After two seasons at Georgia, wide receiver Jermaine Burton transferred to Alabama and showed steady growth throughout his FBS career.
A four-star recruit out of California, Burton may have his best football ahead of him. At Georgia, he was used sparingly as a true freshman before seeing his role ramp up in Year 2. He didn’t need extra time to develop following the transfer, and finding a similarly good fit in the NFL will help fast-track his continued development.
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 196 pounds
40 time: 4.45 seconds
In 2022, following a loss to Tennessee, Burton appeared to strike a female Volunteers fan, raising concerns about his character. Head coach Nick Saban vaguely addressed the situation by saying the public wasn’t aware of the details without further elaborating and that Burton wouldn’t face a suspension. He also contested reports that the receiver had entered anger-management treatment.
Make no mistake, any NFL team interested in Burton will have done its research into this issue to better understand the scope of the situation. Aside from a few immature moments of on-field gloating, Burton has behaved himself in recent time.
Table: WR Jermaine Burton, Alabama (2020-23)
*includes postseason/bowl games (stats from Sports Reference)
Pros
- Vertical weapon who uses plus speed and excellent burst to create separation both off the line and in stride with a legit second gear
- Tracks the ball well over both shoulders and is a natural hands catcher with big mitts (9 7/8 inches)
- Decent enough route runner with room to grow through more experience and strong coaching — shows flashes of advanced traits, such as varying his footwork cadence to better sell underneath routes
- Has enough physicality to develop into more than just a deep threat — functional strength to get off press-man jams, take a few lumps in the middle of the field, and outmuscle smaller corners
- Fearlessly works over the middle and in traffic
- One of his most impressive skills is delayed route control — does a tremendous job of positioning himself to make late moves to generate space to make the catch
- Highly efficient scorer — a TD every 5.7 catches is tough to ignore, even if partially a product of his narrow role
- Offers the potential for a special teams returner but isn’t experienced as such
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Cons
- Needs to improve sharp-angled cuts during his routes — far too many rounded breaks on tape
- Relies far too much on speed and burst to create yardage for himself — lacking to varying degrees when it comes to body fakes, using leverage against receivers in tight quarters, and hand fighting
- May never develop into more than a downfield weapon if he cannot hone his route-running skills and learn a robust route tree
- Lacks multi-role experience — rarely utilized as a rusher and has no track record in the return game, despite having some intriguing traits in these areas
- Maturity issues that deserve a closer look
- Doesn’t display the best boundary awareness — more one-foot landings than one would like to see
Fantasy football outlook
Burton has the ceiling to be a real-life No. 2 in the NFL but may never expand his game beyond the deep-threat role. From a fantasy perspective, think of someone, like Gabe Davis, in terms of being occasionally useful, sometimes exceptionally great, and mostly frustrating to trust from week to week.
In the best-cast scenario, he winds up offering a weekly utility as a No. 3 or flex in virtual lineups, but that will take time to develop. He makes plenty of sense as a complementary piece in several offensive designs and won’t be limited exclusively to one style of offense. No one should doubt his upside, but Burton will need pro-level coaching and more discipline to achieve his full potential.