Sometimes in the NFL all success requires is patience and the right opportunity. Marquise Lee’s first two years served as an excellent impression of a ghost. With injuries and ineffective quarterback play, the highly touted prospect out of US totaled just 613 yards and 2 touchdowns in his first two seasons. Something had to give.
Lee has become an effective starter in the last two years. The Jaguars utilized him as their WR2 in a creative west coast offense that emphasized the run game and play action. He lined up most often as the Y-receiver and ran a variety of stop routes and crossing patterns. He possesses average size with a stubby frame and below average athletic ability with good balance and change of direction and adequate quickness and acceleration.
| PLAYER INFO | ||||
| #
11 |
Pro Position(s)
WR |
Prospect (Last, First)
Lee, Marquise |
DOB (Age)
11/25/1991(26) |
Scout Name (Last, First)
Trapp, Zack |
| College
USC |
Year-Rd-Tm
2014-2nd-JAX |
Team
Free agent |
| INJURIES | 2017 – Ankle(2 Games, WK16-17)
2016 – no games missed 2015 – Hamstring(6 Games, WK1, WK4-9), 2014 – Hamstring(3 Games, WK3-5, |
| KEY STATS | 2017-56 Receptions, 702 Yards, 3 Touchdowns, 58.3% Catch Percentage
2016-63 Receptions, 851 Yards, 3 Touchdowns, 60% Catch Percentage
|
| MEASURABLES | ||||||||||
| Height | Weight | 40 YD | 10 YD | Arm | Hand | Vert | 3Cone | SS | Broad | Bench |
| 5116 | 192lbs. | 4.52s | 1.59s | 31 3/4” | 9 1/2” | 38” | 6.96 | 4.01s | 107” | 11reps |
Positives
Against press, Lee displays excellent body control on hard stutters and jab steps to evade jams and win inside/outside leverage. He can use skips and chest feigns to create space to work with.
Lee has a good understanding of timing and spacing and does a commendable job of creating natural rubs. He runs consistent stems and can identify the coverage quickly to run his routes with ideal depth. He’s adept at finding the soft spots and settling down in those voids. He shows dedication on clearouts and knows how to occupy two defenders deep to create openings underneath.
At the top of his routes, Lee throws his legs out in front of his body and sinks his body to allow impressive suddenness on curls and pivots. He moves fluidly and hardly loses a step out of his breaks. He’s intelligent enough to change speeds and bait lesser corners on downfield routes.
Lee is a natural hand catcher that snatches the ball out of the air both stationary and on the move with the easy manual dexterity to operate around his frame. He can run under the deep ball and track the ball over both shoulders with hands that rise late. Lee has the range to elevate on 50/50 balls and win through soft contact.
A true catch and run specialist, Lee makes his money after the catch. He gets upfield quickly and can execute strong jump cuts in space, shake over pursuing defenders, and powers into contact. He fights for yardage and always falls forward. Lee is a dedicated blocker that can cover solid corners downfield and get his hands inside when he’s the aggressor.
Negatives
Lee does not have a big man’s game and is slow to fight through a jam against patient corners. He struggles to hold the red line against man. Without natural athleticism, Lee has a hard time separating against man downfield and on in-breaking routes. He runs high into his breaks and doesn’t show quickness at the top of his routes. He doesn’t have the speed to run away from anyone.
He struggles to make contested catches and will drop the ball against bigger hits. He lacks the chemistry with his quarterback to fight open on scramble drills.
Projection
Lee is a starter you can win with best utilized as a true slot receiver that creates space for him to work with off the line and allows him to move the chains as a RAC specialist. In Detroit, his role would likely be foggy with Golden Tate’s ability as a gadget phenom. An unlikely target, he’d be a nice buy in the $5 million range.
Grade: 6.50(Starter You Can Win With)
