NFL Legend Compares Jeff Caldwell To Late-Round Gem From Prior Draft Cycle

Cincinnati could get five players drafted this month.

Feb 27, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Cincinnati wideout Jeff Caldwell (WO13) speaks to members of the media during the NFL Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images | Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images

Is Jeff Caldwell the next late-round gem to pop in the NFL?

Former elite wide receiver Steve Smith certainly thinks so. The Carolina Panthers and Ravens legend compared the rising prospect to former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Marques Colston.

Colston was a seventh-round pick in 2006 who wildly outperformed his draft slot. Smith thinks Caldwell could do the same after posting the second-greatest WR NFL Combine performance ever, just behind Lions legend Calvin Johnson.

"When I think about where Caldwell can go, I think he's gonna be a late round guy, and Day 3, and he reminds me of a late round guy that you can develop, that no one sees coming, but the people who drafted him knew exactly if they can get them in a building and work with him. That for me is Marques Colston," Smith said on his podcast. "Late round, no one's really counting on this kid. No one's really looking at him to be a franchise leader, right? No one's looking at him to be a 1,000-yard receiver. And lo and behold, he goes out there, Marques Colston, goes out there, and year after year, makes defensive coordinators pull their hair out just because he was consistent in how much he worked on his game."

Colston was one of the last picks in that 2006 draft and ended up reeling in 711 career catches for 9,759 yards and 72 touchdowns. That would be an amazingly successful career if Cincinnati's guy can come close to those figures.

Cooking Caldwell Numbers

Cincinnati Bearcats wide receiver Jeff Caldwell (9) catches a pass during football practice at Sheakley Athletic Performance Center in Cincinnati on Dec. 18, 2025. | Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

That path may be on the table for Caldwell, who just posted 32 catches for 478 yards and six touchdowns this past season.

Those numbers aren't blowing the doors off of scouts, but he flashed plenty of great moments in his lone season playing at the FBS level.

According to Math Bomb, Caldwell's overall combine warranted a 10/10 Relative Athletic Score. Caldwell ran a 4.31-second 40-yard dash to lead all wide receivers this year and broad jumped 11'2", which also paced the entire WR testing group at the combine.

He has risen from outside the top 240 on the Mock Draft Database's consensus big board in early February to 163rd overall as of this writing. That rise could be enough to land him in the sixth round instead of the seventh.

Check out the full comments from Smith below:

Jeff Caldwell is a WR prospect in the 2026 draft class. He scored an unofficial 10.00 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 2 out of 3830 WR from 1987 to 2026.

Pending bench and agilities, splits projected.https://t.co/Vd4HAcnEyd pic.twitter.com/3oKQNat7sK

— RAS.football (@MathBomb) February 28, 2026

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