There may be no draft name hotter right now than Henry Ruggs III. When you run a 4.27 40-yard dash at the combine (best among all players in attendance), post a 42-inch vertical jump (tied for second among all players) and a 131-inch broad jump (tied for fourth among wide receivers), that’s going to happen. The video of him posterizing helpless high schoolers and pulling out in-game dunk-contest jams only stoked that fire.
Henry Ruggs recorded a 4.27 in the 40 at the NFL combine yesterday. Here he is showing his athleticism in high school. (video via @hudl, JG Images, @__RUGGS) pic.twitter.com/WxK6slUuwA
— Hoopmixtape.com (@Hoopmixtape) February 28, 2020
Ruggs now sits at 10th on the PFF Big Board, up from 20th in the previous edition, and it seems increasingly likely that he won’t be available to teams looking for help at the wide receiver position in the mid- to late-portion of the first round.
The interesting part of Ruggs’ rise and his current top-10 status in the class is that he never produced the volume you would expect from a player of his caliber. Ruggs never had more than 46 receptions or 744 receiving yards in a season. You’re not often going to look at a production profile like this and feel comfortable taking the guy at the top-end of the first round, especially when injuries weren’t a contributing factor to the limited output. With Ruggs’ tape and traits, though, it’s hard not to feel comfortable.
Ruggs’ college production is an outlier
Players as efficient as Ruggs are generally targeted at a high rate. This equation changes a little bit when you’re part of an offense that has the top wide receiver in a loaded 2020 draft class (Jerry Jeudy), along with the No. 2 (DeVonta Smith) and No. 4 (Jaylen Waddle) receivers returning to the college ranks next season.
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