PFF scouting report: Mack Hollins, WR, North Carolina

Name: Mack Hollins

School: North Carolina

Position fit: Outside WR

Stats to know: 1,008 of Hollins’ 1,667 (over 60 percent) career receiving yards have come on passes more than 20 yards downfield. Averaged 20.6 yards per reception on his 81 catches.

What he does best:

• No matter what the 40 time says, Hollins can and will run right by defenders with a long stride and once he’s at full speed it’s hard for anyone to catch him.
• Tracks the ball well, can catch over his shoulder without losing speed, but also showed the ability to catch underthrown contested balls by going up and high-pointing. Can adjust route if ball poorly placed.
• Surprisingly strong and quick cuts on breaks of routes, doesn’t lose a lot of speed and doesn’t tip them often.
• Can beat press coverage with a variety of moves. Plus if he beats press, he’s gone.
• Catches with his hands, showed much improvement from 2015 to 2016 (6 drops on 36 targets to 1 drop on 17 targets).
• Played every facet of special teams and was a captain, can contribute there right away for an NFL team.

Biggest concern:

• Not a big route variety. While he showed some nice breaks on in and out routes, he rarely ran them. Almost exclusively a “take the top off” receiver in college.
• Didn’t show much after the catch in terms of making guys miss. Forced only three missed tackles in three years.
• Not a lot of experience on contested jump balls. Doesn’t mean he can’t win those, just rarely saw them in college.

Player comparison: Mike Wallace, Baltimore Ravens

Few receivers had the straightaway speed of Wallace in his prime, but Hollins looks every bit the part. Wallace could run right past a defender, and if he caught it there was no catching him. Wallace was a raw route runner coming out of college, and while he improved, he’s always been a deep-threat receiver first and foremost. Hollins on the field looks very similar to early Wallace, except he’s taller.

Bottom line: Hollins is a big-time sleeper in this draft. Hardly anyone is talking about him but his tape is extremely impressive. He scored 20 touchdowns in three seasons at UNC, and 15 of them were on deep passes (20-plus yards in the air). Almost all of them looked the exact same, with Hollins blowing past a defender or two, catching it in stride and gliding into the end zone. He’s still a work in progress, as his route-running isn’t perfect. But his game speed and deep-threat ability is so off-the-charts on tape that he has the potential to be a very good NFL receiver. He also adds instant special teams impact, which teams should covet.