STRENGTHS
Nathaniel is an explosive impact receiver. He is a threat to take the ball to the house on any play. He is quick and fast and has a chameleon-like vision that can see tackles coming at him from 2 different directions at once. I also believe like a chameleon Nate can change the colors of his jersey while running routes because no one seems to be able to identify him or stay close to him on any route he runs. He shows excellent hands and a bigger catch radius than you would think for a player his size. Nate’s ability to gain yards after the catch with moves I haven’t seen since the Lions RB Barry Sanders will make everyone in the stadium have to see him in slow motion on the big screen, to understand what they just saw. He can return kicks and punts and make special teams coordinators stay up nights. Nate is the type of player who can handle the ball 5 times in a game, score 3 TD’s, and gain 100 yards between receiving and special teams. That’s the definition of an impact offensive player.
CONCERNS
As we all know, Size matters when it comes to the draft and Nate is listed at the Senior Bowl at 5’8” and 163lbs. Make him 5’10 190 and Nate would be the 1st receiver off the board in the draft because there is no one with his production. If you can keep up with Nate’s quickness and speed you might be able to out-physical him and push him off his routes, that’s if you can keep up with him, and not many can.
BOTTOM LINE: 1.44
Most of the time players with Nate’s size will not be selected until the third round or later. But as I always say, there are exceptions to every rule and Nate just might be that exception. He scored 12 TD’s in 2021 and 17 TD’s in 2022 gaining over 1300 yards in both years. That means game planning for him not only didn’t slow his production down, it increased it. I know he is small but his impact isn’t. Like T Y Hilton he doesn’t take the big hit because of his chameleon-like eyes to see the hit coming and either get away from it or lessen the hit. Here is the catch, Bills RB Devin Singletary in a three-year college career ran for 4,287 yds and scored a total of 66 TD’s rushing, and in one-year 2017, scored 32 TD’s alone, and he wasn’t selected until the third round after running a 4.66, forty at the combine. Of course, Nate and Devin play different positions but scoring TD’s is scoring TD’s and impact is impact no matter what position you play. If Nate runs a 4.3 or under it will be very interesting at what round he is selected in but that doesn’t change his talent or ability to impact at the next level. Just the money. For me personally, I hope my playoff team selects him in the 1st Rd because I’m not sure there is any other offensive player who can impact like Nate (The Chameleon) Dell in this draft the day after you draft him. Remember, I’m not here to tell you what round a player will be selected only to tell you his talent and what I think his impact will be.
