A fantastic career with Notre Dame as a wide receiver has paved the way for Will Fuller to enter the NFL Draft. So far, it seems the Chicago Bears, New York Jets and the Houston Texans have been the most interested teams.
Fuller played three seasons in South Bend, having a very good sophomore season for the Fighting Irish, catching 76 passes for 1094 yards and 15 touchdowns. In 2015, his Junior year, he had even bigger plays with 62 receptions for 1258 yards and 48 touchdowns, averaging 20.3 yards per receptions. And it’s his ability to make those big plays while freeing up teammates that NFL teams find so interesting to try and capitalize on.
Fuller isn’t the ideal WR. He is rather lean compared to the kind of bigger, bulkier #1 types that are becoming more and more common on teams. He catches too much with his body and his hands often drop balls they really shouldn’t. It’s tough for him in the middle of the field, he hardly blocks for runners and struggles on shorter and trickier routes.
But with all that being said, he has speed and the ability to get open going deep. That’s quite suitable for an outside receiver and a #3 guy for teams, who can help others on the intermediate and short routes find themselves wide open while he drags the attention with him to the longer distances, or the other way around.
Every team could make use of someone like Fuller, who might have used another year in college to improve certain aspects of his game. However, after changing his mind a few times about his next step, he decided there’s more gain in using the last two seasons as a catapult into the NFL, where the right kind of situation and coaches can help turn him into more than just a guy offensive coordinators tell to go deep and wait for the ball there.