NFL Draft
2/3/25
6 min read
Jayden Higgins 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Iowa State Cyclones WR
Height: 6036 (verified)
Weight: 217lbs (verified)
Year: Senior
Pro Comparison: Kenny Golladay
Scouting Overview
Iowa State Cyclones wide receiver Jayden Higgins projects as a big slot target at the NFL level. Higgins has played inside and outside at the college level, but his best attributes seem to project favorably inside.
Higgins is a physical player who showcases the ability to play through contact and offers surprising quickness at the line of scrimmage. He’s equally fluid at the top of the route stem and has illustrated the ability to create separation if given a lot of extra space to attack.
As an outside receiver, Higgins boasts modest vertical stacking ability, which could eat into his ability to successfully threaten NFL corners in off-coverage. This is a frame that would be well implemented in running schemes, too — Higgins boasts some great length and heavy hands. He pairs it with a good effort as a frontside blocker. Higgins should offer something for everyone, but run-focused offenses looking to work out of 11p will like his physical profile.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Silky smooth body control at the top of the route and line of scrimmage allow him to displace defenders and break across their face
- Showcases a good feel for open grass and makes himself available to his quarterback against zone without running into more trouble
- Illustrates a reliable, secure catch rate, soft hands at the catch point
Negatives
- For a player of his stature, he can be a bit passive at the catch point and allow defenders to play into his frame
- Lacks the ideal explosive burst to stack corners on the outside or create added free access against catch coverage
- Lacks consistent presence on the vertical plane as a downfield threat
Background
Higgins is from South Miami, FL, and played high school football at Westminster Christian School. There, Higgins was an under-recruited talent. He was rated as a 2-star recruit (247 Sports) and collected offers from programs like Austin Peay, Stetson, and Houston Christian. Higgins ultimately enrolled at Eastern Kentucky, where he played two years of ball between 2021 and 2022.
Higgins entered the transfer portal and enrolled at Iowa State, quickly earning a starting role as a true junior and boasting impressive production while averaging 18.5 yards per reception. Higgins was named Honorable Mention All-Big 12 before a monster senior season that saw him log top-three-all-time marks in receptions, yards, and receiving touchdowns in school history. Higgins was named Second Team All-Big 12, Third Team All-American, and was invited to play in the 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl to culminate his college career.
Tale Of The Tape
Higgins boasts impressive size and length at wide receiver. He’s a long, lean target but still offers some impressive density to his frame that allows him to play without compromised contact balance and functional strength. This will be an important footnote in his projection to the pro game — as Higgins seems to be at his best playing in traffic and through the middle of the field.
He is a surprisingly diverse route runner who runs a high volume and array of ins, outs, hitches, go’s, fades, digs, and slants. Higgins is comfortable breaking into the middle of the field or hitching short of second-level zones to pop open and quickly flash his hands for receptions to keep the offense on schedule.
His hands are reliable. He offers an impressive three percent career drop rate on 350 total targets at the college level. He’s not the same dominant catch-point force as some of the other big-bodied receivers and catch-point studs in this year’s class, which can be a frustrating pain point on his resume.
Higgins can drift at the top of the stem in free access, allowing defenders to jump into his frame or bat the ball from his hands. There has been more than one instance on film this season when he was impacted as the ball arrived, and the defender successfully batted the ball away.
After the catch, Higgins is surprisingly slippery. He showcases good reactive quickness once he’s established his upfield momentum and has good hand-eye coordination to slide away from an arriving tackler after flipping his eyes upfield out of the catch point. Higgins pairs this profile with good strength and can shrug off haphazard tackles in the open field. There is a lag on sit routes and hitches that can allow defenders to trigger and close the distance to the catch and corral him in — he is fluid but not explosive from a stop.
The lack of explosiveness can catch up to Higgins on the vertical plane, too. When working to stack, he is more effective timing up a back shoulder throw that allows him to use his fluid body control to open back to the football away from leverage and adjust for a reception. Higgins had a number of impressive peel-back catches in this regard, although his implementation on the outside may be limited in some offenses, which prevents this from being a regular contribution to the passing game.
Higgins is a good, physical blocker. It is easy to appreciate the appetite he brings when he’s afforded opportunities as a front-side blocker. That said, most of his run reps are run-off opportunities or dummy/tagged routes and do not take full advantage of his physical profile in the core. This feels like an untapped potential element to his game and further amplifies the value he may hold as a big slot receiver.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Higgins projects best as a big slot in the NFL. He shows the route-running ability and body control to create quick separation, but his lack of burning speed and long strides could test his ability to win in isolation as an X-receiver on the perimeter.
Higgins should be considered a viable role player early on with the chance to develop into a high-volume passing target.
Grade: 79.00/100.00, Second Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: WR6
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