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Washington’s John Ross Moving up Draft Boards

By Carl Cockerham

Nov 5, 2016; Berkeley, CA, USA; Washington Huskies wide receiver John Ross (1) runs for a touchdown as wide receiver Dante Pettis (8) celebrates behind him during the first quarter against the California Golden Bears at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 5, 2016; Berkeley, CA, USA; Washington Huskies wide receiver John Ross (1) runs for a touchdown as wide receiver Dante Pettis (8) celebrates behind him during the first quarter against the California Golden Bears at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 5, 2016; Berkeley, CA, USA; Washington Huskies receiver John Ross (1) scores a touchdown as Dante Pettis (8) celebrates against the California Golden Bears. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 5, 2016; Berkeley, CA, USA; Washington Huskies receiver John Ross (1) scores a touchdown as Dante Pettis (8) celebrates against the California Golden Bears. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

In today’s game the big receiver with the extra-large catch radius gets all the love. But some exceptions will be made when John Ross, and exceptional little guy goes into the draft next spring.

At John Ross is only 5’11”, 190 pounds Washington receiver prospect is small for his position in today’s game. The NFL is looking for big receivers that can go up and get the ball from smaller cornerbacks. So he didn’t go into this season as a highly rated prospect.

So smaller receivers need to wow scouts more than bigger ones do for higher draft grades. And that’s what Ross has been doing since this season started with his blistering speed. Last week, he started showing up in the first round of a few draft boards.

I’ve like him for a while now so I mocked him to my Raiders late in the first round. His size and reported 4.2 40 had me thinking back to Cliff Branch when evaluating him. But now, it’s starting not to look so much like he’ll last so late into the first round.

His performance against California Saturday with plenty of scouts on hand put the NFL on notices. Ross is a deep threat that runs away from people while looking like he isn’t trying. He blows past his man then waits for an underthrown ball because his speed makes him hard to reach.

Then when the ball gets there and the defense catches up, he runs circles around him for a TD. On the night, he had six catches for 206 yards including TD catches of 60, 67, and six yards.  A quarterback with the big arm would love to have Ross around.

He has value as a return man too!

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