STRENGTHS
Courtland is a big, strong, long legged, and long arm receiver with excellent speed. He gains separation because of his long strides that will cover four yards in two strides. Courtland likes to be physical and although he has the advantage of size against most opponents he doesn’t shy off his routes when running across the field. He has a lot of “nasty” to his game and inside the red zone has no problems using his big body to his advantage. Cortland is a lot faster than most people give him credit for and this year has improved his route running changing gears easily to get himself open. The improvement this year in his change of direction skills and suddenness has shown the ability to improve and take to coaching with excellent maturity. Courtland shows the good hands and quick eye/hand coordination along with excellent body control to adjust to the ball in the air and to catch passes that get to him a little bit quicker than he might have anticipated. He has the talent to be a franchise receiver for the team that selects him and if you doubt that because of the level of competition all I can say is you need to watch more film.

CONCERNS
Courtland has maturity issues on the field and players who are immature on the field send red flags of possible problems off the field. That being said, my off the field immaturity concerns are total conjecture on my part but my on field immaturity concerns are fact and backed up by film. Courtland will drop some balls and his ability to run deep routes come with concerns about his route running but overall this kid (talent wise) has franchise receiver written all over him. It’s up to you if you want to bring a player into your locker room with these immature on the field issues in the hope that he matures right before your very eyes.

BOTTOM LINE
Is Courtland a Dez Bryant clone? The answer for me is yes in just about every way. That means you have to weigh the talent against how much disruption he might be on the field and in the locker room. Remember I’m a former business man and I look at the draft from not only talent but from a business point of view. Although Courtland has the potential to be a franchise receiver I’m not convinced I want that type of on field immature behavior in my house. I’m thinking he acts like this now…how will he act after I give him over a million dollars? Sure I can write a contract that could limit him being paid if he miss- behaves but isn’t that like closing the barn door after the horse gets out? Courtland will be selected in the 1st round I suspect by a team willing to put up with his immaturity. But for me, if I’m a coach or a GM or an owner I’m not willing to go to bat and select this kid early in the draft process. Do you know why? Let me tell you why, I know I won’t get fired if I pass on him but I will get fired if I select him and his immaturity on or off the field permeates the team and he becomes a media negative sensation. The question is… do you have the guts to pass on a potential franchise receiver if you suspect adding him to your team is the key to getting into the Super Bowl? You have to but a grade on him so the next question is how many rounds will you let go by before you do select him? For me talent is 1st round immaturity is 7th round so I figure if by some reason he is sitting there in the third or fourth round I would be willing to take a chance but we all know he will be selected before that… unless something happens between now and the draft.

Drew Boylhart   FEB.2018