NFL Analysis
4/26/24
3 min read
Ladd McConkey NFL Draft 2024: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Los Angeles Chargers WR
The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each of these reports will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Ladd McConkey.
Ladd McConkey'S 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS
- Height: 5'11 1/2"
- Weight: 187 lbs
- 40-Time: 4.39 seconds
- 10-Yard Split: 1.52 seconds
- Vertical: 36"
- Broad Jump: 10'4"
- 3-Cone: DNP (Did Not Participate)
- Shuttle: DNP
Ladd McConkey 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
STRENGTHS:
- Smooth, fluid, loose-hipped, shifty wide receiver with extensive experience lining up outside and in the slot.
- Short-area burst and quickness is immediately evident. No wasted motion or steps in and out of cuts.
- Shows excellent short-area quickness to defeat press coverage and get into vertical stem without disruption.
- Knows how to use vertical stem to attack corners to get them off their spot and/or get their bodies turned.
- Shows the athletic ability and body control to stop and change direction with few steps and then short-area burst.
- Has natural quickness as a route runner with burst and accelerating speed to run by and get on top of corners.
- Outstanding stop-start ability. In and out of breaks with sudden burst and quickness. Separation generator.
- Flashes body control and soft hands to make back shoulder catches from the outside and on slot fades.
- Elusive run-after-catch traits with lateral quickness to make defenders miss in space. Shows fluid shiftiness.
WEAKNESSES:
- None
NFL TRANSITION:
The more tape I watched of McConkey, the more I like him as a player and like his projection and transition to the next level. McConkey has extensive experience lining up outside and the slot, in addition to being featured as a motion-movement receiver in Georgia’s offense under two offensive coordinators. There is no question he can be deployed in multiple locations within the formation in an NFL offense.
McConkey consistently shows refined, subtle, disciplined route-running traits with a high-level feel for using his vertical stem to attack and set up corners to get them off their spot and get their bodies turned so he could defeat their leverage. There is no wasted motion or steps in McConkey’s route running, and he shows outstanding short-area quickness and burst to defeat press coverage and into his breaks through the top of his route stem, generating needed separation.
What consistently stands out is his ability to stop and change direction with few steps, a trait often overlooked when evaluating receivers and their transition to the NFL. The more I evaluated McConkey, the more I thought of Cooper Kupp when he came out of Eastern Washington — a refined route runner with an innate feel for breaking down corners and finding voids in zone coverage. (Remember, Kupp was a small school receiver who ran a 4.62-second 40-yard fash with a 1.62-second 10-yard split at the combine.)
OTHER NOTES:
McConkey was a three-star recruit out of Georgia and stayed home to play for Kirby Smart. He played three years for the Bulldogs, earning Second Team All-SEC in 2022 in a vote of the league’s coaches. McConkey was targeted 37 times in 2023, with 16 of those targets coming in the slot (12 catches, 153 yards with two touchdowns and a long reception of 41 yards).
In 2022 and 2023, McConkey was deployed as a motion receiver in the Georgia offense, so he has extensive experience playing on the move.
