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With the 2023 NFL Draft less than a month away, the Baltimore Ravens are ramping up their pre-draft visits. According to a report from Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston, they will be hosting one of the top prospects at the wide receiver position in former TCU standout Quentin Johnston following his impressive Pro Day performance on March 30, 2023.
After deciding not to run a 40-yard dash at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, Johnston, whose speed was never really in doubt, recorded a pair of impressive times for a player of his physical dimensions that ranged from as fast as a 4.46 on his first attempt to a 4.50 on his second.
Running fast wasn’t the only impressive aspect of his game that Johnston put on display in front numerous scouts, coaches, and executives. In an interview NFL Network’s Jane Slater, he said that one of his elite traits is being able to sink his weight as bigger receiver to get in and out of routes to create separation.
At 6-foot-3 and 208 pounds with a explosive vertical speed and a wide catch radius, he is a protypical ‘X’ receiver that can dominate on the outside. Johnston can stretch the field, break tackles, play above the rim on jump ball opportunities, and play through contact whether its tight coverage or big hits over the middle as well as down field.
Johnston Does His Best Work After the Catch
While the former Horned Frog owned up to his occasional issue with drops in the interview with Slater, he also shared that he believes one of his other best abilities is the big plays and yards that he is able to generate after the catch.
“I feel like my yards after catch are pretty top tier,” Johnston said. “I always try my best to make the first two guys miss, if not three. I’ve been doing pretty good at it.”
Both his game film and stats reflects and support that belief. One of his best games from his final collegiate season in which he put all of his elite traits on tape came against Kansas on October 8, 2022 when he went off for a career-high 206 receiving yards on 14 catches and scored a 24-yard touchdown.
He finished the 2022 season with career highs in receptions (60) and receiving yards (1,069), tied his career-high in receiving touchdowns (6), and averaged 17.8 yards per catch according to Sports Reference.
Johnston Continues to be Popular Projection for Ravens
As the pre-draft visits ramp up, so does the proliferation of mock drafts and two of Slater’s NFL Network media colleagues, Cynthia Frelund and Eric Edholm, are among a growing number of analyst who have Johnston landing with the Ravens at No. 22 overall in their latest projections this past week.
“Whoever’s lining up under center for Baltimore (I’m assuming it’ll still be Lamar Jackson) will appreciate Johnston’s size (6-3, 208) and 8.9 yards after the catch per reception (tied 10th, per PFF),” Frelund wrote
Edholm believes that if the Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson can reconcile their differences and stay together, the team might consider trading back and accumulating more draft capital since they have just five picks as it currently stands.
“But Baltimore might regret passing up on Johnston in this situation,” he wrote. “(Johnston) gives them another playmaking talent to try to finally get that position right.
Kent Platte of Pro Football Network beleives that Ravens could trade back and still end upwith Johnston. In his latest mock draft, he predicted that they trade back to No. 25 overall in exchange for a fourth round pick and a conditional third round pick from the New York Giants so they can take South Carolina cornerback Cam Smith and still land a top receiver prospect.
“A strong combination of size, speed, and explosiveness offers up a deep threat to Lamar Jackson — if he returns — and a primary receiving weapon for whoever replaces him if he doesn’t,” he wrote.
In a class full of dynamic but undersized prospects at the position, Johnston is one of the few outliers that actually conforms to the norm of what teams traditionally look for in first round wideouts.
He is big, fast, and knows how to use his frame and rare atheleitscm to his advantage. The Ravens need more playmakers of his cailbur at the position and if he’s still available whenever they’re on the clock on the first night of the draft, his value and immeadate impact potential might be too tantalizing for general manager Eric DeCosta to pass up.
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