7 Senior Bowl players for the Lions to watch out for on offense

Tylan Wallace, WR – Oklahoma State

Whilst most of the prospects discussed so far are in play at the top of Day Two, the Senior Bowl is a great opportunity to find players likely to be drafted outside the top 50. The receiver group is loaded and a number of players will likely see a bump in stock coming out of the week. One of those I’m most excited to see is Tylan Wallace.

Wallace doesn’t have the athletic gifts of Toney or some of the other receivers. But he has some of the best ball skills in the stacked 2021 WR class. And whilst not as fast or agile, don’t think he can’t produce explosive plays. In fact, Austin Gayle from Pro Football Focus showed that he ranked only behind Devonta Smith and Chris Olave in yards per route run at outside receiver over the past two seasons.

Last year, Van Jefferson had a number of highlight-reel catches in Mobile and saw himself go in the 2nd round. It wouldn’t surprise me if Wallace does the same. On intermediate routes, he plucks the ball effortlessly and on vertical routes, his contested catch ability is elite, despite his modest size.

He also shows lots of physicality in the run game, and isn’t afraid to shrug off defenders along the way as you can see from the play above vs Iowa State. He bounces off two would-be tacklers, puts another in a body bag, and then outruns a fourth.

Wallace’s route tree is more limited coming out of the Oklahoma State offense and it will be interesting to see what else he has in the locker this week, as well as his release package and how he generates separation against the rest of the DBs.

His fit with the Lions is interesting. He’s more of an outside guy and his ball skills would fit well with a young QB finding his feet. He’s not the physical presence of Golladay or MJJ, but he will still make a play on the ball for those deep shots we have seen the Lions succeed with over the past few years.