Field Yates: Malik Nabers, Marvin Harrison Jr., Rome Odunze in a 'class' of their own

The 2024 NFL Draft class includes one of the best groups of wide receivers to come through the event in recent memory, from Marvin Harrison Jr. on down. There’s depth, Top 5-worthy talent and players in all shapes and sizes to fit whatever offensive need a team might have.

And as such, ESPN NFL and draft analyst Field Yates doesn’t see much stratification among the top three wideouts on the board: Harrison, Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze. As far as Yates is concerned, the trio exists on the same plane of talent and ability and picking one over the other might just be a matter of preference.

“I’ve been doing this long enough now to realize that people love ‘Who’s one? Who’s two? Who’s three? Who’s four? Who’s five?’ They love that,” Yates said in a discussion with fellow draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. “They want a sequential order from one until 26 in the first four rounds. But what I’m realizing, Mel, is that we’ve got three at the very top that I think it’s like choosing between your favorite pizza joint. I think Malik Nabers, Marvin Harrison Jr., Rome Odunze are kind of in a class unto themselves.”

The stats would tend to back up that assessment, as the trio were all highly productive college players, especially in 2023. They posted the following season-long receiving stats.

• Harrison: 67 catches for 1211 yards (18.1 per reception) and 14 touchdowns in 12 games
• Nabers: 89 catches for 1569 yards (17.6 per reception) and 14 touchdowns in 13 games
• Odunze: 92 catches for 1640 yards (17.8 per reception) and 13 touchdowns in 15 games

And the trio all bring a distinct flavor to the position that could sway a scout, coach or general manager as a matter of preference.

Harrison projects as the sort of dominant, attention-getting outside threat, capable of using his rare combination of elite size — 6-foot-4, 200-plus pounds — and top-level athleticism and agility to dominate at the stem of his routes and at the catch point. Odunze is a bit of a similar mold, but is arguably even better at the catch point than Harrison with strong hands and high-pointing ability, plus Odunze is as comfortable taking a screen behind the line of scrimmage and running after the catch. Nabers isn’t as physically imposing as Harrison or Odunze and won’t dominate in contested situations, but isn’t diminutive by any stretch and is perhaps the most explosive offensive player in the draft — the sort of player that can take any touch and turn it into a long gain or a score.

With those diverging skillsets overlaid on relatively equal talents, Yates wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the trio picked before the other two.

And this sort of tiering of prospects isn’t limited to the top receivers, either. Yates explained that players like Brian Thomas Jr. and Adonai Mitchell could also be considered in a similar tier, expected to be late 1st round picks.

He explained how the preference between the two might get decided.

“And then I think you just through like mini tiers beyond that,” Yates said. “So when you’re stacking up this wide receiver board, I really don’t think that the gap between Brian Thomas Jr. and Adonai Mitchell is anything other, Mel, than how does one team see them personality or the football character versus how another team sees it. Or maybe one team has a long time scout who’s been scouting the Texas area and pounds the table and says ‘We need Adonai Mitchell’ and he has a strong opinion than he does of Brian Thomas Jr. So it feels to me, this wide receiver class as we’re sorting through it, Mel, so much of it is just, ‘What do your offense need?’ Not so much, ‘This guy is definitively, unquestionably better than this other player.'”