Scouting The Draft: Andre Roberts, WR, Citadel

In an effort to bring a new player into the equation that not many would of heard of, I decided to look at Citadel wide out, Andre Roberts. Roberts has really been turning heads this off-season, a good Senior Bowl performance, followed by an excellent combine, where he ranked in the elite class in pretty much every single drill. He has been drawing interest from a lot of teams, although the Jets have not been mentioned in connection to him. Odds are we are taking a look.

Racking up impressive numbers at the Military Citadel school, he has a lot of characteristics that we may be looking for in a wide receiver.He was targeted 383 times and dropped just 6, 16% of his receptions were converting on 3rd down.

Career Stats

2006- 36 receptions, for 557 yards, 5 TD's.

2007- 78 receptions, for 1060 yards, 10 TD's.

2008- 95 receptions, for 1334 yards, 14 TD's

2009- 77 receptions, for 792 yards, 7 TD's

What does Andre Roberts Do Well?

Roberts does a little bit of everything, he is an excellent pass catcher, but he can also run the football and return punts, he has two rushing TD's at Citadel, but has over 40 attempts. Excellent first step off the line, and gets to top gear very quickly, has excellent short area quickness, and excels in making people miss. Clean record, who is disciplined and works hard, a student of the game, he did come from a military school. At his most dangerous once he gets the ball in his hands, above average in working screen plays, and is a threat to score every time he touches the football. Has good vision, and has a variety of moves in the open field. Has an excellent change of direction, looks to have fluid hips, watches the ball into his hands before turning up field with it. Is too quick for most nickel/dime corners, has the straight line speed to split out wide, and the short area to work in the slot.

What Doesn't Andre Roberts Do Well?

Not asked to run too many complex routes at Citadel, most of his yards came from the screen game, short dump offs and sideline flag routes. At just 190lb's he doesn't have good bulk, and could take some punishment at the next level. Will need to learn to use his hands to shake away press coverage, needs to work on the blocking game, staying low and controlling the edge.

Final Word

I think that this is a nice option if we get to the 4th/5th rounds and we have not yet brought a receiver on board. I find it hard to imagine that we won't draft a receiver this year, and his short area quickness and safe hands are an interesting prospect. He is not as complete as players like Gilyard and Shipley, but he has a lot of potential, and his ability in the screen game first got me interested. He seems to be a high character guy, not lacking in confidence. I think he could help us out. Just another interesting prospect worth keep an eye on.

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