Rookie Profile – Leonte Carroo, WR Rutgers

Bruce Matson Posted On March 22, 2016

The story behind this year’s wide receiver class is it’s subpar compared to the two previous classes, but the stars are starting to align for this group of receivers. This has been a down year for the wide receiver market in free agency, meaning teams are not able to fill their holes with talented players. Martavis Bryant is facing a one year suspension for breaching the league’s substance abuse policy, creating a possible void on the Steeler’s roster for one of the rookies to step in. Many people are devaluing this rookie class but all it takes is a few players to land in the right spot for the class to gain dynasty value.

Leonte Carroo, wide receiver from Rutgers, is admired by many dynasty enthusiasts and is considered one of the best receivers in this draft class. NFL depth charts are changing, which are creating opportunities for the new crop of rookies. This is going to impact Carroo’s dynasty value as he’s one of the top receivers in this draft and he’s almost certain to be a top-100 pick. With his projected draft capital being fairly high, there’s a good chance Carroo gets drafted into a situation where he can compete for snaps early in his career.

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Carroo was a four star recruit from Don Bosco Prep High School where he tallied 82 receptions for 1,548 yards and 18 touchdowns during his final two seasons. Even while missing a large part of his senior season due to a shoulder injury, he was still considered a highly touted recruit, ranking eleventh in the nation at wide receiver. He was most productive during his junior season by catching 39 receptions for 926 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was ranked the seventh best prospect out of New Jersey according to the Star-Ledger. Some of the major schools he received offers from were Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State. After his senior season he signed his letter of intent with Rutgers.

In just nine games during his sophomore season he caught nine touchdowns and posted a 15.65 percent market share of the team’s passing offense. He finished his junior season ranked second in the Big Ten in receiving with 1,086 yards and ten touchdowns. During his senior season, he was suspended for two games due to a domestic dispute that eventually got dismissed by the court and he missed two games due to an ankle injury. He was highly effective during his senior season as he accounted for 32.57 percent market share of the team’s passing offense and 52.63 percent of the team’s passing touchdowns. During the eight games Carroo played he accounted for 40.19 percent of Rutger’s passing offense. His efficiency last season was remarkable as he caught 66.67 percent of his targets and his big play ability provided an outstanding 20.7 yards per reception.

Let’s pull up Carroo’s Mock Draftable Chart and see how his measurables and analytics compare to his peers.

Carroo has a very thick and compact build, standing at 6’0’’ and 211 lbs. and he ranks with in the seventy-two percentile amongst wide receivers in weight. His arm length is a little bit of a concern (31 3/8 inches) as its thirty-second percentile amongst wide receivers, meaning his arm length is below average. This affects his catch radius and could make it difficult for him to catch contested passes against NFL cornerbacks.

He doesn’t have blazing speed and his 4.50 40-yard dash is an indicator of that, but he’s fast enough to be productive if he’s efficient in other phases of the game. He tested in the forty-seventh percentile in the vertical and broad jump, entailing that he has average explosiveness.

Let’s move forward and take a look at Carroo’s player profile from one of my favorite resources: www.PlayerProfiler.com.

carroo player profiler

Carroo’s dominator rating is illuminating, his 63.9 percent is in ninety-ninth percentile amongst wide receivers. He didn’t participate in all of the drills at the combine, therefore they were unable to calculate a SPARQ-x score for him. He’s also elite in the yards per reception category as he’s ranked in the ninety-sixth percentile amongst his peers.

I’ve watched a lot of Rutgers games, and Carroo has always been a player that stood to me. He’s the best player on the team and the offense goes stagnant without him in the lineup. I’ve spent a lot of extra time in the man cave lately breaking down film on a lot of the rookies and the last few days I’ve been concentrating on Carroo. Below is the Michigan State game where he went off for 134 yards and three touchdowns. This game is one of the best games of his career and the video provides a great overview of his skill set.

Carroo has a knack for locating the ball over the shoulder while running deep routes. He is also very good at catching the ball away from his body, using his powerful hands to snag the football away from defenders. Once he catches the ball, he aggressively turns up field and tries to gain as much yardage as possible. For a wide receiver, he is tough to tackle because he runs hard and will not go down due to arm tackles. He does a very good job at maintaining his balance and using good footwork to gain separation on deeper routes. He has the ability to beat press coverage with his size, strength and physical play.

He does not have the speed to burn defensive backs on a regular basis and will have a lot trouble winning on deeper routes at the next level with his speed. His hips are a little bit stiff preventing him from getting in and out of his breaks. Like many rookie wide receivers, he doesn’t run a full route tree and he needs to expand his repertoire of various routes.

Summary

Carroo has been very efficient at every level of play from high school to college which is a very good indicator he has the capabilities of transitioning his skills to the NFL. His ability to make spectacular catches while running deep routes makes him a very intriguing prospect. The draft is going to tell us how the NFL really feels about Carroo because if he slips a few rounds we will know teams are heavily weighing his character in their evaluations. He should be selected anywhere between the second and the fourth round of the draft.

DLF currently has him ranked ninth in the overall rookie rankings and seventh among rookie wide receivers. He is projected to be a mid-late first round pick in rookie drafts and his stock could easily rise if he gets drafted to a team that needs a starting wide receiver like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and New England.

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Bruce Matson

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

I'm a financial counselor for a hospital in South Central Ohio. I graduated from Muskingum University with a bachelor's in business while minoring in Economics and Accounting. I won my first fantasy football title with Jake Plummer as my quarterback.