Although information on private workouts is sometimes hard to get and reported with less accuracy than top-30 pre-draft visits, Mike Garafolo went beyond the public team visits to reveal that Buffalo Bills wide receiver Jalen McMillan had worked out in private.
In the midst of a very talented receiver class, McMillan is generally predicted to be a Day 2 draft pick. As such, the Bills may consider selecting him in Rounds 2 or 3 on Friday night.
The former receiver for the Washington Huskies stood 6’1″ and weighed 197 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine this year. After clocking in at 1.53 seconds for the 10-yard split, 6.94 seconds for the 3-cone drill, and 4.18 seconds for the 20-yard shuttle, he added a 37-inch vertical and a 10-seven-inch broad leap to his 40-yard sprint time of 4.47 seconds.
McMillan caught 164 passes for 2,143 yards and 17 touchdowns in his four seasons at Washington. He also attempted six passes for 46 yards and one touchdown on the ground. A standout season for McMillan was 2022, when he caught 79 passes for 1,098 yards and nine touchdowns.
(Sports Reference provided the statistics.)
Jalen McMillan is a strong and skilled wide receiver who has proven he has what it takes to pull off the difficult catch in crunch time. Having a hand size of 10″, he might offer a dependable alternative between the sticks on any given play, but he also has the ability to induce sleep in defences on route to a deep play or three each game.
Should McMillan be a starter in the NFL, a lot of draft experts and NFL commentators think he will live off the slot. The Bills may need to consider how many slot-savvy receivers in light of that theory. It feels like a pretty congested roster when you take second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid’s potential as a non-traditional weapon out of the slot into consideration.
The Bills are lacking in both boundary receiver roles in terms of proven NFL skill. After they declined to pursue Gabe Davis, who signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars early in the free agency season, they concluded a few weeks later that it was time to cut ties with Stefon Diggs.
Some have speculated that Buffalo would eventually have positionless wide receivers, which would account for the guys they have sought in the offseason and the 2023 holdovers.
If this is the case, the Buffalo Bills’ preferred approach might be to add quality in large quantities, such as Jalen McMillan. That is, assuming they don’t sign a new wide receiver to complement quarterback Josh Allen.
