Round 3, pick No. 81 – Van Jefferson, WR, Florida
Van’s dad is former 13-year NFL receiver and current Jets wide receivers coach Shaun Jefferson. Not only is receiver in his blood, he has been groomed since a young age, which shows in his crisp and savvy route running. He also had just four drops over the past two seasons for the Gators.
His lack of college production and age (23) are two reasons he falls into the mid-rounds of the draft. Some of that had to do with the offenses he found himself in throughout college. He signed with Ole Miss to join head coach Hugh Freeze. As a freshman for the Rebels, Jefferson outperformed eventual top receiving talents DK Metcalf and AJ Brown. But Freeze resigned after that season and Jefferson was no longer featured in the offense in favor of Metcalf and Brown, so he transferred to Florida.
Unfortunately, Florida doesn’t exactly run a receiver friendly offense. Jefferson would put up a career-high of just 657 yards which still led the team. Some of the best steals in every draft are talented players whose numbers suffered due to the team on which they played.
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