Meet DaMarkus Lodge The Underrated WR That Can Turn Into A Starter For The Redskins

DaMarkus Lodge, WR
School: Ole Miss | Conference: SEC
College Experience: Senior | Age: 21
Height / Weight: 6-2 / 199 lbs
Projected Draft Status: 3rd or 4th Round
NFL Comparison: Tyler Boyd

College Statistics (There were two separate records on SRCFB for some reason)

Player Overview

DaMarkus Lodge was a 4-star recruit who initially committed to Texas A&M before he pulled his commitment and gave it to Ole Miss instead. When talking about Ole Miss WR’s Lodge typically doesn’t get the same love that his teammates D.K. Metcalf and A.J. Brown do. But Lodge should definitely be mentioned more. In my opinion he is better than his teammate Brown and I would rank these 3 future NFL wideouts as follows: Metcalf, Lodge, Brown. His coach Matt Luke says he is the best route runner on the team.

“As far as (from) a route-running standpoint, he’s the fastest. . .He’s very, very twitchy. He comes out of his routes. He can run the whole route tree. He’s very, very explosive and somebody you have to account for.” - Matt Luke Ole Miss Head Coach

Luke also praised Lodge’s growth in maturity, sportsmanship, and support for his teammates. You can see how unselfish Lodge is when the ball doesn’t come to him. He still runs his routes with 100% effort and is probably one of the best blocking receivers in this draft class. Lodge is underrated now but he won’t be for much longer. He should be a solid option for a team looking for a starting quality receiver who has refined fundamentals and who is both a threat on the boundary and as a deep option.

Strengths

• Good size and athleticism for the position with a focus on deep speed.
• Good route runner who pays attention to the details. Focuses on his craft at the LOS when getting off and setting up the defender.
• Excellent body control with solid understanding of NFL two feet down rule. Excellent at tracking the ball in the air.
• Uses his long arms to high point the ball. Is able to make contested catches in tight coverage. Strong hands.
• Unselfish player. Will literally lay opponents out to make space for his teammates on the run.

Weaknesses

• Has long speed but slow acceleration. It takes a few paces for him to get up to top speed doesn’t create much separation those first 10-20 yards.
• Doesn’t always maintain focus throughout the process suffered from some concentration drops.
• Lacks short area elusiveness. Doesn’t have a lot of moves to avoid defenders after he gets off the LOS.

Let’s see his work:

How He Would Fit On The Redskins

In a lot of ways I think Lodge could be what the Redskins were hoping Robert Davis and to a degree Josh Doctson would develop into. A receiver with size and length with good fundamentals that also has the athleticism to stretch the field. Because of injury, lack of development, poor QB play, and poor offense in general most recently both current Redskins have not worked out he way the staff and the fandom had hoped they would. Lodge could represent the start of a rebuild for a unit that badly needs improvement in just about all areas. Lodge has his faults few of which he can change but he has the polish and fundamentals to succeed in the NFL. What is most impressive about him to me is his ability to get off the LOS quickly as well as his body control and ability to snatch the ball out of the air. These may seem like no brainer skills for a WR but they have been missed on offense for this team. There are faster, quicker, shifter WRs in this draft but Lodge is definitely a safer pick than his counterparts that will go a round or two earlier in my opinion. Additionally he has a great work ethic and attitude and can skill have an impact on the field even if the ball isn’t coming his way though his route running and his blocking ability.