This year’s class of pass catchers is incredibly impressive at the top end. There are three legitimate wide receivers who could easily be top 5 picks in most years’ drafts if they weren’t competing against each other for the top spot in 2024 and a tight end talent who could transform the position if he lives up to his potential and is put into the right situation.
There’s a tier break behind these elite four pass catchers – and, in my opinion, another tier break after the fifth pass catcher – but there’s so much talent in this year’s draft that you can make a case for each of these receivers to excel in the NFL. Once we get through the top five pass catchers, we’ll make a quick case for and against each of the remaining intriguing prospects.
Of course, we have to start with the presumed #1 receiver coming off of the board in the upcoming draft.
Marvin Harrison Jr. – Wide Receiver, Ohio State
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 205 lbs
Year: Junior
Age: 21.7
NFL Player Comparison: His Dad, if his Dad was bigger.
Marvin Harrison Jr. is going to make a quarterback very, very happy. He’s truly one of the best receiving prospects in years who, simply put, does everything right.
He has a tall, slender frame with extremely good twitchy movements to throw off defenders when making breaks on his routes and elite level ball skills at the point of catch. His release off the line is both quick and smooth allowing him to get the defender out of position with his first step. But he can also bring the speed to take the lid off of defences once he has his man beat. His ball tracking ability is second to none, as he’s able to escape from defenders with his smooth stride and track down the deep ball anywhere it’s thrown on his side of the field.
His tape is honestly incredible. His height doesn’t hinder his ability to sink his hips and snap off his routes making him an absolute beast in the short to intermediate routes, and his hands are amongst the best in the class. He’s unmatched at catching the ball at the point of contact, which further exemplifies his level of concentration and refined hand technique. He faced more double coverage than any other wide receiver this past season in college football and still averaged 18.1 yards per reception en route to 1,211 yards and 14 touchdowns.
He’ll carve out an excellent career in the NFL because he’s just so clean. Every aspect of his game is at minimum good with many aspects of playing wide receiver in the great to excellent tier. Beyond that, he’ll give his quarterback layup routes on almost every snap. He can beat both zone and press coverages with ease. Despite only being recruited as a four-star prospect, Harrison was easily the best receiver in college football despite the Buckeyes transitioning from C.J. Stroud to Kyle McCord at quarterback from 2022 to 2023. Which, no disrespect to McCord, was a massive drop off.
The only knock on Harrison that I can listen to is that he isn’t “exceptional” at getting yards after the catch. Harrison’s lean body type doesn’t give him a ton of armour and he’ll struggle to power through tackles. He strangely also isn’t a huge YAC player. He’s able to show elite speed while getting in and out of his routes, and has a ton of ability as a runner with the ball in his hands, but he’s yet to show that he can break tackles (only credited with four broken tackles in 2023). Because of his slender frame, Harrison won’t be a major factor when it comes to outside blocking at the next level. He’ll be more of a decoy than anything in the team’s run game, but if you’re drafting Harrison to be a blocker, I question your entire team’s philosophy.
Harrison also seems to have the proper mindset to become a high level athlete. He initially refused any NIL deal once he committed to Ohio State because he didn’t want them to be a distraction, and even his Dad went to the media to try and convince Harrison that he needs to be a bit more of a “diva” and demand the ball more in the offence. Harrison also opted to not partake in any of the combine testing, choosing instead to focus on actual football drills during his offseason. Spending three months learning how to be a sprinter just to run one 40-yard dash is a ludacris proposition in my opinion, and Harrison will be better off not wasting that time. If a team wants to know if he’s fast enough, just check the tape. He has elite football speed, and that will translate over to any league.
Harrison is my number two ranked player on the big board (barely behind Caleb Williams). Ohio State is a wide receiver factory, and Harrison became the first pass catcher in school history with multiple 1,000 yard seasons and set the school record with fifteen 100 receiving yard games. He’s a two year starter and even made a transition to running more routes from the slot after working primarily as an outside receiver working the boundaries in 2022.
There isn’t much else to say about Harrison. He’s the most sure fire prospect in this year’s draft. I put his NFL floor at becoming Mike Evans, a ten time 1,000 yard receiver and a future Hall of Famer, and his ceiling at becoming one of the best receivers of all time. He has dominant receiving traits and can win from anywhere on the field because of his natural athletic gifts and incredible route running. His dedication to constantly taking the time to get better will lock him in as an all-pro for years to come.
Whoever ends up with the first pick after the presumed early quarterback run will be getting themselves an elite wide receiver to build an entire offence around.
-Devon Gallant
Twitter: @DevGallant
Photo: Alexander Jonesi. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.