Jermaine Burton NFL Draft Overview
Position: Wide Receiver
Height: 6′-0″
Weight: 194 pounds
School: Alabama
After spending two seasons at each Georgia and Alabama, wide receiver Jermaine Burton has declared for the 2024 NFL draft. This comes after back-to-back seasons of Burton leading the Crimson Tide in receiving yards. This season Burton finished with career highs in both receiving yards (798) and touchdowns (8).
Burton started off his college career playing for the Georgia Bulldogs in 2020 and 2021. In his true freshman season, Burton finished third on the Bulldogs with 404 receiving yards in 10 games. In 2021, Burton was a part of Georgia’s national championship-winning team as he was second on the Bulldogs in receiving yards with 497.
Strengths
- Foot speed along with burst and acceleration are very good;
- Utilizes speed, burst, and acceleration to consistently win on vertical routes downfield;
- Suddenness is good – not solely a speed receiver but his ability to change directions & speeds elevates his ceiling as a separator in the NFL;
- Created separation at a higher rate than production at Alabama indicates;
- Hands were very consistent throughout his college career;
- Good ability to make catches despite contact at the catch point or big hits from defenders;
- Did an excellent job avoiding focus drops in college;
- High-level body control – makes difficult adjustments to haul in passes outside of his frame look easy;
- Utilizes speed releases to get off LOS effectively.
Weaknesses
- Not very elusive with the ball in his hands after the catch;
- Capable of producing good RAC plays but not going to be someone who forces a bunch of missed tackles from defenders;
- Didn’t display a wide variety of hand moves to get off of press coverage in college;
- Struggled to produce against elite defenses in 2023 – vs Michigan 4 Rec for 21 yards vs Georgia 2 Rec for 28 yards and 1 touchdown;
- Never produced 800+ receiving yards in a single season in four college seasons.
NFL Comparison: Marvin Mims Jr.
Teams With Need At Position: Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee Titans, Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs
Projection: Round 2-3
Bottom Line on Jermaine Burton
Jermaine Burton projects well to develop into a reliable wide receiver in the NFL. Burton’s speed is a big selling point to his game however, to classify him as just a speed wide receiver would be unfair to him. He possesses the tools to develop into a good separator at the NFL level due to his burst, acceleration, and suddenness. Burton also has very good hands as he can high point, make catches through contact, and avoid focus drops at a high level.
Burton doesn’t quite have the track record of high-level production that many wide receivers in the 2024 NFL draft class have as although he has four seasons of solid production, he never eclipsed 800 receiving yards in a single season. This along with his limitations after the catch may cause him to fall too late on day two in a talented wide receiver class.
Burton is a good fit for any team looking for a downfield receiver who can stretch the field. A lot of teams can utilize Burton well, but one fit that sticks out is the Los Angeles Chargers who currently have wide receiver talent but lack a deep speed element that Burton would bring.
Main Photo: [Brett Davis] – USA Today Sports
