The Bengals changed the game for everyone around the league and took a risk on getting their young QB a weapon instead of giving him the protection that most thought they should have. There seems to be a sense of urgency from teams around the league to get their young QB’s a young weapon on offense to grow with each other. The Jets so far are trying their best to get a true WR1 around Zach Wilson, just around a month ago the Jets were one decision away from getting Tyreek Hill which would have launched Wilson’s career. As the Jets actively check up on the WR trade market the draft is just about a week away and there’s some real good talent in the receiver room. That’s where you insert Drake London into this conversation and today I’ll be trying to convince you why he should be our selection at 10.
Strengths:
London stands 6’3 weighing 219 pounds and could be the big “f it he’s somewhere down there” type of guy for Wilson. London is mainly known for his ability to win contested balls and he’s really good at doing that. Even though he didn’t participate in the combine you can tell from the film that he has an insane vertical. And pair that with his amazing ability to extend and tuck he’s gonna be a problem for all CB’s. Now when you bring London up to anyone they’ll bring up his ability to get no separation but like you have to understand he’s a big man, he’s not gonna run routes like guys like Elijah Moore or Kadarius Toney. But with that in mind London is a really solid route runner and is really clean with his breaks and has a deep bag of tools that always keeps the CB’s clueless. Then once he brings the ball down he’s really good at getting yards after the catch, he doesn’t have that top end acceleration to get around people but he will fight 5-6 yards for you with people on his back. That’s one thing I like the most about London is his constant effort in blocking, routes, and YAC. As of right now the Jets don’t have a true Red Zone threat and haven’t had one since Brandon Marshall , London would instantly change that, if you just turned on his highlights you’ll see if Wilson throws a 50/50 up London will probably come down with it and really help the Jets become a better Red Zone team. London also has some insane body control for his size with his adjusting mid-air from getting hit, the ability to hurdle full grown men and still be able to maintain balance, he’s just inhuman sometimes. Before going down with injury, London was on a DeVonta Smith season type of pace with 88 receptions, 1,084 yards, and 7 TD while being 33% of the Trojans offense last season statistically. The defense knew the ball was going to London 1 out of 3 passing plays and they still couldn’t stop him, oww you want to play inside leverage against him? Well he’s shown multiple times he can win slant routes while the CB has inside leverage which isn’t the easiest to do. All in all, London can really be the key piece for this offense with his ability to win downfield which will open up more room for Elijah Moore and open up the run game, give Wilson a guy who he can chuck up the ball to and you’ll see results quickly.
Weaknesses:
Now I’m a fair guy so now I’ll be giving you the other side of the ball for Drako. The 1st major thing to point out is that London will be coming back from a fractured ankle and at his Pro Day it looked perfectly fine and said he’ll 100% be ready for training camp. London was performing hard turns and cuts on that ankle during Pro Day to prove that he’s perfectly fine and he’s ready to contribute. Now onto film, London one of the first things that pop up is his below average speed, now it’s above average for his size but it’s not an ideal overall speed for a NFL WR. Now with his size that also impacts his lateral quickness and his ability to make sharper cuts and that leads to a lot of dead time on his routes. London isn’t really good at selling his breaks and doesn’t really get into his break step, his selling of double moves is also lacking. Other then that the rest of his weaknesses are really mechanical, he leans back on breaks too much and a little too much jazz at the line of scrimmage.
TheDyspatch 