STRENGTHS
Cedric is a long-striding receiver who shows on film the size, strength, and overall athletic talent to be a top receiver for the team that selects him. He is a good blocker and shows strong hands and body to catch the contested pass in any situation. Cedric has the body type that can be a big benefit when he is lined up in the Red Zone. He also has those long strides that make it easy for him to get separation off his cuts before a defensive back can recover to catch up to him. His size, long strides, and strong hands makes Cedric a weapon in the Red Zone for smart strong-armed quarterbacks. Cedric has the talent and size teams look for in the top receivers for the next level. He also does a good job blocking and has proven to have the type of work ethic needed to be more than just a receiver at the next level.
CONCERNS
Cedric has a lot of work to do learning to run better routes but I believe he has the work ethic to complete that task rather quickly. He will also need to improve his mental toughness and add some bulk. Cedric will have to learn to use his body more to gain separation on some routes against single coverages. Although Cedric is athletic he struggles to adjust to the ball in the air and make that acrobatic catch that will bail out his QB. Of course, realize that I am, nitpicking here.
BOTTOM LINE: 2.17
Cedric can go deep, and because of his long strides the deeper he goes the more separation he gets but going deep will require from him, improvement in his route running in general. He is not a quick-twitch athlete and he lacks the fluidness to run all the routes on the route tree. That being said, he shows the athletic talent to run better routes when you see him blocking. Blocking in the open field requires the fluid hips needed to run routes. (That’s a little Cliff Clavin information) Cedric is a pretty good overall receiver right now but if he works hard and wants it bad enough he could turn into a franchise receiver. He could be the kind of receiver that makes the touchdown or moves the chains when everyone in the stadium knows the ball has to go to him. If that never happens you still will have a pretty good complementary receiver.
