with his low ADOT of 7.3 in 2024. He needs to have more proactive arm counters to keep himself clean since it was just way too easy for defenders to stop him. In addition to physicality impacting his route success, his cuts lacked explosiveness which reduced his separation at times. Also, he ran a somewhat limited route tree this year which makes it a bit harder to trust him running that good of routes from a fully developed tree. His limited athletic ability also will take a lot of shine off of him and his after the catch ability. He is severely lacking top speed and was frequently caught from behind. Also, he typically goes down to first contact which further limits his impact in these situations. Finally, while he is a mostly solid blocker, he needs to get better leverage to ensure he can seal a block against bigger, better defenders in the NFL.
If Josh Kelly was even just an average athlete, I would be willing to buy into him being successful in the NFL and an underrated prospect. However, the lack of athleticism is tough and the difficulties dealing with physicality make him extremely limited. I think he could be a very good underneath slot player but those are less useful in the NFL than they are in college. As for a comp, I have K.J. Hill as his comp. Both are quality route runners who bring crisp cuts and nuance to their routes. Also, both have great hands and aren’t afraid to work in the middle of the field. However, both are lacking athletes which could bite them more in the NFL. Also, both can struggle with physical coverage which makes things even more dire for them. Hill had a short stint in the NFL but failed to make much of an impression leading him to enter the Canadian Football League. I’m not sure if Kelly would go the CFL route, but I do think he could have a hard time sticking with a team if he doesn’t at the very least improve the way he survives contact on his routes.
Kaden Prather, Maryland
Height: 6’4”; Weight: 204 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 22 years and 7 months
Class: Senior
Overall Grade: 2.42/4 (Needs Improvement to Contribute)
2024 Stats:
Receiving: 87 targets; 56 receptions; 624 yards; 4 touchdowns
Drops: 1 (Drop Rate: 1.8%)
Snap Distribution: Wide (91.5%); Slot (8.5%)
Hands: B
Route Running: C
Release: D+
Yards After Catch Potential: C
Jump Ball/Contested Catch: B
Body Control/Ball Tracking: B+
Future role: C+
RAS: C+
Strengths:
Improved hands
Impressive body adjustment skills
Huge catch radius
Good vision after the catch
Quality blocker
Areas of Improvement:
Limited route tree
Can be throw himself off balance in cuts
Minimal release package
Limited wiggle after the catch
Disappointing vertical ability
Comp: Racey McMath
Kaden Prather is a player I was really excited to see how he performed this year since he has traits that could help him develop into a starting receiver for the NFL. He definitely had some deficits he needed to work on but he improved one of the biggest issues which was his hands. Prior to this season, he never had less than a 10.3% drop rate. For 2024, he cut that all the way down to 1.8%, or just one drop on 87 targets. That is really hard to do and deserves a lot of praise. That improvement helped him seem much more confident in his hands and ball tracking. That also made me more excited when he went for a tough catch instead of nervous to see if he would blow it with his hands. He already has a big catch radius due to his size but his ability to make impressive body adjustments makes it nearly unguardable at times. He’s capable of going high or low which gives the quarterback room for error or room to be aggressive. Quarterbacks can even be aggressive around the sidelines since he has great sideline awareness. As a route runner, he shows some use of nuance in his route running with stem and head fakes. The more impressive thing is that his cuts got a lot cleaner and crisp which is a good development. After making the catch, he has good vision to follow his blocks. Finally, he is a good blocker who understands the need to still get leverage at this size. He does a good job bending his knees to get leverage but also gets square and sets a good base to give some quality blocks.
As much as he has been an interesting player for me to watch, he still isn’t quite there in his development and particularly as a route runner. He will try to use nuance but it has varying success and his routes are still too easy to read at times. His routes can also be easy to read due to running a limited route tree. While he could make some sharp cuts in the routes he ran, he could sometimes throw himself a bit off balance due to still finding his footwork. He also can get thrown off balance by physical coverage as he can let himself get pushed off his path for the route. He also struggled to stack his defender which impacted his ability to contribute on vertical plays. I also think he’s less explosive than I originally thought based on his combine testing. I used to believe he had great burst as he did show some great instances in some situations. However, his combine performance suggests that it likely won’t be a regular part of his game. Avoiding tackles also won’t be a regular part of his game as he is a somewhat stiff athlete who has little wiggle and not much power to pick up yards after the catch. He also lacks enough wiggle and foot speed to consistently win against press with his feet. Normally that wouldn’t be a major issue thanks to his long arms but he unfortunately doesn’t effectively use arm counters enough. That issue of consistently winning against press led to struggles in establishing leverage against press coverage. If he wants to beat press more frequently, he will need to expand his arsenal and work on more moves rather than just trying to run around the defender.
I’ll be honest, I really don’t understand why Prather declared for the draft. From what I saw, he should have one year of eligibility left and just isn’t there with his development just yet. He could have benefited so much had he returned to college and potentially transferred to a bigger program. However, now we just have to try to hope Prather somehow manages to make those necessary progressions as he takes a step up in the level of competition. As for a comp, I have Racey McMath as his comp. Both have big frames that let them have a big catch radius. Also, both show upside as route runners with some nuance in their routes. However, both are still very raw players who will be more dart throws hoping for them to match their potential. Also, both can be a bit stiff which may limit their upside after the catch. McMath has a fun name but failed to do much in the NFL and moved to the UFL to try to revive the hopes of an NFL career. I’m not positive Prather will burn out as quickly as McMath did but I’m also not confident he can make the adjustments he needs to make in the NFL. Again, I just really wish he would have just returned for one more year of school.
KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Auburn
Height: 6’1”; Weight: 190 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 22 years and 9 months
Class: Fifth-Year Senior
Overall Grade: 2.33/4 (Needs Improvement to Contribute)
2024 Stats:
Receiving: 79 targets; 50 receptions; 981 yards; 8 touchdowns
Drops: 3 (Drop Rate: 5.7%)
Snap Distribution: Wide (85.4%); Slot (14.3%)
Hands: C+
Route Running: D
Release: C-
Yards After Catch Potential: C+
Jump Ball/Contested Catch: C+
Body Control/Ball Tracking: A-
Future role: C+
RAS: B
Strengths:
Great vertical ability
Good straight-line speed
Huge catch radius
Can make some good body adjustments
Solid blocker
Areas of Improvement:
Underdeveloped route tree
Little to no nuance in limited routes
Minimal release package
Hands are often delayed to the ball
Limited wiggle in space
Comp: Tyquan Thornton
KeAndre Lambert-Smith was in a bit of an awkward situation this year being a vertical weapon in an offense with poor quarterback play who often couldn’t deliver on those passes. However, Lambert-Smith still found a way to be productive making 50 receptions for 981 yards and 8 touchdowns. He accomplished this thanks to his great speed and quick acceleration to beat defenders downfield. He could eat up a cushion in an instance and was very comfortable making catches over his shoulders. He even showed good awareness around the sidelines to add some more upside. His huge catch radius also adds a lot of upside. He has a very long frame and is capable of some really nice body adjustments to get his hands on the ball. He does a great job extending his long arms and going high and low for balls to make it very easy for a quarterback to get a ball in his striking distance. Finally, is also a solid blocker who knows how to use arm extensions to hold his blocks.
While he can make some impressive catches and make plays down the field, everything in between those highlight plays can be a bit rough. He has a very limited route tree as it’s primarily made up of vertical and hitch routes which lead to him running cardio a lot of plays. His hitch routes also aren’t as successful as they should be due to not selling his vertical enough and telegraphing when he’s going into his cuts. When he’s making his cuts, he takes very rounded cuts and will need a number of extra steps if he tries to make them more concise. He also doesn’t run with much nuance in his routes and struggles to find openings against zone coverage. He also can get pushed around in coverage and can struggle to navigate the middle of the field on his shorter patterns. He just doesn’t look comfortable running routes in the middle of the field and seems like he’s thinking too much and counting his steps which slows his process. His hands can also be delayed on shorter patterns and he sometimes lets defenders beat him to the ball due to not using his frame to box them out. His feet also aren’t shifty enough to make defenders miss in space or help keep him clean against press.
Lambert-Smith probably could be one of the quickest evaluations for people since he operates as a limited player. He’s primarily a vertical player who has moments of great ball skills downfield to give some hope for more potential. However, he just really struggles with a lot of tasks when asked to branch out of that. Maybe a team would be open to trying to develop him but he just kind of feels like a player who could lose his roster spot if he doesn’t become a great gunner or quickly develop. As for a comp, I have Tyquan Thornton as his comp. Both have tall, thin builds and have great speed to get downfield in an instance. Also, both are capable blockers and have flashes of great ball skills. However, both are very behind as route runners and limited in their use. Both also lack wiggle which can reduce them to being more sprinters than playmakers on the field. Thornton has looked like a bust due to the Patriots reaching for him in the second round and having way too high of expectations for him. Maybe Lambert-Smith is given more patience and has a chance to work out but I just have a hard time trusting him finally developing with how far behind he is.
Kobe Hudson, UCF
Height: 6’1”; Weight: 193 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 22 years and 7 months
Class: Fifth-Year Senior
Overall Grade: 2.25/4 (Needs Improvement to Contribute)
2024 Stats:
Receiving: 88 targets; 47 receptions; 770 yards; 4 touchdowns
Drops: 6
Snap Distribution: Wide (79.6%); Slot (20.4%)
Hands: C
Route Running: C
Release: B+
Yards After Catch Potential: C-
Jump Ball/Contested Catch: B+
Body Control/Ball Tracking: B+
Future role: C-
RAS: D-
Strengths:
Impressive body adjustments
Can have tough hands
Variety of release moves
Can establish leverage very quickly
Solid blocker
Areas of Improvement:
Fluctuating hand technique and focus
Inconsistent separator
Lack of explosion in cuts
Limited route tree
Limited ability after the catch
Comp: Dante Pettis
Kobe Hudson caught my eye last year when I was evaluating his teammate Javon Baker and though Baker hasn’t had a great start to his NFL career, Hudson has a lot of traits that originally made people excited about Baker. He has a very wide catch radius as he’s able to rise and snatch balls. He can also make some really impressive last-second adjustments to balls. He also has tough hands and is successful in contested catch situations with a 48.1% success rate for 2024. He is able to finish catches in these situations thanks to boxing out his defender and consistently catching the ball away from his frame. He also showed some impressive release skills with a variety of moves in his arsenal. He has quick feet and timing to help establish leverage very quickly and has good use of hand counters to maintain control in his route. He also showed good promise as a blocker. He does a good job setting his base as a blocker and uses good arm extension with good hand placement.
Though he has a lot of the things that make people optimistic about Baker, Hudson also has a lot of the deficits of Baker to an even worse degree. Though he can make some really impressive catches, his hand technique and focus can fluctuate leading to some disappointing missed opportunities. He also doesn’t offer much after the catch since his straight-line speed is pedestrian and he lacks wiggle to make defenders miss in space. Also, he doesn’t bring a lot of intensity as a blocker and looks to just hold his block instead of mauling his man. One of the biggest things that makes me nervous about Hudson and what contributed to Baker not getting as much playing time is his subpar route running. He ran a limited route tree and had fluctuating route intensity. He also has a tendency to round his cuts which was especially noticeable on in-breaking routes. When he did try to make sharper cuts, he often needed a few extra steps to finish the cut. That greatly impacted his ability to get consistent separation and was part of what led him to have inconsistent production. What also impacted his ability to separate was the lack of explosiveness in his cuts. All of those issues led to a fair amount of trouble beating man coverage and him needing to resort to winning jump ball situations. Unfortunately, he can also struggle against zone coverage and miss openings in the defense. Finally, he can also do a better job adjusting the path of his routes to not lead himself to coverage.
Hudson seemed like a player who was potentially going to be a big riser early in the season but saw a big dip in production when teams made adjustments. His lack of athleticism, poor route running, and inconsistent hands often don’t lead to success in the NFL as we can see with his former teammate Javon Baker. Maybe Hudson finds that consistency in the NFL. However, if he doesn’t I think it will be tough sledding to make a roster. As for a comp, I have Dante Pettis as his comp. Both can make some really impressive acrobatic catches and have a huge catch radius. However, both can struggle with consistency. They can have bad drops as well as poor routes that lead to separation issues. That inconsistency caught up to Pettis in the NFL leading to him having a pretty unproductive career so far. I think Hudson will likely run into similar issues but won’t have draft capital to justify getting him on the field like Pettis had.