Overview
Position: Wide Receiver
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 218 pounds
School: Northern Illinois Huskies
Combine Performance Data
40-yard dash: 4.50 seconds
Bench press: 18 reps (tied for fourth among wide receivers)
Vertical jump: 35.5 inches
Broad jump: 10 feet
Three-cone drill: 7.00 seconds
20-yard shuttle: 4.15 seconds
Kenny Golladay 2017 NFL Draft Profile
Kenny Golladay is an impressive athlete who came out of the Chicago area. Golladay’s’ high school, St. Rita, is a run first football team, and despite great size and attributes, he was under-recruited coming to college. It found him at North Dakota for the first two seasons of his college career. Golladay put up 30 catches for 429 yards as a freshman and 69 catches for 884 yards and eight touchdowns as a sophomore. However, his head coach at the time, Chris Mussman, was fired after his second season, and left Golladay looking to transfer.
It was back to his home state, and to Northern Illinois for Golladay. After sitting out a year he went right back to making an immediate impact. As a junior, Golladay caught 73 passes for 1,129 yards and ten touchdowns. He went from an All-Big Sky player to an a second team All-MAC performer that season. In his senior season, he put up 87 catches for 1,156 yards and eight touchdowns. With his reputation now in place, he was named first team All-MAC. Over the course of a career that featured success in multiple levels of the college game, Golladay now has a chance to prove he is ready to take on the next step with an NFL career. When will he get drafted, and what role can he serve in the NFL?
Strengths
- Ideal height and weight;
- Has played outside and in the slot;
- Catches the ball away from his body;
- Very reliable hands;
- Strong catch radius;
- Redzone and deep play threat.
Weaknesses
- Dealt with poor quarterback play;
- Never saw a high volume of targets;
- Ran a limited route tree;
- Does not have game changing speed;
- Not a high effort blocker.
NFL Comparison: Andre Holmes
Teams with needs at position: Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins, Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Projection: Fifth Round
Bottom Line
The situation Golladay lands in could turn him into a late round gem or a low end depth chart player. Golladay has a lot of the tools desired to be an NFL threat. However, he has never played in an offense or with a quarterback that actually fits his skill set. It has forced him to go out of his way to make plays and has hindered his draft stock.
Golladay has typically played in run first offenses, and while that should profile him as a strong blocker, he does not seem to have the desire to take defenders on. He is seasoned, and does a good job squaring players up, but he lets them come to him rather than seek contact.
In the passing game, Golladay has had to consistently use his long catch radius and size to become a big play and redzone threat. However, he does not have much speed or great footwork to consistently create space for himself, while he has great hands, his limited route work and fluidity may hinder him to being strictly a red zone threat, even with an NFL quarterback.
He is a shot worth taking, and his upside is higher than most in the middle to late rounds. However, it does come with a downside, and he will have to step in and immediately prove that he deserves to be on an NFL roster.
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