Will Isaiah Wooden Climb the Falcons Depth Chart? (2024 Scouting Report)

[Music] Isaiah wooden is the next player up on our scouting profile Series so this is a nice little episode series that we have where RC's diving into undrafted free agents later round guys or whatnot Isaiah wooden out of the out of Southern Utah was an undrafted free agent by my Atlanta Falcons C how did this wide receiver who stands at only 59 170 lbs according to the southern Utah website come across your desk well it came across my desk officially I got a um the prod Day Results sent to me so your 5 foot n wide receiver is actually 57 and a half so jeez uh note that but if when when a prod Day Report can can uh be shot my way the more official one not the hype one that the either the agents or the player or the school instantly puts out I wait for the official reports as official as we can get from the schools so you have to take them sometimes with a grain of salt but so the southern Utah one comes across I get the wooden on the wooden one sent to me straight away because I don't I look right past the 5 foot7 part and I see 4.38 40 time so I'm like okay that's that's a start you know that that's a pro day so that's maybe more four fours but then I started looking down and it's a 1.38 10 yard split and a 1.38 is almost unheard of I mean I rarely see anybody it's rare to see guys get into the fours a 138 I'm think is this an is this a typo you know what's the deal with this so but it was the it was the prod day result of record so I ran with it and well I took it as okay now I'm interested let me look down the rest of this is this just a track guy is this a fast Guy what's this guy's deal then if he runs a 6.90 three cone and I'm like okay this is not just on paper this is not just straight ahead fast guy that has no wiggle no agility he's got upper end agility so but I'm like these these numbers are almost too good to be true because I didn't even heard that this guy existed back in probably April when I got the uh report so then I see he has a 442 in vertical and I'm like this is insane these numbers are impossible the the the time clocks on the speed times can be off can be quick triggered in their favor there can be a lot of things that can go on but the vertical is is a little harder to uh or near impossible because it was videotaped um it was it's impossible to cheat so if you got a 44 and a half inch vertical I can start to believe you run at you you run fast what whether it's 43s and a 138 10 yard uh remains to be seen but that's what comes across my desk on this player I'd never even heard of so I'm like we got to stop the presses here and take a look at uh what kind of player we got so I flip on the tape real quick and just just to get a taste just to see and looks good from from the first glance a lot of high it's funny there's a it's a five foot 7 and A2 inch player that's high pointing catches on his highlight reel and so I'm like all right the 40 plus inch vertical uh looks pretty real he's going up over the top of people making catches uh he looks good uh there's some Breakaway moments where he's catching bombs I'm like this is this is something I'm going to look further into this so set him aside to do a deeper report for on and just some of the factoids about him cuz when I when I see somebody that has incredible athleticism at the lowest levels I'm like why weren't they in why didn't they go to D1 what did they and did they tear up you know Southern Utah um did they whatever conference they were playing in did did he rack up big numbers so I go look and see and he's got um in 2023 61 catches 93 three or 94 yards and 14 touchdowns so I'm like okay that's in 11 games that's pretty I'll take that I would hope for more but you know we'll see if there's more to the story maybe he's got a terrible quarterback who who knows so I I get all that basic information then go back and look and he started his college career in 2018 at Dixie State he didn't get any D1 offers uh didn't get hardly any offers out of the gates so he goes to Dixie State at the D2 level I think they are and does it does fine fine enough to where Kent State offers them so he gets a D1 offer excuse me so okay D more excited he he got D1 offers so there's something there that attracted attention but then I'm thinking how did then how did he end up at Southern Utah he winds up at Kent State plays um a couple of Seasons barely plays his first year had a had a nice play or two in being Barely Used but in blowouts then year two he barely plays again and then he just I think he leaves um either Midway through or after the season he decides he's going to transfer cuz they're not playing and he goes to Southern Utah so he's at Southern Utah for the last two years uh last two years of his career first year there was okay and then this last year his second year he broke out so it's really odd for a player that's that would would be that fast and that athletic on paper uh that he would kind of bounce around and not really get any heat at Kent State and then wind up at Southern Utah but Southern Utah got um adopted into D1 level I think they go D1 this upcoming year but their schedule was transitioning so they got to play um like BYU and Arizona State so he got to play against some D1 schools uh on tape so when I got all of his background information I'm like okay there's plenty here to um dive in and investigate more on um background check was fine fine I I thought maybe if he's bouncing around perhaps he's got grade problems or some type of suspension or arrest or you that's usually the way it goes if somebody's crazy good and can never really get to D1 but he's pushed to be I was uh listening to an interview someone did of him and he was pushing to be a 4.0 student like that was a big uh effort of his that he was proud out of and he was talking about all the summer jobs he had and as he was transferring around he was getting you he didn't have any niil money he didn't he had to work um to get pocket money as he was transferring all over the place his dad was in the Navy so it sounds like he got a real disciplined um uh structured upbringing which leads him to his work ethic which is good grades and his body for 5 foot s he's me he is completely yoked and he has got all of that 40 in plus vertical and there's some speed there so the guy is not skipping on the gym uh and he's not skipping in the classroom so everything looks wonderful but then I go and look at the tape deeper and spend an entire day was looking through different game tape and I'm just aching for him to to look like Tyreek Hill 2.0 is what I'm hoping to see with the numbers that I'm looking at from his pro day I'm like this guy's crazy this these numbers are stunning and he's got a great background story so it's like n none of this really is all adding up but I'm excited that there might be a Hidden Gem here and and perhaps there is but as I was looking through the tape I saw a good player that that was you know playing mostly lower level School FCS schools and all that at Southern Utah had a couple D1 matchups but it's mostly uh FCS or D2 um type matchups that he had and he definitely had some numbers uh this past year but as I watched the tape he wasn't really pulling away from you would think with that speed he would just be the fastest guy on the field I noticed several times him getting uh bubble screens or uh short passes and he'd have a lane he'd he'd be Off to the Races it would look like and then he would get caught from behind by a safety from UC Davis or from Sam Houston State or whatever so he wasn't I was really hoping and expecting to see him just in a track race leaving people in the dust and he really wasn't that type of player on tape he definitely had moments where he would Sprint off the snap and get into a full Sprint and go deep and have two steps on the corner uh or more and catch a bomb for a touchdown um but I thought I would see a b some jet sweeps and just and kick he was a uh I think it was a second team kick returner in his conference he never returned a kick for a touchdown uh at Southern Utah even though he was he took a decent amount of uh kick returns had a low kick return average in 2023 had a low yards per carry on the carries that they gave him um as kind of a Jet Sweep quasi running back of which he played running back in grade school and thought he was going to be a running back but he got converted to wide receiver uh in high school because they saw he was fast but he wasn't as that big so they put him more at like wide receiver so he's got some some running back background a little bit and um I think he could transition maybe to running back but I'm I'm intrigued to see what he's going to look like in training camp but I was getting ready to go this is my guy this is the one we put all the chips on at the lower levels I just didn't I can't go there because the tape did not match what I saw in the workout numbers is it fair to say that maybe he has agility he's really quick right but does he not have stamina to like sustain it and do those and like have those Breakaway runs is that what do you think is causing it I don't think it's that because he's such a I mean he looks fantastic as a just a physical body uh total muscle at 57 uh looks like a power built like a almost a power running like a Muscle Hamster type at 57 and he can jump up and go get passes over the top of Corners you know really well uh and he will beat coverage you know he got a lot of his touchdowns sprinting off the snap and beating people deep but that was more beating the lower schools deep he didn't he didn't he wasn't as glowing when he like went up against um D1 competition um I I can't say why the the measured speed says one thing and the tape shows another so I'm I'm open to could he have had a nagging ankle or knee that he didn't talk about but he was still good enough to you know have numbers but but he didn't blow anybody away at Dixie State or Kent State or his first year at Southern Utah there's no evidence that he just walks into you know a situation and it's like whoa this guy is better than is is a faster better athlete than everybody else here he didn't really stand out um he he didn't look he didn't look like a bust but I was hoping that this was maybe some type of Tyreek Hill 2.0 hiding in the beads and I just didn't see that he's got potential especially as a kick returner with the new kick return rules because of his body he's going to be able to take a beating um better than you know usually when it you're talking about a 4 threes Runner that didn't get drafted it's somebody who's really wispy thin and um it's going to get broken in half in the NFL that's not wooden he's he is definitely Yol so maybe it'll just be as a kick returner perhaps he'll develop some more receiver chops uh at the uh next level but it was I was looking at him and his get off off the snap to get open because I was hoping that maybe he'd be a gem there just it wasn't there wasn't bad I would just classify everything that I his his athleticism is in like an a grade almost in every category agility BC grade uh but overall really nice but the tape says this is more of a CD athlete that you hope if I'm a if I'm an Atlanta Falcons fan and I'm rooting for this guy and I really am this seems like a great young man and had uh quite a journey bouncing around to different schools not for a bad reason per se uh just looking for opportunity is perhaps with a little more training from the at the professional level and if he's at full health that the speed is there at the NFL level that it's that that it's going to work I don't it's not going to be doesn't look like there's Tyreek Hill 2.0 sitting here but it's looks like somebody who could potentially hang in the NFL and maybe it starts as a kick returner and he gets his you know feet underneath of them and builds from there to be a slot wide receiver he said that's uh watching an interview with him he said the NFL teams were looking at him at in the slot so slot receiver who could play some running back um and is probably going to get his chance as a kick returner so I I'm not I'm not closing the door on this but I'm closing the door on this being Tyreek Hill 2.0 which for a moment I thought maybe this is what we've got here we've got a super freak athlete uh hiding in the midst but no I think it's just a promising of of all the under ated free agent receiver types this is definitely one of the most interesting ones could be the best undrafted freee agent wide receiver uh that comes from this draft but I don't I don't get the sense that this dep pending super stardom Tyreek Hill type 2.0 is is gonna happen here but I'm not ruling him out who do you think is a good comp for wooden uh the comps I did a scouting a full scouting report and put out comps on um fantasy football metrics this week it was all obviously the smaller speed players I don't know if you remember this is going back some years do you remember Mike Thomas who was a little 5 foot7 uh wide receiver I think he played at either Arizona or Arizona State 4-3 speed um and he went to Jacksonville I think is where he had his best years and he was a bit of a weapon even though he was smaller he was so fast and a good receiver that Mike Thomas had moments for Fantasy moments for the NFL and was a pretty good player uh soris Moss also popped up as a comp but when I looked at that I'm like yeah that was if if wooden was dumping into the NFL with these measurables 20 years ago 15 years ago 10 years ago it'd be pretty unique uh he'd have maybe more of a shot but there's every uh depth chart it seems has three star wide receivers and then two backups that are would have been starters 10 or 15 years ago and a guy like wooden might have get drafted 10 years ago 15 years ago but in 2024 with all the wide receiver Talent that's been flooding in from college he's undrafted six-year college player so he's on the older side of things as well um I maybe he could have been an obvious producer 10 15 20 years ago now boy he's gonna he's going to have a battle to try to over to even just get to the the main roster and it might have to start on special teams obviously rules changing this year so teams have to have not one but two returners on the field so maybe there's going to be room for athletic guys like wooden RC do you think Isaiah wooden has any Dynasty value would you advise anybody to put him on their rosters when we get deeper no most Dynasty drafts that I uh deal with firsthand or through all of audience and subscriber questions is usually five rounds is is the most is the typical three to five rounds so he's not worth three to five rounds um of a pick but for those we've got folks that are in 32 team uh Dynasty leagues that like a full NFL roster I mean that then uh you're talking wouldn't would be somebody to look at with your later picks that's not going to be on many Radars so he he's someone there's three guys there's three wide receivers that um jump out at me that I'm going to be watching in the preseason just to see how they train how they handle being thrown into you know a higher level of competition than what they're used to wooden is is one of them John Giles from West Florida that's now with the Giants is probably was the best undrafted free agent wide receiver Talent I've seen and he played against some D1 at the hola Bowl All-Star Game and and accounted for himself well um uh B Cole Burgess from Courtland state that ended up going with Cincinnati Cincinnati's got such a loaded roster I don't even know how he's going to make a dent in that thing but he's probably the second best receiver that I saw the undrafted free agents and then wooden is obviously in that top three and uh he he may be third uh of the group definitely one I'm going to watch and see what's the reality is sometimes these guys look a certain way in at the lower levels in college and then they Shock Me with you know they they turned it on in the pros or something happened or they're they trained hard you know something happened uh and they look much faster uh in the pros it's it's rare but it happens so so I'm going to be looking at at wooden for sure that first uh those first training camp tapes but especially the very first preseason game I'm going to be looking to see uh what he looks like speed-wise compared to the other professional athlete so he's definitely on the watch list but I don't think anything is imminent RC as a longtime follower of FF metrics all the later round wi receiv SE receivers that you've scouted throughout the years I mean you you've seen Tyreek hill before he was coming Devonte Adams when he was just a you know low like uh a late draft pick and obviously coming to his own with Aaron roders like what did you see let's use Tyreek Hill as the example because I feel like he's I mean I guess like you know coming from a smaller School smaller in size what did Tyreek Hill do on tape that made you go like wow this might actually translate in the NFL Tyreek Hill would be an easy one for me to turn to and go is I I've been watching football scouting it for fantasy for dynasty for betting for 15 years now and every year I just get a little bit more experience and a little better at what I do and I've got a a library of tape in my head from watching all of these prospects in college in the off seon but then when the actual season hits I'm scouting the preseason games like a like a fantasy Dynasty professional and better looking for opportunity and then I watch every game in the NFL live and watch it again on tape during the week I watch a lot of athletes moving against each other with all of that experience comes guys that what I'm looking for is guys that immediately make me stop what I'm doing if I've got music playing in the background or if I got CNBC on or whatever and I'm watching tape in in silence and I'm just looking through Players I want somebody that's going to make me stop all the things that are going on in the background and then go seeking for more information and then and and go get more tape because it's just obvious there's something different about them Tyreek Hill definitely had that I didn't catch it in college because he had such a background I didn't think he would I didn't know where he was going to fit or if they were just going to make him a kick returner in the pros so but when I saw Tyreek Hills when I saw the first play I had ever seen him in the NFL I was I stopped the presses everybody within the sound of my voice reading my material needs to do everything they can to go get Tyreek Hill it was that kind of moment and don't have that with wooden uh or really any of the undrafted free agent guys this year last year Emanuel Wilson the running back from Grand Valley State when I watched him that was a stop the press's moment like there's definitely something unique and different and highend here with this guy so um Tyrell Williams another blast from the past name is probably the the the best undrafted free agent type D2 type player FCS type player that I saw in on the tape where I was just like this this is something special this is something different than I'm used to seeing at guys at this level so and that Tyre Tyrell Williams ended up getting cut by the Chargers ahead of 53 man day nobody claimed him he went on the practice squad but then he instantly went up to the main roster uh and he ended up sticking in the main roster and at one point they were talking about him being better than than uh frustrating Keenan Allen who was always getting hurt Tyrell Williams was starting to become the number one for the Chargers when really everybody had r him off because he was a low producer in college but it's because he played for a terrible school and offense but I could see on tape something was different so that that it that I know it when I see it is what I'm looking for and I just didn't see it with uh wooden but I'm open to it wasn't so far off that I'm not I'm going to say you know I'm not going to bother I'm I'm going to be following and tuning in on him and I'll be the first to jump up and say wait a minute it's on this is real Something's Happened for the full scouting report on Isaiah wooden and all other content that RC produces just like that to find the next hdden G gem FFM metrics.com go visit it subscribe you can get access to that full scouting report and all of RC's content you definitely needed to have that edge in your Dynasty redraft all your fantasy leagues cuz that'll help you have that additional advantage over everybody else in our league in your league RC closing thoughts any last words on wooden or are we good to W uh good to go but we will have we'll be following him The Scouting doesn't end here I'll get uh training camp tape and I will certainly be scouting him and Reporting out on his every move that I see in the preseason as I do with every player uh of note or I Scout every game of the preseason break down the tape looking for somebody I might have missed in the pre-draft and summer process of scouting so