2024 NFL Draft: Malik Nabers vs. Marvin Harrison Jr., Who Is WR1?

The college game doesn’t give us much man coverage to scout to begin with, and Nabers saw few teams willing to challenge him and teammate Brian Thomas Jr. with tight coverage ... especially at the risk of creating easy escape lanes for QB Jayden Daniels. Florida State and Alabama were the two teams that gave LSU the most snaps against man coverage, and that was the focus of my tape evaluation.

Nabers’ tape and production profile by route paint the picture of a great linear athlete, one of the better ones you’ll come across in any draft class. Because he sells speed so well at the release point, the threat of tearing the top off of the defense helps him separate, despite how challenging it is to run this route against tight coverage. Nabers led the country in receiving yards on hitches against man coverage, per TruMedia.

What the data can’t totally capture about Nabers is how effective he is vertically, despite how much explosive production he had during the season. Against man coverage, Nabers converted 40 percent of his 20 targets on corners, comebacks, posts and go routes.

Nabers excels at applying pressure to the leverage of his coverage defender by working into a defensive back's blind spots and pressuring their leverage before crossing their face. Nabers’ top-end speed is smooth and easy to maintain. While he lacks the elite ball-winning skills to sky over the top of contested coverage, he tracks the ball well. It bears repeating, too, that he brings tangible value to an offense downfield, even when he doesn’t touch the ball.

Where I come away a little underwhelmed with Nabers is running routes that require a bit more nuance at the release point and changes of tempo throughout the route. Slants, digs and underneath out-breaking routes were a struggle for him against tight coverage.

Nabers is guilty of rounding out his breaks and running routes at inconsistent depths/tempos, and he’s contact-averse in a way that makes it easier to move off of his landmarks. He amassed less than 100 yards on these routes against man coverage despite running the vast majority from the slot – where there’s more airspace to work with.

I came away feeling like Nabers will need more help from his offensive scheme to keep him open, especially if he’s working on the perimeter. There’s plenty of reason to consider an inside-out guy a top pick – Garrett Wilson was arguably the highest-graded receiver two drafts ago – but the window of impactful outcomes is much smaller for receivers that don’t profile well when running routes that call for great timing and pacing the route to match the progression.

The Argument for Harrison

Harrison is a big play-style change compared to Nabers, and the clash makes for a fun comparison. Notre Dame and Penn State played the most man coverage against the Buckeyes last year, and that’s where the majority of film work was done for this piece.

Harrison’s ability to use different approaches, change speeds and control defensive backs with the tempo of his routes is one of the first things that pops on film. He has the agility to set up defensive backs off the line and at the top of the route, and his burst out of his breaks explains why he’s so productive. When teams try to use physicality to knock off his timing, he’s strong enough to shove guys off without losing his landmarks.

If teams play off, he knows how to freeze defenders and create subtle space throughout the route to maximize separation. In short, he runs routes like a pro already, gaining the 25th-most yards in college football on slants, hitches and intermediate in/out breaking routes against man coverage. That number that would undoubtedly be higher if Ohio State’s quarterback was a more prolific passer.

One of the reasons I think Harrison was dinged in 2023 was the lack of production vertically, especially when Ohio State was playing against its toughest competition. On posts, corners, comebacks and go routes, Harrison was only targeted 14 times against man coverage, and his 113 yards tied for 77th this season.

It’s understandable for people to be skeptical of an X-receiver type that isn’t dunking on guys, but that brings us back to the issue of highlight scouting. On tape, Harrison uses his releases and short area burst to gain an advantage on defensive backs vertically.

His top-end speed isn’t on par with Nabers and the burners of the 2024 draft class, but it’s adequate enough to get on top of a defensive and pull away. Even when defenders are in phase, Harrison can play through contact and win at the highest point.

If there’s a worry for Harrison in the pros, it's just how limiting his top-end speed may be. While I don’t see a world where Harrison isn’t consistently open at the next level, I wonder whether he commands the same kind of gravity at the next level if teams don’t believe he can tear the top off of a defense. If his speed is an issue, he’s something like a more refined Tee Higgins or a taller DeAndre Hopkins. If his speed is closer to what I think it is, though, we’re talking about an A.J. Green-level prospect – a pure matchup problem.

So Who Is WR1?

When you set highlights aside and dig into the tape, There are things Harrison can do with his frame and route running detail that translate against the kind of tight coverage you’ll see in the NFL. I do not doubt that Nabers will light teams up at the next level, but the best receiver in this class can potentially change an entire game with his physical force.

Because of where the ceiling is for Harrison, I’m keeping him as my WR1 and the second-best overall prospect in this class behind Caleb Williams.