Three wide receivers -- West Virginia's Kevin White, Alabama's Amari Cooper and Louisville's DeVante Parker -- are consensus top-20 talents in this draft, but while NFL Media analyst Mike Mayock said Monday there is "depth throughout" the wide receiver class, there also are some questions outside of the top three.
Five wide receivers went in the first round last season, and Mayock pointed out that all five -- Odell Beckham Jr., Kelvin Benjamin, Brandin Cooks, Mike Evans and Sammy Watkins -- were big-time producers as rookies.
On a teleconference in advance of the NFL Scouting Combine, Mayock also pointed out that it wasn't just "the guys up top" who produced as rookies, mentioning John Brown, Martavis Bryant and Jordan Matthews, among others.
After the top three this year, while there is talent, there are "a bunch of question marks," Mayock said.
He mentioned Dorial Green-Beckham, who is physically gifted but has had off-field issues, to the extent that he was dismissed from Missouri and didn't play a down at Oklahoma this past season. Mayock also brought up Michigan's Devin Funchess, who is athletic but was a tight end in his first two seasons and played wide receiver for just one season.
Mayock mentioned Auburn's Sammie Coates, Miami's Phillip Dorsett and Ohio State's Devin Smith as wide receivers who will run "4.35 or better" in the 40-yard dash at the combine. But there are questions about the productivity of all three, with Coates having issues with drops.
Mayock said he is a fan of Arizona State's Jaelen Strong. "He's big, he's strong. ... What he runs this week (in the 40) is going to be important," said Mayock, who has Strong as a second-round pick. Mayock also said Strong has the "physical traits" of a Larry Fitzgerald, but he's "not anywhere close from a technique perspective" to Fitzgerald.
Mayock also brought up UCF's Breshad Perriman, a junior who has "first-round talent" but remains somewhat under-the-radar.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
