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Garrett Wilson is a scary, fast, and natural route runner coming out of Ohio State. Wilson can make the big-time plays in the slot and out wide. He has first-round talent and is capable of developing into an NFL defense’s nightmare.
Garrett Wilson Profile
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Garrett Wilson Combine/Pro Day Results
Garrett Wilson Scouting Report
Garrett Wilson was a five-star wide receiver coming out of high school. In his first year as a True Freshman, Garrett was an essential backup for the Buckeyes. He even made a significant impact in the National Championship semi-final game against Clemson.
In 2020, he took over the starting slot receiver position and earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors, helping lead his team to the National Championship game.
Wilson set himself apart from the competition last season, earning Second-Team Associated Press All-American honors and Second-Team All-Big Ten honors. He had 70 receptions, 1,058 receiving yards, and 12 touchdowns, along with four rushing attempts for 76 yards and a touchdown.
Strengths
Garrett Wilson is a great wide receiver with scary speed and arguably the best route-running ability in the entire draft. He can make defensive backs look lost in man coverage with his innate body control.
He quickly changes direction and has elite cuts in routes to give his quarterbacks adequate space to get him the ball. Even in 50-50 ball situations, Garrett has proved time and time again that he can make tough catches with his insane catch radius, hang-time in the air, and strong hands.
He is also a great ball carrier due to his body control and speed. During his time at Ohio State, he made a massive impact as a run-after-catch type of receiver and was able to juke plenty of would-be tacklers. Garrett was a good punt returner at Ohio State and could be just as lethal on special teams in the NFL as well.
Weaknesses
Garrett Wilson has a smaller frame and below-average strength, which may be an issue in the NFL. When pressed by man coverage, he struggles with getting free on linear vertical route releases. He has also tended to get too creative with his route-running, which has caused timing issues with the quarterback not being able to get the ball out quickly.
He is not a finished product coming out of Ohio State and will most likely become a project for whatever NFL team that decides to draft him. He needs to work on perfecting his natural and shifty route-running into a more consistent and efficient route-running that benefits the quarterbacks in the NFL.
Lastly, he needs to work on his strength to become more physical with the defenders, or he will end up being overpowered by taller and stronger defensive backs.
Trait-Based Projection
Garrett Wilson needs a lot of work before becoming a solid go-to wideout in his NFL career. He possesses excellent speed and raw route-running ability that will need to be developed more.
In his first couple of seasons, he will most likely be implemented at the slot position and will be a great shifty threat for any NFL team. Once he becomes more robust and an experienced route runner, Wilson then has a chance to work his way up the depth chart to WR1 and play more of a role as a wideout.
Analytics Corner
Wilson comes in at #2 in Football Outsiders/ESPN’s “Playmaker Score”. If you are not familiar, the Playmaker Score is a Football Outsiders original metric that uses regression within particular statistical attributes and calibrates them appropriately to correlate to longterm NFL Success.
According to Sports Info Solutions, Wilson’s resume includes some interesting stat splits. Right off the bat, Wilson was Sports Info Solutions’ number one ranked WR in Total Points Per Game (SIS flagship metric that ties an individual player’s contributions to a team’s chances of winning the game) at 4.1 TP/G. Notably, this stat was NOT buoyed by volume, given Wilson had the same ranking when looking at total points per route run (i.e., it's not just that old Texas Tech WR who scored 15 targets a game propping up his total score).
Additionally, one of Wilson’s stronger advanced stat splits is relative to what he does with the ball after the catch. According to Sports Info Solutions, Wilson broke or forced a missed tackle .29 times per reception. This resulted in a 3rd place ranking among his draftable peers. This bodes well given the mini-shift in the offensive scheme we have seen in the league (especially with the 49ers and Rams), targeting WRs that can make things happen with the football in the middle part of the field after the catch.
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