Alshon Jeffery's Player Profile

Here is a productive player from day 1 in the SEC. Jeffery looks like today’s prototype NFL receiver. At 6ft4 230lbs he is big and physical, he has a great burst of the line of scrimmage as well as another gear once he gets going to run away from the defense. Jeffery also has great ball skills and will make a great red zone target. One of his specialties is using his size to post up smaller dbs and consistently come down with the ball. A QBs best friend, he is a big target and doesn’t need a lot of separation because he relies on strength and body control to come down with the ball. Also, you can use him in well in the middle of the field, he is not afraid of contact and has the speed to make stretch plays in the seam of the defense. What I really like about him is with his strength and burst of the line of scrimmage, he makes it dangerous for the defense to try to bump and run which will make D coordinators think twice about using tampa 2 schemes and blitz packages in general. He has yard after the catch ability as well not so much with elusiveness but is reminiscent of TO by overpowering DBs. Players like Jeffery make defenses want to keep bigger DBs on their roster.

I don’t know if Alshon is a shoe in to be a teams #1 receiving option but he has the potential to be. He lacks change of direction ability to run crisp routes and create separation. I think he is good at the quick slants, and deep routes where qbs will throw jump ball but the intermediate routes will probably not be consistently open and his qb will really have to trust that he can throw when he is covered and let Alshon use his ball skills to make the play. Also, he is already 230lbs, I worry that if he is not disciplined he could have a weight issue a la Mike Williams which will take away some of his quickness and production.

Alshon is comparable to another former Gamecock Sydney Rice and also similar to Anquan Boldin. I really like his ceiling, the fact that he has been such a key player on a rising South Carolina program in the nation’s most competitive conference without a NFL caliber QB really bodes well and could make a GM make a run for him like ATL did for Julio Jones.

Update Nov. 21st: Unfortunately as the season progresses Alshon Jeffery’s stock is dropping due to a big fall off in production. Very pedestrian like numbers this year after all American-like campaigns. Part of it has to do with having below average qb play and improved running game, but it hasn’t been too different from the years before so it seems something is up. He still broke the all time receiving yard record for the school, but I wonder if his focus has fallen off with his NFL prospects in sight, or if he is out of shape, or if he is developing an entitled attitude that star receivers are known for and always get in the way of production. GMs are going to have to do their due diligence to see where his hear and health are before it is known if he can still secure a top 10 pick but he could easily fall to the back of the 1st round or top of the 2nd round with the emergence of other players.
Profile submitted by: Tom Patterson

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Alshon Jeffery Videos

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Alshon Jeffery vs Arkansas,FSU, and Georgia.

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