NFL Draft Profile: Elijah Higgins, Wide Receiver, Stanford Cardinal
In this story:
#6
Pos: WR
Ht: 6030
Wt: 235
Hand: 1048
Arm: 3168
Wing: 7768
40: 4.54
DOB: 10/27/2000
Hometown: Kyle, TX
High School: Bowie
Eligibility: 2023
Elijah Higgins
Stanford Cardinals
One-Liners
“At his size, Higgins will make the transition to tight end at the next level, where he’ll be an effective receiver but he must improve his blocking.
Evaluation:
On film this past season, Stanford lined Higgins up everywhere. He played on the outside, slot and even in-line as a tight end. At his size, Higgins best projects as a move tight end. He has continued to gain mass throughout his collegiate career, while still maintaining the speed to be an effective pass catcher. Higgins is a fluid athlete, who does a nice job getting in and out of his breaks. He is really good on short and intermediate routes, where he cuts well and uses his body to shield defenders from the football. Higgins has natural hands and plucks the ball out of the air with ease. He doesn’t have an extensive route tree but his hip fluidity and natural ability on cuts should allow for him to expand his route tree at the next level. After the catch, Higgins is solid. Stanford will manufacture him targets on short passes and screens and Higgins was consistently effective with the ball in his hands. Against smaller cornerbacks, Higgins is just too fast and too big, which allows him to create separation. The better, more physical cornerbacks he faced had a much easier time staying in phase with Higgins. He just doesn’t have any elite trait as a receiver. He isn’t big enough to win jump balls against them and he isn’t fast enough to threaten them vertically. As a blocker, Higgins really struggled to make an impact. He isn’t overly physical and Higgins lacks the play strength to drive defenders backward. Right now, Higgins just gets in the way of defenders but that won’t work at the next level. His blocking technique is all over the place but Higgins’ play strength will need to get much better. He is a bit of a tweener but the separation ability is good enough for him to be a move tight end. If his blocking doesn’t improve though, he is going to struggle getting onto the field early in his career.
Grade:
4th Round
Background:
Elijah Higgins, in 2021, was All Pac 12 Honorable Mention and earned Offensive Player of Game for Standofrd in week five versus Oregon. As a sophomore he played in all six games during the season and had close to two hundred yards during the season. Attending Bowie High School in Texas, he was a four star recruit and the eighty sixth best recruit and fourteenth best wide receiver in the country. Higgins was born in Florida and his Father, George Higgins, played football at the University of South Florida. Higgins also has two younger siblings, Kaleb and Bailey, and is majoring in Psychology at Stanford. Higgins will look to be a major piece of Stanford’s offense in 2022.
