20. Laviska Shenault Jr., WR, Colorado
Height: 6’1″ Weight: 227
40-Yard Dash: 4.58 seconds
Bench Press: 17 reps
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
60-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Bio: At DeSoto High in Texas, Laviska Shenault was a do-it-all player who saw time at tight end, slot receiver, outside receiver and even at H-Back. His prowess and versatility on the gridiron had many of the top programs, such as Alabama, Oklahoma State and LSU recruiting him, but he chose to head to the Pac-12 and Colorado.
As a true freshman, Shenault saw minimal playing time but produced some big plays, catching seven passes for a stunning 168 yards, an average of 24 yards per reception. In 2018 he became a starter, and caught 87 passes for 1,019 yards and six touchdowns, despite a toe injury that sidelined him for a few games and a torn labrum in his shoulder that he played through at the end of the year. Last year his production dipped a bit, perhaps due to the attention defenses were showing him, but he still caught 56 passes for 76 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 13.6 yards per catch.
Stat to Know: If you want someone who can make defenders miss in space, Sheault is your guy. He caused 44 missed tackles over the past two seasons according to Pro Football Focus, the most in this class of receivers.
Strengths: Today’s NFL is a matchup-based game. Offensive coordinators spend hours each week coming up with ways to get their best players into favorable matchup situations and then hope they can exploit those situations once the game begins. Shenault is that type of player that can be used all over the field, and he was exactly that at Colorado. The Buffaloes aligned him at running back, at quarterback, in the slot, in the wing, on the boundary and even at tight end, and he was able to contribute from all of those spots on the field.
Shenault is also a player whose competitive toughness shows up on film. Every draft cycle there are plays that stick with you as an evaluator, those proverbial “put the pen down” moments when you feel like you do not need to see anything else, this is a guy you will go to bat for come draft time. This, for me, was one of those moments:
At the Senior Bowl, I asked @CUBuffsFootball LB Davion Taylor if there was a play he will always remember about WR Laviska Shenault. This is it.
4th-and-1. Tie game. 1 minute left. Watch Shenault plow over a LB!
“I’ve never seen anything like it. He can do anything.” #GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/9XJ8m2T4rD
— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) January 31, 2020
That is a wide receiver running over a linebacker on a short-yardage situation in a tie game. One of those “gotta have it” moments. Also think about this play in this way: On a 4th-and-1 situation, Colorado’s offensive staff thought their best call was to hand the football to Shenault on a jet sweep.
Shenault is also an explosive player in the passing game, and someone who can be a threat first with his route, and then after the catch with his explosiveness. Take this touchdown against Air Force:
Man Shenault is so much fun… pic.twitter.com/GUBXgK4Duj
— Mark Schofield (@MarkSchofield) January 7, 2020
Shenault knows he has off coverage to work against, and makes himself and his frame available to his quarterback on this slant route. But then he is a pinball after the catch, who makes himself small and low, bounces off the would-be tacklers and turns what should have been a six-yard gain into a touchdown thanks to his power and contact balance. This shows his ability to transition from receiver to runner in a blink of an eye.
As a pure wide receiver, Shenault has shown the ability to threaten defensive backs with his routes, with a good knack for threatening their frame as well as beating press coverage off the line of scrimmage. He can use a dead leg move at times both off the line of scrimmage as well as in his breaks, that can be effective at both beating press coverage as well as getting separation on his breaks. He is a problem for defensive backs on routes working back down the stem, such as curls, hitches and comebacks, because his ability to threaten the vertical route gets him a great deal of separation working back towards the QB when he hits the breaks and lets the DB fly right by.
Weaknesses: You have to start with the injury history when it comes to Shenault. In addition to the injuries he suffered in 2018, he endured a groin injury this year that hampered him at the Combine (perhaps leading to his slow 40-yard time) and required surgery this offseason. If the injury history is any indication, this could add up to a big red flag. In an environment when medical examinations are tough to conduct for each individual team, Sheanult could slide down boards as a result.
While some of his routes are dangerous, he could use some refinement on routes such as out patterns, digs, and other situations when he needs to break off at a 90 degree angle. He tends to drift on those, and that technique could be cleaned up. At times he shows the awareness to find grass versus zone coverage, but he could stand to improve on that as well. Shenault also shows a willingness to contribute as a blocker, but often his to-go move in that regard is a simple shoulder into the half-man, rather than squaring up and taking a player on.
Conclusion: Shenault checks a lot of boxes for the modern NFL offense, and in a system with a creative play-designer he could be an immediate impact player as a rookie. He has a proven track record of being able to stress a defense from a variety of positions, and you can envision an offense using him as part of a tempo package and getting an advantage with however the defense chooses to play. If they stay in a small package, he could be used as a big slot or even a running back against defensive backs. If the defense stays in a base package, he could line up against linebackers.
The problem becomes how he can be used outside of that. Teams might not trust him to purely line up at receiver and win consistently. There are some routes where you can trust him to do that as a rookie, but perhaps not the entire playbook. If drafted by a team with a vision for him, he could be a true boom-type player as a rookie, but in some offensive with a more traditional approach, he might fail to reach his potential. Of course, all of this is dependent on the health question, which is one we cannot answer right now.
Comparison: Mike Renner from PFF had perhaps the most creative comparison for any player in this class, when he equated Shenault with Saquon Barkley. Different positions to be sure, but you can see how Shenault’s play-style and willingness to run defenders over fits with the New York Giants’ running back. Another popular comparison for him that fits, identified by Lance Zierlein of NFL.com, is Sammy Watkins.