STRENGTHS
N’Keal is a powerful receiver with excellent speed and lateral agility. He has strong hands and has the athleticism to adjust to the ball in the air. He loves being physical and catching the contested pass. He is an excellent run after the catch receiver, with the change of direction skills to leave tacklers crasping for air if they are not quick enough to tackle him. He is a match up nightmare for smaller defensive backs and has the size, strength and speed to be used in the slot especially in the red zone. N’Keal specialty is catching the contested pass any place on the field and this makes him a third down weapon for the team that selects him.
CONCERNS
Right now, at the college level, N’Keal is a bigger and stronger athlete than most of the opponents. Because he is such a physical receiver he doesn’t worry about separating or running precise routes. He is the type of receiver the quarterback throwing to him will have to trust that he will come down with the ball and until that trust can be developed getting the ball too him will be difficult. He has to improve his route running to be able to gain that trust.
TALENT BOARD ROUND 1.58
N’Keal has the same type of talent and potential to impact as former NFL Receivers Terrell Owens and Michael Irvin but he has to get serious about improving his route running because the corners at the next level will match his strength. The corners at the next level will drop him right on the line of scrimmage, and push him off his routes and screw up the timing of the passing play unless N’Keal gets serious about improving his route running. When Terrel came into the NFL he struggled being consistent catching the ball. Michael Irvin didn’t break out until his third year in the NFL because he improved his route running and gain Troy Aikman’s trust. I’m not suggest both players didn’t play well at first, all I’m saying is, it took time because trust is the key for a physical receive to develop with their QB. N’Keal has excellent potential but only after he gains the trust of his QB and learns to run better routes and learns to run all of the route tree.
