Comparing draft prospects to former and current NFL players is an annual tradition during the pre-draft process.
It doesn’t mean they’ll have the same kind of success at this level. Yet, the comparisons are made based on how similar the way the prospects play the game, their physical measurements, production, role, and traits.
Ahead of the 2023 NFL draft, Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire revealed his top prospects at each position and gave NFL comparisons for each player.
For Chargers first-round pick Quentin Johnston, Farrar sees some parallels to Bengals’ Tee Higgins.
Selected with the first pick in the second round of the 2020 draft (the same draft that gave the Bengals Joe Burrow with the first overall pick), Higgins came into the league as a big (6-foot-4, 219 pound) receiver with all the traits, but gaps in consistency. Higgins has been incredibly productive in the NFL, especially over the last two seasons, and like Higgins, Johnston could be the same in any offense where he’s not the alpha dog, with the point of defensive focus on him every week. He could be part of a hellacious one-two punch, as Higgins is with Ja’Marr Chase, pretty quickly.
Farrar mentions the two being similar in traits, as they boast rare size for the position, but they had gaps in consistency, particularly with the nuances of route running. I believe Higgins had better hands and catch radius than Johnston coming out of college.
If I had to compare Johnston to an NFL player, it would be Kevin White coming out of West Virginia, not who he was in the pros. Johnston has the same type of rare speed and size as White, but both raw as route runners and dealt with lapses with their hands.