DaMarkus Lodge 2019 NFL Draft Profile

DaMarkus Lodge 2019 NFL Draft Profile

DaMarkus Lodge isn’t afraid to do things differently. The five-star recruit opted to leave his home state of Texas despite interest from the Longhorns as well as Texas A&M.

Whether his decision to choose Ole Miss ahead of those in-state powerhouses is open for debate. Lodge’s production was limited by an offense that relied too heavily on vertical routes despite being stacked with apparent game-changing talent at receiver.

We’ll never know if a more creative offensive attack could have harnessed more from Lodge at the collegiate level but the flashes he showed with the Rebels should be enough to intrigue NFL coordinators.

Lodge racked up 106 catches for 1,575 yards and 11 touchdowns in his final two seasons at Ole Miss. If used more inventively at the NFL level, he has the potential to thrive as an outside receiver with his blend of size, sticky hands, and outstanding body control.

Strengths

excels at winning contested catches;

has long arms to attack the ball and a big catch radius;

can adjust to inaccurate passes;

blessed with superb body control to make acrobatic catches near the sideline;

impressive ball tracker who looks it into his grasp;

can create separation and leverage with his steam at top of his route;

has enough quickness to sell defenders inside and outside fakes and beat them back to the opposite direction;

has demonstrated the ability to beat press coverage with armbar move;

possesses very good contact balance to bounce off tackles and stay on his feet for extra yardage;

very good blocker who approaches his task with determination and sticks to defenders.

Weaknesses

will sometimes trap the ball or let it into his body;

doesn’t have a lot of versatility as a route-runner having been used predominantly as a vertical receiver in college;

lacks the speed to create downfield separation consistently;

quicker than fast in the open field;

never going to be a home-run hitter who can take big gains the distance;

is not elusive after the catch, struggles to make defenders miss on a regular basis

Projection: Third round

Bottom Line

With so much emphasis on receivers who can separate, many teams may be put off by Lodge’s inability to do so due to a lack of top-end speed. However, there is still a market for players who can dominate in tight spaces at the catch point and Lodge has tremendous upside in that area. Elite quickness and agility are lacking but he has shown enough promise as a route-runner to suggest he could be an outside starting receiver in the league with some polish and variety added to his game.