He never had a true breakout season at Mizzou, despite playing with a quarterback who is expected to be taken in the first round. Emanuel Hall never had a 1,000 yard receiving season, he didn’t return punts or kicks, and only lead his team in receiving yards in one season. So why is Emanuel Hall now being projected much more favorably to the NFL?
The primary reasons for an NFL team wanting to add Emanuel Hall is not necessarily his production. He is in the D.K Metcalf-prospect bucket, where his combine performance and specific skillset are valuable to an NFL team. As you can see in his stats table from Sports Reference, he averaged over 20 yards per reception for his college career. He was second in the nation in 2018 at yards per reception amongst all qualifying players and was also second in 2017.
Access premium NFL coverage 365 days a year with the RotoExperts. Season Long Draft Kits. Fantasy Football Projections. Best Ball Coverage. Dynasty Rankings. NFL Draft Coverage. Expert Chat. Betting and much more. Save 10% when you use the promo AMICO at checkout. Learn More HERE.
Hall barely played as a true freshman and as a sophomore (though as I always say, playing at all as a true freshman is a positive draft signal). He shared the Mizzou passing game with future fourth-round draft pick J’Mon Moore in 2016 and 2017 while Moore posted back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons. However, what Hall offers to NFL teams is much different than Moore or other WR1-types in the 2019 NFL Draft class. Hall will likely never have an 80-catch type season in the NFL but he does project as a highly efficient deep threat. Think John Brown or Taylor Gabriel. Per Jordan Hoover on Rotoviz, only 17 WRs have finished a season averaging 21 yards per reception on 30 or more receptions and Emanuel Hall has done it TWICE. Given the overall production profile, I would give Hall a draftable but not stellar grade just based on what he did on the field. However, where he really added prospect value is at the combine.
Players like Emanuel Hall are not a dime a dozen. Hall ran a 4.39 40 yard dash while weighing 201 pounds which gives him an 89th percentile Speed Score. His Vertical Jump and Broad Jump were 98th and 99th percentile which showcases his incredible burst ability. Hall also had the second-highest SPARQ score of any wide receiver in this class per 3sigmaathlete.com. Players this athletic have the ability to change the shape of the offenses that they participate in. Eventually, Hall could become a Desean Jackson-like player that creates space underneath and creates yardage by drawing defensive pass interference penalties down the field.
Emanuel Hall certainly has a place in the NFL despite his low reception totals in his junior and senior seasons. He is not the most technical of route-runners but I don’t really think that will matter especially right away. At Missouri, he routinely beat SEC cornerbacks down the boundary and generated separation. He was also strong enough in tight spaces and in contested catches that Drew Lock was encouraged to make tight window throws in high leverage spots to Hall. Pretty much all “scouts” on football twitter agree that Hall’s vertical speed and playmaking are NFL-caliber.
Emanuel Hall Final Verdict
I am in on Hall. As the NFL changes the roles that wide receivers play, we need to change how to evaluate them. Teams in the NFL are moving away from giving one wide receiver 28% or more of the total market share of passing attempts. More teams are using 11 personnel with three wide receivers, more teams are prioritizing players with specific skill sets to manipulate space. There is still value in the Hakeem Butler style prospects who project favorably to a 160-target workload but there is more than ever in a player who can have an average depth of target in double-digits and still secure 60% of his targets into catches. Hall is that style of player. As he will be 22 during his rookie season, blows away all the important thresholds for wide receiver athleticism and averaged over 20 yards per reception in college, I am putting him in a better bucket of success rate than most models that focus on production alone.
The Detriot Lions are one team that could desperately use a player like Hall though I am not sure they are in the market for a wide receiver with Golladay, Marvin Jones and Danny Amendola all under contract this year. The Arizona Cardinals are a team that I would love to see take Hall. They desperately need more speed on their team if they want to implement Kliff Kingsbury’s version of the Air Raid properly.
2019 NFL Draft Prospect Profiles:
Josh Jacobs
Kelvin Harmon
N’Keal Harry
A.J Brown
Noah Fant
Jazz Ferguson
Miles Boykin
Hakeem Butler
Devin Singletary
Parris Campbell
Gardner Minshew
Lil’Jordan Humphrey
Darrell Henderson
JJ Arcega-Whiteside
Andy Isabella
D.K Metcalf
T.J Hockenson
