Baylor Football: Can Denzel Mims continue rise up NFL draft boards?

Baylor football’s Denzel Mims has been rising up draft boards ever since the NFL combine. Could it result in him becoming a first-round pick?

The 2020 NFL Draft’s receiver class is going to be one of the deepest and most talented that we have seen in years. CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III and Justin Jefferson all appear to be locks to be chosen in the first round. One of the drafts big questions is how many other receivers might go in the first round and who those receivers will be?

There are several candidates from Clemson’s Tee Higgins to TCU’s Jalen Reagor, but the next receiver in line to be chosen is Baylor’s Denzel Mims. He had a very good season for the Bears this past fall, helping lead the Bears to an 11-win season and a Sugar Bowl berth.

Mims continued to rise up draft boards after a fantastic NFL combine, in which he ran a 4.38 40-yard dash, had a 38.5-inch vertical jump, 131-inch broad jump. Those are all great testing numbers for a guy that measured in at 6-foot-3, 207 pounds and that could propel Mims into the top 25.

Mims arrived in Waco as a three-star recruit out of the state of Texas and was apart of former head coach Art Briles last recruiting class. Briles was dismissed leading up to the 2016 season and former Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe was going to be the coach for the 2016 season.

He did not make much of an impact on the offensive side of the ball in 2016, catching only four passes for 24 yards. He was looking to breakout for a rebuilding Bears team, with new head coach Matt Rhule who had arrived from Temple, in 2017 and had a pretty solid season that earned him second0team All-Big 12. Mims finished the season with 61 catches for nearly 1,100 yards and eight touchdowns, while averaging nearly 18 yards per reception.

The Bears had a tough season in 2017, finishing 1-11 and feeling the full effects of the scandal that Briles left behind. Mims and the Bears looked to put 2017 behind them and they took big steps forward in doing so by finishing 7-6 in Rhule’s second season. He took a slight step back in production and finished with 55 catches for 794 yards and eight touchdowns and his yards per catch average went down.

Mims returned for his senior season looking to be a leader for the Bears and also elevating his draft stock. Baylor was the big surprise team for the 2019 season and Mims was a big reason for that. He finished the season with 66 receptions for just over 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns, while averaging 15.5 yards per reception. Baylor went 11-1 during the regular season and came into the Big 12 Championship Game one win away from the College Football Playoff.

Unfortunately, Mims was absent for the Big 12 title game and the Bears lost to Oklahoma in an overtime thriller and wound up settling for a Sugar Bowl bid against Georgia. His ceiling is still incredibly high.

Strengths

Mims is very good at making tough catches, especially in the redzone, where he was a consistent threat to win jump balls and that is evidenced by his 38.5-inch vertical leap at the NFL combine. He has speed, as evidenced by his terrific 40-yard dash time. He also has some of the best body control when making catches on the sideline and some of the best hands in this draft class.

Weakness

Mims was not much of a big-play threat and did most of his damage in the red zone and making jump ball catches. There is nothing wrong with that but for a guy that has first-round expectations and that has 4.38 speed, Mims needs to show he can be a more complete threat and expand his route tree.

Moreover, Mims does not create much separation from defensive backs and that won’t allow him to be productive in the NFL, as he is going to see a lot of man coverage from even better secondaries than he saw in college.

Draft Projection

Mims has first round measurables and looks the part and that may be enough for teams to take a flier on him in the first round. I’m always a little wary of guys that have great combine performances but don’t show week-to-week consistency at the college level. He falls into that category and while he has talent, he is also a risky prospect who may need a season to develop.

Projection: Late-first, early-second round