Dynasty Scouts Player Spotlight: Josh Malone
Editor’s Note: This article is a Dynasty Scouts exclusive. Remember, our Dynasty Scouts section focuses on the stars of tomorrow, with a laser focus on High School recruits and College players who look to have the talent to be future assets in dynasty leagues and have value today in devy leagues. It’s written by Nick Whalen, a new Member Corner writer for us. The addition of Nick helps us expand our Dynasty Scouts offering and we look forward to seeing more of his work in the future!
Before I start this piece, I would like to take a moment to thank Dynasty League Football for giving me this great opportunity to write for them as a Member Corner Contributor for Dynasty Scouts. I truly feel blessed and excited to join such a prestigious leader in fantasy football.
The experienced devy league owner is privy to the well-known prospects from running back Todd Gurley to possibly the lesser-known variety, like wide receiver Jaelen Strong. However, today we’re going to dig deep into the vault and start looking to the 2017 NFL Draft.
The perfect wide receiver for fantasy football has many skills. Among them are the following: good size to catch over defenders and high point the football; enough speed to run by defensive backs and set them up while running routes; good athletic ability to make defenders miss and win those 50/50 balls that are more common in today’s NFL and vision to track football through the air and strong hands to catch it with defenders draped all over them. Let me introduce you to a prospect who can do all of the above, Josh Malone. He will be a true freshman this season at Tennessee and you’re going to want him on your radar early if you have any chance at snagging him in a devy draft.
[inlinead]Malone enters the University of Tennessee as a highly decorated recruit being offered a scholarship by most of the top schools, including Alabama, Auburn, USC, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Florida, Georgia, Florida State, Clemson, Baylor, LSU, Oregon and Michigan, among many others. Rivals had him as a five star recruit and fourth best wide receiver, while ESPN listed Malone as a four star recruit and seventh best wide receiver. I find that odd because in regards to fantasy football potential, Malone was my top ranked wide receiver from this class.
Size is becoming more important with the NFL moving more towards mismatches and the buzz word “catch radius.” At 6’2 and 204 pounds, Malone possesses a long lean frame. He has already added nine pounds since arriving at Tennessee and it will be advantageous for him to add another 15-20 before he enters the NFL. Malone uses that large frame to shield defenders from the football, as I’ll show you later.
Malone is very athletic and gets the most out of his abilities on the football field. He has very good speed and timed at 4.49 for 40 meters. Malone looks faster on the field and gets to top speed in a hurry. When he gets an opening from the defense, he hits the gas to gain separation much like Marqise Lee and Percy Harvin. He had 4.01 20-yard shuttle, which shows his very good acceleration and change of direction skills.
Malone also has an excellent jump cut and can use a pressure cut to get by defenders. One negative is sometimes he uses the jump cut too much which allows for defensive pursuit to catch up to him. Overall, Malone will be a very good after the catch player.
Catching contested passes appears to be the norm in the NFL and Malone excels at them. He has great body control and changes speeds to put himself in the best position to make a reception. He has a good vertical jump of over 31 inches and tracks the ball well through the air. He uses them to high point the football and does it regularly.
Let’s look at some of his high school clips:
Malone not only has field awareness to recognize a potentially huge play if he can bounce outside, but he has the agility to get it done. A perfectly timed jump cut allows him to use his electric speed to score a touchdown; we’ll be hearing this often at Tennessee.
This is just an example of a great athlete to make defenders miss and cut back for a touchdown. I love the way he uses his jets to just take off once he’s in the open field.
Here, Malone tracks the ball well and notices it is underthrown. He has the body control to slow down enough and then high point the football.
Wow! What a great job high pointing the ball in the end zone.
He really puts his vertical on display here.
I only outlined plays within the two minutes of that seven-minute video highlight, please watch the rest to get a better grasp of his game.
Malone enrolled early at Tennessee, which allowed him to practice all spring with the team. He also got to participate in the Spring Game, which is the culmination of all the spring practices and he capitalized on his opportunity with six receptions for 181 yards and three touchdowns.
Malone catches a simple bubble screen and really accelerates once he finds an opening. My favorite part of the play is his pressure cut to make a defender miss downfield, which allowed him to gain another 12 yards.
It may have been busted coverage or maybe Malone blew past him. Either way, he makes a nice hands catch and hits the gas to make sure nobody deters him from the end zone.
In this clip, he body catches a touchdown, but I really like how he uses his body to shield the cornerback from the football.
Malone burns by the cornerback and the safety for a long touchdown. He tracked the ball well, made a nice hands catch and then hit the gas to score a touchdown.
Malone burns by the cornerback and the safety for a long touchdown. He tracked the ball well, made a nice hands catch and then hit the gas to score a touchdown. Malone had a very good Spring Game, but the touchdowns and statistics aren’t the most important outcome. He showed that SEC football isn’t too big for him and he’s ready. Head Coach Butch Jones said “Josh has been pretty much doing that all spring.” Josh Malone snuck up on High School defenses, recruiting agencies, and Tennessee defensive backs this spring. He’s going to sneak up on SEC defenses this fall, but please don’t let him sneak up on you in your devy draft.
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Nick can be found on Twitter at @_NickWhalen
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