*Our TE grades can and will change as more information comes in from Pro Day workouts, leaked Wonderlic test results, etc. We will update ratings as new info becomes available.
**Our TE formulas had some slight changes in the offseason—an adjustment to better identify and value TE prospects that are smaller physically and are primed for the era ahead...the era of Jordan Reed and Delanie Walker-type TEs. Our historical grades will have changed some on various prospects as well, to show their grades by comparison.
Our Quick Hit (QH) scouting reports are a modified/shorter version of our full-scale reports. On these Quick Hits, I look at a lesser amount of tape and write a shorter amount of flowy words – these are usually designed more for sleeper prospects that I want to get more acquainted with and if something really jumps out, I’ll go deeper. It’s just me trying to get in and get out and deliver the pertinent notes to you for your consideration and for review later if they start to make waves in a year or two.
I’ll do a chunk of these pre-Draft and then more after the Draft, going through the players that caught my attention in the draft (because of how high they were taken) or that I stumble across in training camp or the preseason that catch my eye.
Most of my notes on these Quick Hits will be short and sweet bullet points versions of our full-scale reports. Enjoy…
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I’ve been wanting to look deeper at this guy for a month+. I got info on him late in the pre-Draft process and couldn’t get to his study in time for the NFL Draft and just graded him via computer/data metrics only for the Draft…no tape analysis or report then.
When you get data on a legit 6’7.5” WR prospect turning TE prospect with 35” arms, 10.5” hands and ran a virtual Pro Day 40-time in the 4.6/4.7 range with a sub 7.0 three-cone…you gotta get hyped about it. Catching 10 TDs…or 77% of his teams passing TDs is an eyecatcher as well.
John went undrafted and signed with the Giants…but let’s look at more background on that: Rysen John played for Canadian college Simon Fraser, the only Canadian college playing US teams. He went undrafted in the NFL but was a 3rd-round pick in the CFL. He may very well end up in the CFL…but his size and ability got several NFL teams inquiring on him pre-Draft and he signed with the first team who called him, and that was the Giants…5 minutes after the NFL Draft ended.
I watched some of his work to get a better feel and here are the notes I took in no particular order…
Player Notes:
-- 53 catches, 861 yards, 10 TDs in 10 games in 2019…his breakout season. Note his team only threw for 2,386 yards and 13 TDs in 2019. Also, note – his team was terrible…1-9 on the season, playing way over their head most games. His team was outscored 481 to 130 for the season. His production, in that light, is noticeable/laudable.
-- Watching tape, you immediately see the size…he’s all of 6’7”+ and just towers over small school defenders.
-- I was impressed with his footwork, especially for his size…John really gets off the snap with quick feet and makes fairly sharp cuts. At a glance, he looks like he could be too gangly and rough getting out of the blocks/off the snap – but don’t let the first glance fool you…he moves really well for his size/long legs.
-- His long speed is ‘slow’…and looks even slower because of the big steps/strides he takes. His 4.6-4.7 range 40-time is the reason he makes a little more sense to move to TE. He shows speed against small colleges as a WR, but he’d be ‘slow’ in the NFL as a WR…the move to TE is logical.
-- Pretty solid hands. Makes nice catches over the top of defenders with his size/reach, but the defenders he is working against are not great for comparison/evaluation. I did see him get doubled a bunch, especially in the red zone/end zone but he often found a way just via height advantage.
-- John is 230+ pounds…but needs to get to 240-245+ in the NFL with his 6’7”+ frame. I’m not sure his body will easily allow that to happen. But he must add 10+ pounds of muscle to make it in the NFL. His upper body is too thin right now.
Rysen John, Through the Lens of Our TE Scouting Algorithm:
-- Caught 28% of his teams completed passes, 36% of the team’s passing yards, and 70%+ of their passing TDs in 2019 season.
-- Caught 10 TDs in 2019…next best on his team was two TD catches.
-- John caught 6 TDs passes in 2018, 33% of his team’s tally for that season.
-- Three 140+ yard games in 2019.
The Historical TE Prospects to Whom Rysen John Most Compares Within Our System:
All the names on here make sense to me – it’s either big college WRs, so big they moved to TE (Mathews, Waller, McEvoy) or former college basketball players who never played football and tried to make it in the NFL (Chichester, Harris).
If history serves…it will be 2-3 years before we find out John successfully converted or not. Instant or quick success is probably not in the NFL cards for Rysen John.
|
TE Grade |
TE-Reed |
Last |
First |
Yr |
College |
H |
H |
W |
Spd-Agil Metric |
Strgth Blxing Metric |
Hands Metric |
|
6.577 |
5.16 |
John |
Rysen |
2020 |
Simon Fraser |
6 |
7.0 |
237 |
7.71 |
0.38 |
6.27 |
|
3.728 |
5.33 |
Chichester |
Josh |
2012 |
Louisville |
6 |
6.0 |
233 |
7.86 |
0.23 |
5.71 |
|
5.646 |
6.66 |
Mathews |
Mitch |
2016 |
BYU |
6 |
6.5 |
222 |
9.63 |
-3.23 |
9.97 |
|
7.933 |
6.25 |
Waller |
Darren |
2015 |
Ga Tech |
6 |
6.1 |
238 |
12.63 |
1.87 |
9.48 |
|
2.450 |
3.31 |
McEvoy |
Tanner |
2016 |
Wisconsin |
6 |
5.7 |
230 |
2.37 |
-0.76 |
5.33 |
|
6.149 |
4.97 |
Harris |
Demetrius |
2013 |
Wisc.-Milw |
6 |
6.3 |
241 |
9.36 |
0.66 |
7.50 |
|
8.431 |
8.00 |
Green |
Ladarius |
2012 |
La-Lafayette |
6 |
5.6 |
238 |
9.82 |
2.44 |
11.79 |
*A score of 7.0+ is where we start to take a TE prospect more seriously. A score of 8.50+ is where we see a stronger correlation of TEs going on to become NFL good/great/elite. A score of 10.00+ is more rarefied air in our system and indicates a greater probability of becoming an elite NFL TE.
All of the TE ratings are based on a 0–10 scale, but a player can score negative, or above a 10.0 in certain instances.
**The ‘TE-Reed’ score is in honor of Jordan Reed’s 2015 season…looking at TEs in a different manner—the smaller, speedy receiving threats.
“Speed-Agility Metric” = A combination of unique metrics surrounding speed, agility, physical size, mixed with some on-field performance metrics. High scorers here project to have a better YAC and show characteristics to be used as deep threats/create separation.
“Power-Strength Metric” = A combination of unique metrics surrounding physical size profiling, bench press strength, etc. High scorers here project to be more physical, better blockers, and less injury-prone.
“Hands Metric” = A combination of unique metrics surrounding on-field performance in college, considering the strength of opponents played. Furthermore, this data considers some physical profiling for hand size, etc. High scorers here have a better track record of college statistical performance, and project the combination of data for receiving success at the next level.
2020 NFL Draft Outlook:
UDFA signee for the NY Giants.
3rd-round pick in the CFL.
NFL Outlook:
There’s some ‘there’ there with John. He’s got some skills and really good feet. But it’s likely to take a few years for him to bulk up and really learn the game/the position at an NFL level. He could be a red zone threat right away, but the NFL tends to hide these kind of guys in development for 2-3 years and don’t explore the end zone weaponry because they want blockers and tacklers not scoring advantages (the NFL is funny that way…it likes no turnovers more than scoring as well).
John seems like a good young man, earnest to make a run at the NFL. He has unteachable size and nice athleticism to go with it – he has something to mold/shape. How long it takes and how persistent he is…we’re about to find out.
6/5/2020
