Dynasty Scouts Spotlight: Jaelen Strong
So far in this series of profiles, I’ve taken the easy way out. Evaluating players like Melvin Gordon and Todd Gurley is going to be a fun and mostly positive considering the quality of their talent. But now, I’ve decided to check out a lesser-known prospect, Jaelen Strong. While he’s still well known to draft gurus who follow college football year round, most of us are just catching up on 2015 prospects now.
Strong is a highly productive wide receiver from Arizona State. In his first season, Strong had 75 catches for 1,122 yards and seven touchdowns, quite a solid debut. But, if you’ve followed and know my style by now, it’s not the raw stats that matter, it’s the process and how he went about accumulating them.
Let’s check out some positive aspects of Strong’s game:
1:33 mark
Strong is battling with #13 who seemingly has him tied up. Once the ball becomes close, Strong uses his length and ball skills to fully extend and make a terrific hands catch. After he makes the catch, he makes a nice spin to give him an extra five to seven yards.
3:27 mark
Here we have a very similar play to the one above. Strong is once again fighting with a defender down field and rises up and makes a beautiful catch. He then does the same spin move as the previous play, gaining him an extra three to five yards
4:12 mark
There he goes again, fighting with a defender, but eventually finding enough space to go up strong and fully extend for the catch. Notice how he keeps the ball away from his body for an extra second or two after the catch. This sort of thing shows me he’s very confident in his hands. A player you’ll notice who does this a lot as well is Alshon Jeffery.
4:54 mark
Notice how Strong sees the ball coming and naturally reacts to it as it comes closer. A lot of guys put their hands up too early, which can give away information to the defender.
There are a few other, similar plays in there that you’ll see. The moral of the story is Strong will be in contention for best hands and ball skills in the 2015 class. That’s the good news.
The bad? Well, I won’t say bad, but I do have a few concerns.
After watching this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yiS42DapaQ) and this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVAR-FeR7L4), you start to see some areas where Strong consistently struggles.
• He struggles when he tries to do anything over the middle of the field, possibly because he runs lazy routes. Or it could be that he’s slow, compared to other highly ranked wide receivers.
• He doesn’t get separation from defenders. Even on his spectacular plays, the defenders are draped on him; they simply don’t have the athleticism to compete for the ball. In the NFL, defenders will have the skills necessary to challenge him.
• He lacks speed and ability to break tackles after the catch. He does have above average strength and he uses it to his advantage with stiff arms at points, but I was concerned with the types of players that took him down, sometimes with ease. At 6’3” 200+ pounds, you should be able to break some college cornerback tackles.
Final verdict: I was admittedly tough on Strong, I had high expectations heading into this profile and I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed. Strong is definitely an NFL caliber player, but not the late first/early second round type talent I initially suspected. I see Strong as a solid third round prospect, maybe even sneaking into the second with a strong combine and improved play in 2014.
Comparable Players: Mike Williams (Buffalo), Roy Williams, Brandon Lafell
