2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Dayton Wade, WR, Mississippi

Player Data

Name, Jersey #	Dayton Wade #19
School (Code)	MIUN
DOB, Class Yr	09/08/2000, rSr
Height, Weight	5091, 175 lbs
40 Yd Dash	4.50e
Position/Depth	1st/WR
Honors/Captainship	Athletic Director’s Honor Roll 2022
Season Viewed (yr)	2022, 2023
Games Watched	ARUN (22’), LATU (23’), ALUN (23’), LAST (23’)
Scout Name / Date	Ian McNice, 10/09/2023

Per Year Stats (Most Recent First)

2023	6 GP, 27 REC, 390 yds, 14.4 Y/R, 2 TD, 5 ATT, 20 yds,  4.0 Y/R,
2022	13 GP, 5 GS, 27 REC, 309 yds 11.4 Y/R, 3 TD, 9 ATT, 78 yds, 8.7 Y/A, 14 KR, 309 yds, 22.1 Y/KR,
2020	7 GP, 1 GS, 21 REC, 180 yds, 8.6 Y/R, 9 KR, 149 yds, 16.6 Y/KR, 4 PR, 2 yds, 1 MUF
2019	13 GP, 1 REC, 10 yds, 10 Y/R, 2 KR, 62 yds, 31.0 Y/KR, 1 PR, 7 yds, 7.0 Y/PR

Player Summary:

Redshirt Senior from Atlanta, Georgia. Coming out of high school he was a 3 star recruit (247Sports) who amassed over 1,100 yds in his senior season, earning him multiple offers across Division-I. Poor height, weight, with good AA. He demonstrates above-average acceleration, excellent COD, good foot speed, and solid balance. Solid release vs off coverage, he closes on the DB’s cushion quickly with good acceleration. He understands how to attack his matchups leverage with subtle COD at the top of his routes. He can run any route in the route tree with different accelerations, he excels on corners, outs, comebacks, and hitches because he does a great job selling the route vertically with his eyes and hips before making his break. Solid use of dino stem’s when working posts/corners vs Cover 3, he keys the defenders’ leverage and forces them to open his hips, giving him more space to operate up the seam. Solid ball skills, he has effective hands and can adjust to balls missed high as well as behind him. Good transitioning from WR to runner, he is excellent at locking in the catch before flipping his eyes upfield without losing momentum. Adequate vision in the open field, he is below-average reading the hat position of blockers as a ball carrier on screens and jet sweeps, constantly making the decision to break towards the side of the defender. Solid contact balance at his size, he has displayed the ability to break arm tackles and tackles with high leverage in space. Marginal vs jam techniques, his lack of size and length allows him to be jumped easily, needs to develop his UOH to counter aggressive DB’s. Below-average keying zone coverage as a crosser, he struggles to see open spaces often running right through an area he could have sat down in for his QB.       

Scheme Fit:

Slot WR in Pass Heavy Spread Offense.

Power Statement:

Wade brings good COD and excellent acceleration to his route running. He consistently attacks DB’s leverage with twitchy moves to get open down field. He is an experienced kick return man, efficiently gets the ball out to a comfortable place for the offense and makes good decisions to FC deep kicks. He struggles physically at the LOS due to his frame, playing in the slot should allow him free releases more frequently. Cannot expect him to make an impact for you in the run game because of his size and overall effort.