The 2020 NFL Draft is known for its strong crop of wide receivers. Notre Dame’s Chase Claypool manages to stand out from the crowd.
At 6-foot-4, 238 pounds, Claypool is the heaviest and third tallest wide receiver in the class. He also ran the seventh-fastest 40-yard dash (4.42 seconds) and registered the fifth-highest vertical leap (40.5 inches) and 12th-longest broad jump (10-feet, 6 inches). He added 19 bench press reps of 225 pounds with 32.5-inch arms and 9 7/8-inch hands.
Classifying him as a wide receiver, which is the position Claypool is most likely to play in the NFL, Andre Johnson, Vincent Jackson and Larry Fitzgerald are among his top 10 player comps based on NFL Scouting Combine measurables, per MockDraftable.com.
At 6-foot-4, 238 pounds, Claypool actually measured in an inch taller and four pounds heavier than New York Giants tight end Evan Engram. If you move Claypool to tight end, his top player comps include Engram, Jared Cook, Dallas Clark and George Kittle. Not bad. He’s also been compared to Las Vegas Raiders tight end Darren Waller and praised for his run blocking.
Finally, if a team for some reason wanted to get crazy and decided to move Claypool to running back, his top player comp is Adrian Peterson.
There’s a reason Claypool, a Canada native, is projected as a first- or second-round prospect despite only one season of top-tier production. He caught 66 passes for 1,037 yards with 13 touchdowns as a senior in 2019. He caught 150 passes for 2,159 yards with 19 touchdowns in four college seasons.
His senior year, Claypool caught 16 deep passes for 494 yards with six touchdowns as a coverage nightmare. He also managed to break 14 tackles in 2019.
Based purely on his measurables, Claypool is the second-best fit for the Patriots among 2020 wide receiver prospects. There’s a case to be made that the Patriots could take Claypool and then use him in a manner similar to Engram. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick actually has drafted a tight end smaller than Claypool when he selected 6-foot-4, 236-pound Arthur Love in 2001.
Claypool is also known for his special-teams prowess. He registered 25 tackles in four college seasons.
