NFL Draft
12/30/24
7 min read
Elic Ayomanor 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Stanford Cardinal WR
Height: 6020 (unofficial)
Weight: 210lbs (unofficial)
Year: Redshirt Sophomore
Pro Comparison: JuJu Smith-Schuster
Scouting Overview
Stanford Cardinal wide receiver Elic Ayomanor is a tone-setter. He’s one of the most intense studies of the draft class with just how physical and urgent his play is at the wide receiver position. It’s impressive watching him dictate terms to defenders in all phases, be it at the top of a route stem, at the catch point, or as a run blocker.
Teams that ask their receivers to create space in the secondary will love the way he attacks corners; this is a bully who will force you to strap up and play uncomfortable football even on inside zone reps. As a receiving threat, he wins predominantly with hitches, fades, and gos with double moves on the perimeter but showcases the movement skills and flashes of a much more profound route runner.
The snap off of vertical stems and the awareness to find and sit in vacancies is a testament to his instinct as a receiver, and he’s often quick to feel urgent target opportunities and make himself available to his quarterback. Ayomanor is a multi-faceted player who would be an asset to any wide receiver room.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Illustrates good vertical receiving ability and confidence at the catch point
- Surprisingly slippery body control and short area quickness for a bigger receiver
- One tough son of a gun. Blocks like his life depends on it, never takes a play off, will take big body shots over the middle and shows concentration to squeeze the ball
Negatives
- Route running variety is modest and he will need to further expand his tree
- Release package at the LOS offers an expanded strike zone and an opportunity for defenders to play with hands on
- Is not a persistent run-after-catch threat despite his size and straight-line speed
Background
Ayomanor was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, and was a standout track athlete in Canada before moving to the United States. On the track, Ayomanor ran a 10.7s 100m and was ranked eighth nationally in the U18 200m.
On the gridiron, he started his career at Medicine Hat HS but transferred to Peddie School in New Jersey for a season and ultimately landed at Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, MA. He was rated as a 3-star recruit and garnered interest from a number of standout programs, including Notre Dame, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Cal. He ultimately enrolled at Stanford and redshirted his true freshman season in 2022.
He broke out with more than 1,000 yards receiving and six scores as a redshirt freshman in 2023 — averaging over 16 yards per reception. He won the Jon Cornish Trophy that season, an honor bestowed on the best Canadian player in the NCAA, and returned as a starter in 2024 before earning Second-Team All-ACC honors. He declared for the 2025 NFL Draft in December, foregoing his final two seasons of eligibility.
Tale Of The Tape
Ayomanor plays angry. Old-school enthusiasts will love watching him play in all phases of the position. He’s an absolute dog in the best way and makes defenders work for even the most routine of plays.
Physicality and aggressiveness are the name of the game. In a league that is trending more towards ambiguous skill players that provide a vast menu of roles in space, he figures to be a potential catalyst for evolution within an offense. There are more profound route runners and more dangerous weapons after the catch that exist across the landscape, but Ayomanor has the ability to be a cultural piece of a skill group with his unselfish play without the football.
That mindset will set the table for him to have ample opportunities with the ball, as he has the ability to stay on the field for all types of personnel groupings and concepts. Ayomanor has good straight-line speed and has illustrated the lethal combination of winning inside on slants and selling an effective sluggo to stack vertically and create separation down the field.
He can win and stack vertically against press with physical hand fighting, too, and his ball-tracking and concentration skills in these environments are effective and offer splash plays down the field. He isn’t the most robust route runner, but he has shown recognition when he’s not won clean to look for a back shoulder ball. He will play with savvy extension on comeback routes after settling a vertical takeoff. Against free access, he’ll sit down with hitches and take free space, showing good snap and twitch to claim an extra step of clearance.
Ayomanor does well to run through the catch point and pluck the ball when running in-breakers and routes over the middle of the field, showing a willingness to eat body shots or risk a hit to secure the ball. He’s a big target with a large catch radius and showcases confidence in his ability to extend, elevate, or dig the ball out of the turf, depending on the placement.
His blocking technique and discipline aren’t perfect, but his effort is. He takes every blocking assignment personally and is willing to dog-walk corners to the sideline if they’re lazy with their hands or complacent just because the run is inside or away from their position.
He has strong hands and does well to burst down inside and get a seal on a linebacker or nickel defender — he’s been charged with cracking on defensive ends as well. Sometimes, his aggressiveness gets the best of him, and he’ll overrun his framing of the block and have to peel late, surrendering his leverage on the play.
To take the next step as a receiver, Ayomanor can benefit from building out his route tree, although this appears to be somewhat a byproduct of the Stanford offense. More than 50 percent of his career routes run were go’s and hitches, according to TruMedia, and in-breaking routes dominated the rest of his opportunities between digs and slants.
Becoming more of a salesman and more diverse and refined in how he releases from the line of scrimmage should boost his separation ability. He doesn’t always create a ton of space on his routes against man coverage, but it does not appear to be a movement skill issue. He’s got a high-spatial IQ and a feel for voids, including working to space and anticipating his quarterback throwing him open on hooks and deeper hitches.
Ayomanor should be considered a viable volume receiver — although likely one that is best paired with a diverse room of talent to help move and manipulate matchups for an NFL passing game.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Ayomanor projects as a physical presence as a starter in the NFL. His slot usage has been modest through two seasons at Stanford, but his profile appears to be one that can win on the outside and in the slot. That makes him a viable starter as a top-two option that can be moved around formationally to attack matchups or otherwise be charged with utilizing his power as a run blocker.
If he’s afforded opportunities in the slot, he could be in for a big impact early in his pro career, and he would be an incredible foil for speed receivers in a wide receiver room.
Grade: 78.00/100.00, Second Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
Make sure to check out our new home for all of our NFL Draft content.
