STRENGTHS
Ian has so much hidden talent that watching him on film makes me feel like I just found a great new dinner with delicious food before anyone else. He has excellent hand/eye coordination and big hands to snare a pass out of the air. He has a quick burst off the line getting into his routes quickly. Ian does a good job blocking and gives good effort on every play. In the Senior Bowl practices his pass catching talents stood out. He is a sneaky pass catcher having the ability to not raise his arms to signal a pass is on its way right until he is ready to catch the ball. He has a big catch radius and although his college team used him mostly as a blocker, Ian talents to catch the ball will be a surprise to most when watching him on film. Ian is a developmental player at this point in his career but his natural pass catching talent should allow him to be useful until he learns the intricacies of his position.

CONCERNS
Ian was used more as a H-back, blocking close to the line and in the back field. His blocking techniques and rout running skills are not where they should be at this point in his career. I suspect as soon as he gets drafted and receives better coaching Ian will improve dramatically and quickly.

BOTTOM LINE
With just a little bit of coaching and correcting at the Senior Bowl practices, Ian became a stand out player. His receiving potential is of the charts and he can become a good blocker as soon as he learns to finish his blocks better. On film I see a player who is not sure and is thinking all the time when he is running his routes. He is also running his routes exactly how they are put up on the board and although that is a good thing it also means he lacks the instincts of route running and the understanding of spacing and down and distance concepts. Ian also needs to finish his routes and expect the ball when he is not the hot receiver. He has a tendency to once again run his route and then slow up because he thinks the ball is going to another receiver. Ian is hungry to learn. I saw that with his dramatic improvement at those Senior Bowl practices and his natural talent to mask when the ball is in the air means he will be the type of receiver who is open when he doesn’t look like he is open. That means as soon as a quarterback starts to trust Ian to catch the ball even when he looks like he is not open, Ian becomes the pass catching machine that I see on film. Ian is a tough player to tackle also because of his powerful lower body and that means, at some point he becomes one of the main cogs in a team’s passing offense and a touchdown maker similar to the Eagles pass catching Tight End Zack Ertz. Of course having the potential to be as good as Zack doesn’t mean Ian is at that level right now. It will take some time and a lot of hard work by Ian but he does have that potential.

Drew Boylhart   APR.2018