Scouting Report

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Elijah Moore was one of the most productive receivers in college football during the 2020 season. Moore is arguably the best pure slot receiver in this year’s draft and is an incredibly intelligent player. Despite being just 5’9 and less than 190 lbs, Moore was able to dominate in the SEC. In his final three games at Ole Miss, Moore put up over 600 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Outside of football, Moore is a mature young man who has learned from his infamous game-losing “dog peeing” celebration. In the NFL, he has the chance to be a very good slot receiver.

One unique trait that stood out in Moore’s tape are his head fakes at the top of his routes. While he may be cutting one way, his head tells the defender he’s going the other. This consistently puts defensive backs into binds and makes him a very dangerous double move receiver. Elijah Moore doesn’t drop the football, his hands are as reliable as they come which makes him such a valuable slot receiver. He will be a safety blanket for the quarterback and should be a 10+ catch a game guy. His routes are very technical and that combined with his speed makes him a tough cover for whatever nickel needs to guard him. Moore also does a good job at making low to the ground snags which means he isn’t afraid to get a little dirty out there. In the NFL, I expect Moore to be a smart and reliable slot receiver who will have massive reception numbers. 

Despite having over 100 receiving yards against Alabama, there were moments of glaring weakness in Moore’s game. Against physical defensive backs, Moore struggled to get off the line of scrimmage. In the NFL, he is going to have to improve his releases off the line of scrimmage. At the start of his rookie season, he may have to be used primarily as a receiver who plays off the line and motions pre-snap. Some times when a player has the ball in his hands you can see that he’s just trying to do too much. That would happen with Moore. Sometimes he’d be so caught up in trying to juke a defender that he ends up actually losing yards. The faster Moore adjusts to aggressive DB’s the more play time he’ll get. 

Out of all the receivers in this years draft, I can see Moore being the most productive. I see him being in the league for a long, long time and being a favorite target for the quarterback of which ever team drafts him. Once Moore diversifies his release package, he will become one of the better slot receivers in the NFL. Two teams that could use a player like Moore are the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. Now that the Titans have lost all of their receiving targets outside of AJ Brown, they need to add a weapon. Moore could reunite with Brown and be the Titans slot receiver. They need playmakers at the receiver position and it will open up their offense. They could draft him in the first round and he’ll be a safety blanket for their offense. Moore has shades of Cole Beasley in him as a reliable slot receiver that can make ridiculous grabs while being very consistent. I’d love to see him develop into a similar role to Beasley.