Throwback column: Scout’s honor: Ja’marr Chase
Welcome to Scouts Honor, our newest column series that we will be doing for Chronicle Sports. During this series we will be scouting future NFL prospects throughout the year, culminating in the NFL draft.
I couldn’t be more excited to dive into this series as I believe it is going to provide a lot of value on three specific fronts.
Insight to players that you may not have the time to study.
You will begin to gain insight to what my football mind looks like and what I enjoy.
College football is as unique as ever with a changed football schedule and many players opting out. This changes the scouting prospective for many.
The series came about from stumbling upon Daniel Jeremiah’s story and as I read about his life, what he does, and what it took to get him to the spot he is at now, I thought, man that would be fun to do as well. Scouting is such a unique responsibility and it is something that is completely built on trusting yourself. You only know what you know and you have to trust your eyes and your gut. I love the challenge of that. So once I read his story and recognized the challenge of scouting, I quickly grabbed a composition notebook, a variety of colored pens, and began to work.
Here is the first edition:
Ja’Marr Chase.
Height - 6’0, Weight - 208lbs
2019-2020 stats: 84 receptions, 1,780 yards, 20 Touchdowns
Game tape watched: Vanderbilt (9/21/19), Clemson (1/13/20) National Championship
The Good:
Ja’Marr Chase is a game-breaking type of player. When Chase has the ball in his hands, he can go the distance at any point. This is because Chase not only understands how to run in the open field by going hash, number, sideline but also because he is an aggressive yards after the catch player. Chase seems to relish contact and encourages it when he is running, very rarely is he tackled easily and consistently breaks past the first barrier of the defense and uses his good speed and great quickness to take it the distance. This has the potential to happen every time he touches the ball, which is great because it is not hard to get him the ball. When Chase lines up on the outside, he has great body control and ball skills. If the ball is tossed downfield, the defender will not be able to knock him off the ball and Chase will go and high point it. I believe though that Ja’Marr Chase might be even better in the slot. When he is able to combine his relentless attacking mentality with route running that is improved due to the defenders fear of the deep ball, he will be able to go to WORK. This combination of being able to handle downfield responsibilities on the outside while also dominating in the slot on the inside is what makes Chase special.
Chase is a good route runner with excellent hands that are strong on contact. He may not be big but he plays bigger and he may not be the fastest or the quickest, but he has plenty of burst.
The Bad:
This was an incredible challenge to come up with. I only had to watch two games to know that Ja’Marr Chase is a special player. If I was really nitpicking I would say that his route running could improve, but he is still a good route runner. Chase could potentially be a great route runner because he can use his skillset of being able to play the full field to keep defenders on their toes.
The other nitpick that could be argued very easily is size is that Ja’Marr Chase is only 6 foot tall, which could be a problem against bigger defensive backs. However, Chase plays much bigger than his size due to the body control, hand fighting technique, and vert. With those skills he had no problem destroying the bigger, and 2020 first round pick, AJ Terrell in the national championship.
The Who:
I am stealing this one but ever since I heard the comparison I could not get it out of my head. When Ja’Marr Chase declared Daniel Jeremiah compared him to Steve Smith Sr, i knew that comparison was locked in my brain forever. The ball skills and the being a nightmare to tackle were dead on similar skills.
The big difference is that Steve Smith Sr spent most of his career lined up on the outside. Ja’Marr could mirror his career by doing that, but we would be missing an incredible side of his game. So if that's the case, I would sprinkle in a little bit of late career, Larry Fitzgerald, Chase isn’t as big, but will be a game breaker like Fitzgerald was. Tough to bring down and just a flat out good receiver that could house it an any point (think the slant in the superbowl against the Steelers.)
The Verdict:
Ja’Marr Chase is a no brainer, no doubt first round talent and offense changing receiver. Receivers in the first round are traditionally spotty and risky, but thats generally because they have a gap in their game and teams exploit that. Chase has no gap and what’s even better for whoever drafts him is that he will fill any gap that your team has on offense. Need someone to open up downfield? He’s got you, throw it up and he will get it. Need someone to torment slot corners and linebackers? He’s got you, run some slants and let him go to work. Need some juice on your team? Throw him a screen and watch him relentlessly attack the defenders. He is a complete receiver.
That was about as enjoyable of a first watch as it could have possibly been. If my team were to draft Chase, I would be overjoyed, and you should be too. He is a high first round draft pick and multi - pro bowler, no doubt in my mind.