The 2020 NFL Draft will be a great event for teams to start building for their future. Here is the Henry Ruggs 2020 NFL Draft profile.

Background

Position: Wide Receiver

Size: 6-foot, 190 pounds

Class: Junior

2019 stats: 40 receptions, 746 receiving yards, 18.7 yards per reception, 8 total touchdowns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIf6nH4ZwHw

Ruggs was a five-star prospect, who like many others, decided to attend Alabama for college. Unlike other talented prospects, Ruggs made an impact from the first day and got a chance to show off his NFL potential for Nick Saban.

In his freshman season, Ruggs made the All-SEC Freshman Team as Alabama won the National Championship Game over Georgia. He finished that season with 229 receiving yards and six touchdowns to go with his 239 kick return yards. For the 2018 season, Ruggs had 741 receiving yards and 11 touchdown catches. His play as a sophomore helped Alabama get to the National Championship, but they lost to Clemson. This season, Ruggs totaled 40 catches for 746 yards and seven touchdowns, as the Crimson Tide won 11 games including the VRBO Citrus Bowl over Michigan.

His ability to turn on the jets and make plays has helped Ruggs get noticed by NFL evaluators. He likely won’t be the first or second receiver selected, but he is projected to be drafted in the middle of the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Strengths

Ruggs’ greatest strength is his blazing speed. This will show up at the NFL Combine, but more importantly, it shows up on tape. He is able to create separation without even running the best routes because he is so fast. His speed means defenses will need to have a safety help out over the top to prevent big plays.

For a receiver that isn’t a big target, Ruggs has a nose for the end zone. Despite fighting many talented receivers for targets over his college career, Ruggs still had 24 touchdown catches in his career. While he isn’t a traditional red zone target, he did get open enough to produce. Add in his ability to break away from defenses on long plays because of his speed and Ruggs will score a lot of touchdowns if given the opportunity.

While his speed does most of the work for him, Ruggs is a solid route-runner as well. He makes good breaks in and out to throw defenders off. Ruggs also changes speeds, which keeps defenses on their toes. Because of his speed and route-running, Ruggs will be hard to cover in man on man situations.

Weaknesses

Ruggs has to add more play strength to his frame to be more effective. He can be thrown off his routes by more physical corners. In the NFL, with more physical corners, Ruggs could struggle to get open against press coverage and cornerbacks who have good awareness. This also hinders him from being able to sustain blocks in the running game.

An area Ruggs will also want to work on is his releases at the line of scrimmage. Against press coverage, he often failed to get a good start to his routes. With better releases, he will be able to get open more effectively. Ruggs tends to take too many choppy steps that don’t lead him anywhere. A good receiver coach will help him with his releases at the line of scrimmage.

Even though he has blazing speed, Ruggs isn’t the shiftiest in the open field. He has straight-line speed, but doesn’t juke or get by defenders when the ball is in his hands as well as other top draft prospects. A lot of his work is done by the time the ball gets to his hands. Luckily, he can still use his speed to beat a lot of defenders.

Projected Draft Range: First Round Pick

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