WR, Jarett Dillard, Rice

WR, Jarett Dillard, Rice

Pros:   Productive receiver with long arms and adequate size. Very reliable hands, snatching the ball away from his body. Can free himself off press coverage using his hands and quick movements on the line. Excellent route-runner as he stays low in his cuts, sells the jerk route well and does not round off out-cuts. Good vision and a naturally elusive runner with the ball in his hands. Lulls defenders to sleep off the line, then takes off down the seam. Adjusts to throws to his outside shoulder.

Cons:  Lacks great athleticism and explosiveness off the line. Lacks the pure speed to separate from corners or safeties. Has trouble getting to corners and linebackers to block at the second level. Gets knocked off his routes too easily. Won't win many battles for the ball in the air because of relatively weak hands and vertical, although he can shield the defender. Likely a slot receiver. Must adapt to a new quarterback after building a great relationship with Clement.

Around MHR:

Draftguys are "hit or miss"

but this one was pretty good, I enjoyed it. It highlighted some of the really good stuff about Jarrett, especially his routerunning, and his ability to force the corner to bite on any initial moves he makes. I think he will run some nifty double moves on some surprised corneres, ala Royal v. Hall from 08. One error on the video was where they stated that Dillard will win his share of jump balls (or something to that effect) which is interesting, because they said it before the combine, as near as I can tell, which means before his vertical measurement (which surprised a lot of scouts). At least, i assume it was before the combine, since the video is from the Shrine game. Maybe they dubbed it later. Regardless, Dillard was anything but a sure thing on jump balls during the season, even with that tremendous vertical leap of his, so anyone expecting him to come into the NFL and be pulling down a lot of end-zone post routes or corner fades will be disappointed. It comes back to what the weakest area of his game is (and which separates Royal from Dillard by leaps and bounds), and that is his ability to fight for his routes. he really struggles against savvy corners who are allowed to get up to the line and push him around, and he loses fights for jump balls or traffic balls more than he wins them. As long as he can keep the DB swinging around like a yo-yo he will have the advantage, but I think in the NFL he will have to fight through some frustration as he gets mauled at the line of scrimage. Royal, of course, never had that problem because he could stick his arm into the defender and keep separation, or box out a LB. Unfortunately Dillard can’t do that and he doesn’t have the elite speed to keep the DBs from playing up close to him (although in the video they showed the DB being VERY respectful to him, but I’m not sure why. I suspect they had double-moved him multiple times, and he was trying to keep Dillard in his sights. The overplay where they counted off the DBs steps was a very well run STOP or COMEBACK route, but usually those routes require some setup.) One last thing that wasn’t highlighted in the video was the very average burst off the line he shows, another reason why DBs will pressure him early.

Around SBNation:

Highlights:

Scouting Reports and Offsite Links:

• He isn’t tall enough … they say.
  
  He isn’t big enough … they say.
  
  He isn’t fast enough … they say.
  
  “They” showed up for pro day at Rice Stadium on Thursday morning to watch the Owls’ NFL prospects as if they were going to see something from Jarett Dillard they had not seen before.
  
  Nope. The best receiver in Rice history is still not quite 5-11, stills weighs just 190 pounds, and still runs the 40-yard dash in only 4.5 seconds.
  
  But man, what a football player.
  
  And “they” know it.  [see more...]
• Great athleticism...Soft, reliable hands and catches everything...Nice body control and ball skills...An outstanding leaper...Runs very good routes...Is more quick than fast...Aggressive and competitive...Great awareness...Hard worker...Team  player...Extraordinarily productive.  [see more...]
• Invited to the East/West Shrine Bowl. A unanimous All-American selection in 2006. Tabbed by Sports Illustrated and Walter Camp as an All-American selection again in 2008. Scored 20 touchdowns in a season twice in his career. Made a run at Larry Fitzgerald’s NCAA record of 18 straight games with a touchdown reception, finishing with 15.
  Injury Concerns: No injury concerns  [see more...]
•  A very coordinated receiver who possesses great awareness and body control down the field. Is a big time jump-ball threat for his size and consistently goes up and plucks the ball. Has come a long way as a route runner and does a great job sinking his hips and cleanly getting in and out of his breaks. Is very sharp out of his breaks, pays attention to detail and has great hands for the position.  [see more...]