STRENGTHS
Riley is a tall receiver with good speed and excellent hands to catch the ball. He has a big catch radius and will make the acrobatic catch when he is expected, to step up. Riley will go over the middle and has some run after the catch skills using a semi stiff arm to keep players off his legs to gain those yards. He knows where he is on the field and can move the chains when he is expected too. Riley is smart and like I stated before will step up when the pressure is put on him to step up. He has all then skills, size, speed and route running savvy, to be a top receiver for the team that selects him.
CONCERNS
This year Riley’s route running lacked the same quickness and savvy it has in the past and because of a lack of strength in his upper and lower body, physical defensive backs could easily push him off his routes. This will be magnified at the next level. Riley looks to be more of a follower, than a leader and sometimes followers tend to have goals that are not the same as team goals because they tend to follow only one person. Of course, his goals or lack of, is all conjecture on my part.
TALENT BOARD ROUND 3.67
I believe there is more to Riley’s talent then he has shown at the college level. That is a good thing and a bad thing. Riley’s stats are better but his overall play and route running was shockingly poor compared to other years. Just about every route he ran, started off with him doing a stutter step, opening up his chest to the defender and then coming off the line the same way every single time. His ability to separate this year seemed to be a big problem compared to the film of him in other years. He quickness was not near what it was in his freshman year. So, what is a Draftnik to think? I’ll tell you what this Draftnik thinks…I think Riley is a follower and not a leader and if he gets with the right QB and coach that can push the right buttons that Riley can become very productive as a number 2 receiver for at least his first contract but after that who knows? He reminds me a lot of former Buffalo Bills 2d round pick, in the 1999 Draft, Peerless Price. (Look him up, I can’t do everything for you). For Peerless first contract, he was productive but still the Bills traded him to the Falcons for a first-round pick and the Falcons signed him for big money and even though Peerless showed up and played, no one could find him on the field ever again. But he got his money!
