Keyarris Garrett: Tulsa WR 2016 NFL Draft scouting report

2016 NFL Draft: Keyarris Garrett, WR, Tulsa scouting report — where does the big-bodied receiver project to the next level?

Keyarris Garrett is coming off of a huge senior season at Tulsa where he was one of the most physically dominant receivers in the country. As he transitions to the next level, scouts are certainly going to have questions about his health, but the talent is there for this to be a very good under-the-radar pickup for some team in the 2016 NFL Draft.

Let’s examine him more closely…

At A Glance

Name: Keyarris Garrett

Ht: 6’4″

Wt: 220 pounds

Position: Wide Receiver

Class: Senior

Key 2015 Stats

96 receptions, 1,588 yards, 8 touchdowns

Prospect Video

Translatable Traits

1. Size/Speed

In today’s NFL, you’re not required to be a 6-4 220 pound beast in order to gain an advantage over defensive backs, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. Coming from a smaller conference, you could tell that Garrett was a physically dominant player and he often exercised that dominance.

Using his body to shield defenders and post up like a basketball player going for a rebound, Garrett was bigger than pretty much anyone he went up against and he made sure to make that known. A lot of players with great size don’t use it enough to their advantage, but that’s not the case with Keyarris Garrett.

Oftentimes, you’ll also see a big guy like Garrett struggle with deep speed at his height and weight. He carries it really well, and despite a couple of serious injuries, runs really well deep down the field. He’s a longer strider, so it takes him some time to get to top speed, but when he gets there, he can scoot.

Obviously, when you talk about transitioning to the next level, physical dominance is only part of the game, but Garrett is certainly good to go in that category.

2. Hands/Body Catching

One thing that you hate to see in receivers, especially those with height and length, is body catching. You don’t see that very often with Garrett. He is able to pluck the ball at its highest point, makes great adjustments on poorly thrown balls, and doesn’t allow the ball to get into his chest a lot and have a chance to deflect off of his shoulder pads.

If you’re a big receiver, body catches are one of the most annoying things to have to suffer through watching as a scout.

Garrett was a reliable target all year for Tulsa, catching nearly 100 passes despite the fact that he was the primary player opposing defenses had to game-plan for. He makes tough catches both in the short-intermediate game and in the deep passing game.

Things To Improve

In terms of his overall game, I think two things stood out to me that Garrett could improve upon. The first is route running. He’s not a poor route runner or anything, but there are going to be a lot more complicated routes in the NFL that he’s going to have to learn to run and run really well rather than just quick slants, quick outs, and go routes. Of course, the Tulsa offense used a lot of stacked receiver sets and pick plays to get Garrett open as well, so how will he respond if he’s seeing press coverage from Darrelle Revis or Aqib Talib?

The physicality of the NFL will have Garrett thinking, “Man, this isn’t Tulsa anymore…”

The other thing that I noticed about his game I’d like to see improved is his blocking. It’s usually not that big of a deal to me but effort is everything and it seemed like he felt it was enough to simply get a body on someone, and sometimes not even that. You have to be willing to stick your neck on the line in the running game in order to open up big plays. I didn’t see much of that from him.

This isn’t anything he can improve, but Garrett will also be 24 near the beginning of the 2016 NFL season. Scouts will factor that in with guys who will be 21 coming in this year, too.

Bottom Line

In terms of his overall game, I see a poor man’s Brandon Marshall/Martavis Bryant hybrid. The size/speed combination is there. The hands and playmaking ability are there. The route tree and blocking skills need development. There’s no question Keyarris Garrett can catch passes, but the NFL isn’t a game of backyard football — you have to be willing to get better and better.

He’ll be 23 when drafted, so how much will NFL teams take that into account? Injuries play a role in this as well.

In the end, I think with his age, injury history, and the fact that he played in a relatively vanilla offense at Tulsa, he will get picked sometime on day three of the draft, but he has potential to be a really nice find.