Rookie SWOT: Malcolm Mitchell

Editor’s Note: As our coverage of the 2016 NFL Draft and its impact on fantasy football continues, we bring you our 2016 Rookie SWOT series. These articles will feature video highlights, combine reviews, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, short-term expectations, long-term expectations and rookie draft advice for over 30 of the best dynasty league prospects from this year’s draft. We’ll follow that up with team-by-team draft reviews because, you know, that’s kind of what we live for.

Make sure you’re ready for your dynasty league rookie draft by staying up on all these articles, checking out our rookie draft guide, rookie rankings, rookie draft cheat sheet and mock draft rooms. There are simply no better resources out there for dynasty fantasy football enthusiasts.

Name: Malcolm Mitchell

Position: Wide Receiver

Pro Team: New England Patriots

College Team: Georgia

Draft Status: Fourth Round, #112 overall

Combine Review

• Height: 6′ 0″ (29th percentile)
• Weight: 198 (42nd percentile)
• Arm Length: 32 5/8” (65th percentile)
• Hand Size: 10½” (97^th percentile)
• 10 Yard Dash: 1.54 (62nd percentile)
• 40 Yard Dash: 4.54 (71st percentile)
• Bench Press: 15 (49th percentile)
• Vertical Jump: 36″ (53rd percentile)
• Broad Jump: 129″ (91st percentile)
• 3 Cone Drill: 6.94 (51st percentile)
• 20 Yard Shuttle: 4.34 (20th percentile)

Video Clip

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Strengths

• Explosiveness– Mitchell has the ability to make chunk gains on deep balls. He tracks the ball well and can go up and haul in contested catches.
• Route Running– He displayed advanced route-running ability in college. Mitchell runs sharp, crisp routes and uses his upper body to get defensive backs leaning. He can also quickly change gears and stop on a dime to break off a route.
• Physicality – In addition to being effective in contested-catch situations on the outside, Mitchell isn’t shy about working across the middle of the field. He will take a lick to make a play, and he fights for yards after the catch.

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Weaknesses

• Speed – Mitchell has good wheels, but he doesn’t possess the elite top-end speed of a wideout who will be able to consistently blaze past NFL corners.
• Separation – This goes hand in hand with his speed, but Mitchell doesn’t consistently separate on routes, sometimes giving away his intentions by ducking his head when he’s going to break off his route.
• Injuries – I think Mitchell would’ve been taken sooner if he had a clean healthy history, which includes multiple knee injuries.

Opportunities

Ostensibly, Mitchell is stepping into a pretty good situation. New England needed to address the receiver position this off-season, particularly on the outside, after parting ways with Brandon LaFell. The Patriots drafted Mitchell in the fourth and fellow receiver Devin Lucien in the seventh. Earlier in the off-season, they signed former Buffalo Bills’ receiver Chris Hogan as a free agent. Since the departure of Randy Moss, New England has been getting by without a true threat on the outside, targeting the crap out of Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and their running backs.

Threats

Edelman, Gronkowski and Dion Lewis figure to see the bulk of the targets for the foreseeable future. Hogan, Aaron Dobson, Keshawn Martin and Danny Amendola are likely Mitchell’s biggest competition for snaps on the outside. The Patriots also traded for tight end Martellus Bennett, so they may go to more two-tight-end sets. More than any team, New England switches up its plan of attack on a weekly basis.

Short Term Expectations

The Patriots’ playbook is notoriously tough to master, and the offense already has three players — Lewis, Gronkowski and Edelman — locked into high-volume roles. The odds are stacked against Mitchell making much of an impact in 2016. That is especially true if Amendola makes the roster, and I’d guess he will thanks to his contributions on special teams.

Long Term Expectations

New England has been swinging and missing with wideouts in the draft for a long time, whiffing on everyone from Chad Jackson to Dobson. The team has found a way to keep producing points regardless of their personnel thanks to the brilliance of Tom Brady, Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels and Head Coach Bill Belichick. With that said, there is a role in this offense for an outside target. LaFell, who is far from an elite talent, put up 74 grabs for 953 yards and seven scores in 2014. At the age of 38, Brady hasn’t shown any signs of slowing, but if Mitchell can’t get consistent playing time in the next two to three years, he may miss out on getting to play with Brady and McDaniels, the latter of whom is due for another head coaching gig.

NFL Comparison

It’s an easy comparison which has been made a lot, but when I watch Mitchell, I see Philadelphia Eagles’ wideout Nelson Agholor. The jury is still out on Agholor, but the two tested similarly and Agholor was a first-round pick in both the NFL Draft and 2015 rookie drafts. Another accurate athletic comparison is — don’t overreact — Sammy Watkins. Watkins came into the league with a significantly higher pedigree and more college production, but on Mockdraftable.com, Watkins’ measurables are very similar to Mitchell’s numbers.

Projected Range for a Rookie Draft

Mitchell has seen his value boosted by his landing spot as much as any receiver in this class. He’s currently our 11th-ranked wideout with a May ADP as the 16th overall player off the board. In our March ADP data, he was the 31st overall player selected, so his ADP has definitely shot up. If you want Mitchell, it’s going to take a second-round pick and probably one in the first half of the round.

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