I watched Skyler Bell against Duke. Bell is the 5'11", 186-pound WR out of UConn. He split time roughly evenly between slot and Z. It was a particularly good matchup because Chandler Rivers, a borderline top-100 prospect himself, followed him and played mostly tight man coverage. So you had two borderline top-100 prospects going head-to-head in tight man for most of the game.
Bell generally had a good release, and it mattered because Rivers was aligned tight — usually three yards or less from the line of scrimmage. On most reps, Bell did a good job of getting into Rivers’ personal space before initiating his release. He consistently closed to within about a yard, which forces the corner to declare inside or outside leverage and shoot his hands. That forward lean shifts the DB’s center of gravity and makes it harder to react cleanly. Overall, his releases were solid, though not perfect. There were a few reps where Rivers was able to disrupt him.
His route running was good, though the route tree was somewhat limited. He ran a lot of crossers, overs, shallow crossers, and choice routes, so there weren’t many true hard in-breakers or out-breakers on tape to fully evaluate his ability to snap off routes at the top. That said, when he beat Rivers off the line, he did an excellent job stacking him. Rivers often tried to play trail technique, but Bell defeated that by stacking vertically once he gained a step. Once stacked, Rivers lost his leverage advantage and had to defend both inside and outside breaks from behind, which is a difficult position in trail. The moment Bell got even, he worked to get on top of him. There were flashes of hip sink on in-breakers, but the limited variety of routes makes it hard to fully evaluate that aspect. On choice routes, he was very good. He almost always made the correct decision based on leverage. UConn saw a lot of man in this game, but given how well he understands leverage and space, I suspect he would transition well attacking zone coverage too, even though there wasn’t a ton of that on tape here.
Bell is on the smaller side, and Rivers was able to reroute him at times. On the game-winning touchdown, Rivers was in press and physically pushed him toward the boundary. Rivers largely won that rep structurally — Bell was not open. But the quarterback threw a perfect back-shoulder ball, and Bell showed late hands and excellent tracking to finish the touchdown. That was more ball skills than separation. The quarterback was somewhat inaccurate overall, and Bell adjusted well to several throws that were low or slightly behind him. There weren’t many true contested-catch opportunities (the game winning TD was maybe the only contested catch opportunity), but he did secure at least three balls that required significant adjustment.
After the catch, he showed decent acceleration and deceleration, but not at the level of someone like Zachariah Branch. He doesn’t have Branch’s lateral twitch or juke ability, and like Branch, he isn’t breaking tackles through contact. Nothing special after the catch, but solid. His start-stop ability created a little extra yardage at least once.
Overall, I like him. He feels like a Jaylin Lane caliber receiver and could carve out an Olamide Zaccheaus type role. I doubt he’s ever a true star, but he looks like a functional, reliable NFL receiver. Compared to Branch, who is generally viewed slightly higher, I think Bell has the higher floor because of his release package and leverage awareness, while Branch has the higher ceiling due to superior explosiveness in space. If I had to choose, I would probably take Bell over Branch, though I understand why many would chase the ceiling. Bell would be an acceptable pick at 71, though perhaps not outstanding value.
Here is roughly the first half of the video I watched....
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