Rookie Profile: KD Cannon, WR Baylor
It’s not fun being the middle or youngest child in the household, especially if the older siblings are successful with everything they do and are stud athletes with perfect grades. You feel lost in the shuffle having to live up to your older brother or sister’s footsteps. Sometimes their accomplishments can over shadow every single accomplishment you achieved. It’s not fun, but certain biases around school, your family and the community may allow this to happen.
KD Cannon, wide receiver from Baylor, is in a similar situation. Last year, one of the top wide receiver prospects was Corey Coleman who just happened to be Cannon’s teammate. Coleman was selected in the first round (15th overall) of last year’s draft by the Cleveland Browns. There’s a case to be made that Coleman’s accolades over shadowed some of Cannon’s achievements, causing him to go unnoticed.
Cannon may not be a blue-chip prospect, but he does have a lot of talent and the skill set to allow himself to carve out a role with an NFL team. He currently ranks ninth amongst wide receivers in DLF’s rookie rankings and 18th overall. The rankings are adequate compared to his achievements but on “Draft Twitter” and on nation publications he is receiving little to no notoriety, which is a shame, because does have enough talent to make an impact at the next level.
He was a four-star prospect from Mount Pleasant High School which is in Mount Pleasant, Texas. There he caught 3,856 yards and 52 touchdowns during his entire high school career. Cannon ranked fourth amongst wide receivers in his recruiting class and fourth out of the entire state of Texas. He was a heavily sought after recruit, receiving invites from major colleges like Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Clemson and many other schools before signing with the Baylor Bears.
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Statistics from sports-reference.com.
Cannon broke out as a true freshman, catching 58 receptions for 1,030 yards and eight touchdowns while owning at 21.65 percent market share of the team’s passing offense. He eclipsed the 100-yard mark in four games that season with his best game coming against Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl where he caught eight receptions for 197 yards and two touchdowns. He also had seven games with under 50 yards receiving.
He started all 13 games during his sophomore season, catching 50 receptions for 868 yards and six touchdowns while owning a 20.44 percent market share of the team’s passing offense. The decrease in statistical output was due to a drop in the team’s pass production (3,764 yards). He had three games with over 100 yards receiving and seven games with under 50 yards receiving. His best game came during week 11 against Oklahoma State when he made five receptions for 210 yards and two touchdowns.
Cannon’s junior season was his most productive year of his collegiate career, catching 87 balls for 1,215 yards and 13 touchdowns. He had four games with over 100-yards receiving while owning a 33.27 percent market share of the team’s passing offense. His biggest game of the year came during the Cactus Bowl against Boise State when he had 14 receptions for 226 yards and two touchdowns. Cannon’s production increased mainly due to not having to compete with Corey Coleman for targets which allowed him to take over as the main receiver in the team’s offensive game plan.
Player Profiler is the place to go when it comes to finding a quick concise source that provides easily digestible illustrations for NFL players and college prospects. They provide easy to read player profile pages that shows a player’s college production and athletic metrics. Let’s take a look at what they have instore for KD Cannon.Â
Cannon’s college production stands out in his profile due to his incredible 39.4 percent college dominator rating which ranks within the 77th percentile amongst wide receiver prospects. If a player wasn’t highly productive in college then more than likely they are not going to dominate in the NFL. The dominator rating provides the notion of whether a player can translate their collegiate success to the next level.
He also broke out at 18.8 years old, ranking in the 92nd percentile. Breakout age is important because it provides an inference of how quickly a player can acclimate and take over the offensive production for their team. The earlier the better because it indicates the player can quickly adapt to a new offense. It also tells us that the player could compete against older college players when they were just an 18 or 19-year-old player.
Cannon has the speed to blow by defensive backs and his 4.41 40-yard dash proves that he has the potential to be dangerous if left one-on-one with a slower cornerback. His height adjusted speed score isn’t very impressive, because most wide receivers who have a similar build usually run just as fast or faster. Receivers weighing less than 200-pounds need to run somewhere in the 4.3 range to be considered fast for their size. Cannon, however, is fast enough to be considered a deep threat.
His 11.47 agility score is a major red flag because it indicates that he might have limitations when it comes to moving laterally and getting in and out of his breaks while running routes. This could hinder his ability to create separation on certain routes of his route-tree.
Mock Draftable is one of the best websites on the internet when it comes to relaying combine data for NFL players and prospects. They have a nifty spider-web chart that accurately illustrates how well a player stacks up against their peers when it comes to height, weight and athleticism. Let’s take a gander at Cannon’s spider-web chart.
His spider-web chart is very similar to his Player Profiler page, with his 40-yard dash and vertical jump being his best athletic traits. His size and arm length lets us know that he has a limited catch radius. He has very small hands (8 7/8-inches), which could be an issue when it comes to snagging tough contested catches. Overall, Cannon is an average athlete with tremendous speed.
Below is footage from Cannon’s performance in the Cactus Bowl against Boise State where he blew up for 226 yards and two touchdowns. Around the 1:50 mark in the video he makes an amazing contested catch along the goal line for a touchdown. He also scores another touchdown around the 2:30 mark, where he blows by the defender for an easy 68-yard catch and run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ql2dk9Illo
Cannon’s is not only fast but he runs very hard when he has the ball in space, making him extremely difficult to tackle. He maximizes his effort on every play, trying to gain as many yards as possible through sheer will and determination when he has the ball in his hands. He’s a master at running vertical routes and can eat up yards in a hurry. Cannon does a very good job at tracking the ball while it’s in the air, and has knack for making over-the-shoulder catches.
Facing press coverage may be an issue for him at the next level, because of his slim frame and by not having much experience getting jammed at the line of scrimmage. He’s not very aggressive at the catch point and will allow passes to get into his body, which is a trait that led to his nine dropped passes during his junior season. Although Cannon is superb at utilizing his speed on vertical routes, it’s difficult for him to get in and out of his breaks to create separation while running intermediate routes.
Cannon is one of my go-to options in rookie drafts, especially when the level of talent starts to thin out around late second to the early third round. He currently has an ADP of 20.50, making him a mid-second round pick in rookie drafts. I’ve been able to snag him around the early third round in some of my drafts. His fantasy value is going to be very dependent on which team drafts him, because he needs to be paired with a quarterback with a strong arm who is not afraid to throw it deep. He’s a boom-bust prospect but his price tag makes it easy to take a chance him. I find him one of the most intriguing players in this draft class and I won’t be surprised if he ends up on a lot of my dynasty teams.
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