Who’s Charlie Jones?

Is Purdue’s Charlie Jones the next Cooper Kupp, Wes Welker or Wayne Chrebet?

No.

Charlie Jones is the next Charlie Jones, and he will make a decent slot receiver at the next level.

Some are higher on Jones and some haven’t heard his name, but make no mistake, he will make his presence felt in camp.

In 2022, Jones had a break-out season for the Boilermakers making 110 catches, after putting up limited production (39 total receptions) the two seasons prior at Iowa and Buffalo.

What does Jones do well?

The game film doesn’t lie and it always tells the story.

Jones is a crafty short to intermediate route runner

He shows good initial quickness, which helps him gain route leverage to get open. He also displays crisp change of direction.

Those two attributes combined with having decent hands give him value on the offensive side of the ball.

What are the concerns about Jones?

He has one-gear building speed and he did not show a short-area burst.

This is an issue when it comes to him gaining needed separation vertically on straight-line routes at the intermediate to deeper levels of the field.

There were just too many routes where the corner was on him like white on rice, and he wasn’t shaking free from the corner.

Jones was also inconsistent in coming down with the ball in strongly contested situations.

How did I feel watching his game film?

Jones didn’t excite me, and that’s a problem.

It’s like the old saying, that if you don’t like an outfit at the store, don’t buy it, because if you don’t like it at the store, you’ll never wear it.

He didn’t do anything in this three-game study that knocked my scouting notebook out of my hands.

I actually thought I would like him a lot more than I do.

Lacks toughness

Okay, let’s take it a step further – – what’s the main problem?

His toughness.

I don’t like his lack of toughness

He just didn’t compete hard enough for strongly contested passes, and I didn’t like how he ran out of bounds after making catches.

I need more out of a player than Jones showed.

#15 Charlie Jones 6-foot-0, 188 pounds

Daniel Kelly’s Final 2023 NFL Draft Grade: Fifth-Round (I would not select him)

First Round Mock Big Board: TBD

Bust Probability: Moderate

Projected by 0.4% of the NFL Draft Community to be a first-round pick as of January 9, 2023 (nflmockdraftdatabase.com)

2022 game film reviewed: Penn State, Michigan, and Minnesota (click to view games watched to form this evaluation)

Level of competition: High

2022 stats: 110 receptions (159 targets and a 69% catch rate) 1,361 yards (12.4 avg.), 12 TD, 60-long

2023 NFL Draft Scouting Report

Possession receiver with quickness, decent hands, and concerning one-gear football speed. Shows good initial quickness releasing from the line of scrimmage, and drives hard into his routes, which helps him to gain needed route leverage on inside slants, shallow crossing routes, out patterns, and comebacks. Does a good job initially setting up corners. Polished route runner at the short to intermediate route level with crisp change of direction. Did not show second gear and he was so-so on contested passes. Limited vertical. Average catch radius. As a runner, he was not able to win the edge on a jet sweep. Not much of a threat with the ball in his hands after receptions either and gave up too easily. Will mix it up run blocking. Role player with punt/kick returning experience.

Final words

Watching his game film was like watching a touchdown wiped out by off-setting penalties.

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL Scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He currently writes for Sports Illustrated New York Jets and he is the Editor-in-Chief for First Round Mock. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. He can be followed on Twitter @firstroundmock.