Dontario Drummond NFL Draft Overview
Position: Wide Receiver
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 215 pounds
School: Ole Miss
Dontario Drummond 2022 NFL Draft Profile
Before breaking out with the Ole Miss Rebels in the SEC, Dontario Drummond elected to dominate the JUCO circuit with East Mississippi. As a true freshman, Drummond reeled in 37 passes for 609 yards and 10 touchdowns. His breakout game was in a 51-41 win where he recorded seven receptions for 109 yards and a pair of scores. Just two weeks later, he posted a 131-yard, three-touchdown effort in a 67-66 barnburner of a win for EMCC. As a sophomore, Drummond upped his productivity when he had 857 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns off of 58 receptions. In addition to his two 100+ yard games as a freshman, Drummon crossed the century mark an additional four times as a sophomore.
After winning two JUCO National Championships, Drummond transferred to Ole Miss. In his first year, he only appeared in eight games, resulting in just 13 receptions for 188 yards. In 2020, Ole Miss featured him a bit more and Drummond finished third on the team in receiving yards with 417, second in touchdowns with seven, and fourth in receptions with 25. In 2021, Drummond took a step forward and took over as the leader of the group. He led the way with 76 catches for 1,028 yards and eight touchdowns. He finished his Ole Miss career with four 100+ yard performances: two in the first two weeks of 2021, the Egg Bowl, and the Sugar Bowl.
Drummond enters the NFL draft a two-time NJCAA National Champion, a 2018 NJCAA All-American, and tenth all-time in Ole Miss history with his 15 receiving touchdowns.
Strengths
- Refined natural athleticism
- Plays faster than testing would indicate
- YAC specialist
- Very difficult to bring down
- Goes up and attacks the ball
- Adept at finding soft spots in the defense
- Has yet to hit his ceiling as a receiver
Weaknesses
- Below-average speed
- Route-running needs polishing; rounds off corners
- Most receptions were schemed in
- Never asked to create separation
- Could be susceptible to getting jammed at the line
- Will turn 25 in August
NFL Comparison: Auden Tate
Teams With Need at Position: Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns
Projection: Seventh round/UDFA
Bottom Line on Dontario Drummond
Drummond’s role with an NFL team will likely be limited to their ability to get him on the field in Red Zone situations. As a whole, Drummond is a decent athlete who can earn yards after the catch that will be valuable to teams who play that style of football. Any team whose quarterback’s arm is not a cannon could use Drummond on a slant to get a handful of easy yards. He is a physical receiver who will make any defender work hard to bring him down. This trait certainly helps considering he is on the slower side. Overall, his testing resulted in a meager 5.70 RAS.
Likely the largest detractor will be his age. In the 2021 draft, just 15 players out of 259 were at least 24 years old as of the draft. With this year’s draft featuring way more prospects than the usual draft, Drummond’s prospects will be limited. He is a pure project and depth piece for any NFL team looking to add to their receiver room. It is extremely likely that even if his name is called late in the draft, he will spend most if not all of his rookie year on the practice squad. He needs to continue to develop his route tree. However, he can blossom into a reliable fourth receiver or Red Zone threat for the right offense.
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