Laviska Shenault was my favorite wide receiver in this class, so pardon me if I get a little too excited about his early-second round selection to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars were among the teams most in need of a high-volume receiver, and while I'm a huge fan of D.J. Chark, these two youngsters will complement each other perfectly in making for an exciting duo for future seasons.
Let's start with Shenault's profile, which features an incredible 46% share of his team's receiving yardage in his healthy games as a sophomore. That dipped back to 30% in his final year as a junior, as he battled injuries that eventually hampered him at the combine and resulted in core muscle surgery prior to the Draft.
What makes all that receiving production remarkable is it's never the first thing discussed about Shenault. Throughout draft season, Shenault's size has been mentioned frequently, often comped to running backs like Ezekiel Elliott because he's a 6-foot-1, 227-pound bulldozer. Colorado understood this and wasn't dumb about his usage — the Buffs lined up Shenault as their wildcat quarterback throughout college, and he scored seven rushing touchdowns in his final two seasons and totaled 280 rushing yards in his three-year career to go along with his nearly 2,000 in the air.
Because of that physique and his after-the-catch ability, Shenault has often been comped to players like Cordarrelle Patterson. The issue with that — aside from it being in some ways unfair to Patterson as a playmaker — is that Shenault displayed a massively more developed wide receiver profile than Patterson. In other words, this guy is so difficult to bring down with the ball in his hands that he draws comps to Patterson, yet he also has the type of route-running, separation-creating ability that Patterson never possessed.
Another great note in Shenault's resume is that he produced both on the inside and as an outside receiver. His monster sophomore year came largely out of the slot, and he struggled to be as dominant playing more outside this past year. But he was still productive, and that versatility to line up at all wide receivers spots and even in the backfield will make it a cinch he finds early playing time. He's a lot like Deebo Samuel in that way.
There's one more comp I want to throw into this stew, and it takes several because a big part of the lack of hype on Shenault is he's a unique receiver. The last one is A.J. Brown — Shenault is that type of physical presence after the catch, and he has something close to the type of team- and age-adjusted production that foretold an impressive rookie season for the Tennessee Titan.
All told, we're looking at a guy who should be able to rack up the touches in Jacksonville, with a healthy floor something like Golden Tate and a ceiling closer to where Brown's career appears headed. The Jaguars aren't necessarily set at quarterback, but Gardner Minshew had a solid rookie season after slinging it around throughout his college career at Washington State under Mike Leach, and I'm more confident in his ability to support multiple receivers than some of the other young quarterbacks in the league.
The biggest knock on Shenault is his health. He had both toe and shoulder surgeries in the 2019 offseason, then the core muscle surgery this year. But it's notable that while these maladies were serious enough to warrant surgery, he mostly played through them, and saved the procedures for the offseason. He's a tough kid, and I'm hopeful his physicality doesn't portend any significant missed time at the next level.
Shenault will fit in nicely around the line of scrimmage and into the intermediate range, while Chark continues his ascension as a threat down the field. Dede Westbrook is already 26, and has never hit 750 yards in a season, while the rest of the Jaguars receiving group aren't the types to prevent Chark and Shenault from handling as many looks as they can command. It's a great fit from a projected volume perspective, and I'll rank Shenault in my top-five rookie wide receivers for 2020 and beyond, while I don't feel the need to knock Chark too much from where he currently sits.
