Courtland Sutton Has Some WR1 Traits Will He Be A Boom Or Bust?

Courtland Sutton, WR
School: SMU | Conference: AAC
College Experience: rJr | Age: 22
Height / Weight: 6-3 / 218 lbs
Projected Draft Status: 1st Round or 2nd Round
NFL Comparison: Julio Jones

College Statistics

Player Overview

Courtland Sutton was a 3-star prospect out of Brenham, Texas. He was a safety coming out of high school but was converted to wide receiver once he arrived at SMU. Sutton has produced a lot at SMU and has put himself in a position to be one of the first wide receivers drafted later this month. At the combine, during interviews, he admitted that the biggest weakness of his game was getting separation. To improve that weakness he had been working with former NFL receiver Anquan Boldin who was one of the best possession receivers in the league at one point and was known for his physicality. Sutton is a big bodied WR that wins with his size and physicality. He is also a good athlete. He uses his body to box out defenders and is effective at all three levels on the field. Sutton has the physical profile and skill set to develop into a WR1 but as he already said he must learn how to consistently create separation, at times he suffers from concentration drops and must learn to rely on his fundamentals and technique rather than defaulting to his physical skills. Sutton is one of the biggest traits prospects in this draft the team that drafts him in the first couple of rounds will hope he can develop into the WR1 molds of Julio Jones, Dez Bryant, and Demaryius Thomas.

Strengths

• Excellent size and good athleticism and speed for the position.
• Generally very reliable as a pass catcher. He can come away with some tough catches and wins a lot of 50/50 balls with his length and strong hands. He is effective at every level of the field and can cause damage on short, intermediate, and deep routes. He is also unafraid to work the middle of the field in addition to the sideline.
• Uses his size as a weapon and boxes out defenders and can overpower them at the catch point. Has a great catch radius and can match up with more physical corners. A red zone threat.
• Active as a blocker in the run game and might be one of the best in the class at it as a receiver.

Weaknesses

• Relies on his physical skills more than fundamentals an technique. Route running needs attention to detail in particular.
• Long speed is good but he doesn't have the extra gear where he can pull away. He creates separation with his size and leaping ability.
• Suffers from concentration drops.
• Level of competition concerns based on his production against better defenses like TCU and UCF.

Let's see his work:

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How He Would Fit On The Redskins

I think Courtland Sutton is one of the biggest boom or bust prospects in this draft. Thankfully I don’t think the Redskins need to find a WR1 in the draft as they may already have one on the roster. Sutton certainly does have an intriguing physical skill set and if he is developed and figure things out he could be dominant in a few years. He needs a lot of work though and will not be able to overpower NFL defenders the way he was able to in college. His production against top competition this year is also concerning. Sutton did endure inconsistent QB play during his time at SMU and I think the make or break factor in his development will be improving his route running to a high level and knowing when to play when to play with finesse as well as power. If the Redskins didn’t go out and sign Paul Richardson this year there might be room to spend a high pick on a WR this year but I cant see it now. We’ll see how Sutton develops - if he develops well lets hope its out of the NFC East.