2024 Atlanta Falcons Potential Draft Pick Profile: WR Ladd McConkey

Ladd McConkey is more than just a slot receiver as a prospect. He's someone that could help the Atlanta Falcons offense take it to the next level. McConkey lines up all over the formation and would provide speed, separation and most importantly, a reliable target to add to the Falcons arsenal. The arsenal that already includes Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts can use more long-term talent on it. If the Falcons kept McConkey in Georgia, they wouldn't regret it.

Ladd McConkey

University of Georgia

Wide Receiver

Athletic Comparison and Numbers

While the former Georgia Bulldog has a stylistic comparison that's very different, Ladd McConkey's athletic comparison is Emmanuel Sanders. Sanders had a fantastic career with almost exactly the same kind of athleticism that McConkey has. McConkey uses it in a very different way, but with his athleticism, he can burn defenses deep and use his yards after catch ability to turn a 10-yard catch into a 70-yard catch. The only spot he's not as good as Sanders in is his vertical jump.

Stats and Awards

2023: 9 Games Played, 30 Catches, 478 Yards, 2 Touchdowns, 2 Carries, 38 Yards, 1 Touchdown, 1 Kick Return, 15 Yards, William F Campbell Finalist, Wuerffel Award Winner, National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete
2022: 15 Games Played, 58 Catches, 762 Yards, 7 Touchdowns, 7 Carries, 134 Yards, 2 Touchdowns, 17 Punt Returns, 192 Yards, Second-Team All-SEC, National Champion
2021: 15 Games Played, 31 Catches, 447 Yards, 5 Touchdowns, 4 Carries, 44 Yards, 1 Touchdown, 5 Punt Returns, 82 Yards, 1 Tackle, Freshman All-SEC, National Champion
2020: Redshirted.

Highlight Reel

Scouting Report

Strengths

The former Georgia Bulldog has fantastic deep ball ability and makes sure to catch with his hands and not his body. For deep balls, that's extremely important. He's also one of the smartest receivers in the draft with how he can pick up on tendencies from cornerbacks and safeties and attack them when he is trying to upset their leverage. He keeps his pads low in his cuts and accelerates quickly out of them. His route running ability combined with his natural speed allows him to create fantastic separation on all of his routes. He's a willing special teams player who is an excellent returner and will compete for playing time as a gunner as well.

Weaknesses

The biggest weakness for McConkey's game is his play strength, but that's to be expected from a 186-pound wide receiver. He also needs to work on his run blocking. While the effort is there, his technique is atrocious and could potentially lead to holding calls in the NFL. He needs to get better at tracking deep balls, but that is something that can be improved with practice and chemistry. The rest of his weaknesses are more nit-picky things about his specific routes he runs, but that can be fixed with quality coaching from a guy who's made a Pro Bowl in the NFL before like new Falcons wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard.

Intangibles & Off-Field Red Flags

Ladd McConkey is known for being a great man on top of being a great football player. He won the Danny Weurffel Trophy this past season for the player who has not just a good academic record and performs on-field, but who has tremendous community service efforts off it as well. The only red flags for McConkey come in the form of medical questions. He had some back and ankle injuries during his final season with the Bulldogs, but still played nine games. The Chatsworth, GA native was a captain for the Bulldogs during some games throughout the 2023 season.

NFL Stylistic Comparison: Amon-Ra St. Brown

Jack of all trades, master of none types will always do well in the NFL. However, much like Amon-Ra St. Brown, even if he's a jack of all trades, he can also be a master of some things. St. Brown can destroy a defense from so many different alignments and wins with his intelligence finding the open spots all the time. Ladd McConkey is another master of separation like St. Brown and could help the Falcons take the next step on offense if he has a rookie year similar to St. Brown's.

How does he fit in with the Atlanta Falcons

If the Atlanta Falcons want to bring in Ladd McConkey, they will at minimum have to use their second-round pick on him. More than likely, they'd have to trade up into the back of the first round to procure his services. He'd be worth it, though. Adding someone like Amon-Ra St. Brown to this offense would be tremendous for Drake London and Kyle Pitts. By having McConkey in the mix, he could also help out with the route plans and release plans in games to help his fellow receivers get even better.

Early in McConkey's career, he could easily be the No. 2 wide receiver and third biggest passing option. This could be a situation where the embarrassment of riches for Kirk Cousins leads to 4,500 yards being distributed primarily among four guys—London, McConkey, Pitts and Robinson, and three of them would have over 1,000 receiving yards. Atlanta would be a dominant offensive team with McConkey added, and this could take a ton of pressure off of the defense.

All advanced stats are courtesy Pro Football Focus or Football Outsiders. All traditional stats are courtesy of official team websites, NFLGSIS or CFB Stats. All RAS and athletic testing numbers are courtesy of DraftScout.com and Kent Lee Platte's RAS Football website.