NFL Draft 2020: Quintez Cephus Scouting Report, Team Fit
Football fans should start ramping up their excitement as it is now under three weeks away from the 2020 NFL Draft. For Wisconsin, this could be another year where its now-former players will likely hear their respective names called at some point during the three-day extravaganza.
Earlier this week, AllBadgers.com kicked off a series with Sports Illustrated's Kevin Hanson, talking about a handful of Wisconsin prospects who will likely have a significant chance to be drafted.
On Monday, we started our series with one of the two Badgers who could likely be selected in the first two rounds in linebacker Zack Baun. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday, we discussed UW All-Americans in running back Jonathan Taylor and center Tyler Biadasz, respectively.
Thursday brought a discussion of a Badger whom I believe will be an underrated selection in linebacker Chris Orr. To finish up this miniseries, Hanson discussed wide receiver Quintez Cephus and when (and where) he could potentially find a home in the league.
Check out Cephus' NFL Scouting Combine and Pro Day stats, which includes the improved 40-yard dash time from the latter event, along with Hanson's evaluation of the explosive wide out.
NFL Scouting Combine Stats
Based off of NFL.com's draft profile of Cephus and the site's combine tracker, here is a breakdown of all of his results:
- 40-Yard Dash: 4.73 seconds (last among receivers who participated)
- Vertical Jump: 38.5" (tied for eighth out of 46 from the position group who participated)
- Broad Jump: 124" (tied with eight other players for 17th out of 43 receivers who performed drill)
- 3-Cone Drill: 7.2 seconds (16th out of 25 receivers who performed drill)
- 20-Yard Shuttle: 4.33 seconds (ninth out of 25 receivers who performed drill)
- Bench Press: 23 reps of 225 pounds (first among all receivers who participated)
Wisconsin Pro Day Stats
- 40-Yard Dash: 4.56 seconds (according to UW)
Sports Illustrated's Kevin Hanson
"Running a position-worst 4.73 (-second 40-yard dash) at the combine, obviously not good. Running almost two-tenths of a second faster at the pro day much better of course, so I think that helps a lot. I don't know that speed is necessarily his game but has great ball skills. Does a great job in terms of contested catches. Really competes for the ball, uses his body well. Good leaper, obviously has the basketball background so kind of again, uses his body well. Can go up for it. I think he's a good possession receiver. Ultimately at the next level, I think he's probably going to be in that.
"It's really interesting in terms of the wide receiver class this year. Perhaps the best ever, or at least, we'll make a run for that. Over the last 10 years, there's been no more than 34 wide receivers drafted in any of the 10 drafts. Three times there's been 34 receivers drafted. I wouldn't be surprised if we got to that number by the end of round five, which just shows the depth at the position. ... It could push players like Cephus down maybe a little bit in terms of where he would otherwise go just because of the depth, but I think he's perhaps a fourth- or fifth-round receiver. I think he would be good as the team's third or fourth receiver as a rookie and then with the potential to develop into a WR2, possession-type receiver going forward. I think he could turn out to be a value again because of the depth. I have him right now as my wide receiver No. 27.
"While I think he would fit with almost any team, there are four teams that I think would make a lot of sense: Baltimore, Jacksonville, Philadelphia and Washington. All four of those teams could use wide receiver help and all four of them have three-to-five picks in rounds four and five, the range where I think Cephus likely goes."
