Parris Campbell Jr. WR Ohio St.
Round Two, Pick 59
Height 5’11 7/8’
Weight 205 lbs
Wingspan 75 5/8”
Arm Length 32 ¼ “
Hand size 9 ½”
40-yard dash 4.31s
20 shuttle 4.03 s
Vertical 40”
Broad 135”
Bench 11 reps
Career stats
Receiving 143 rec 1768 yards 15 TD
Rushing 23 attempts 210 yards 2 TD
2019 Stats
Receiving 90 rec 1063 yards 12 TD
Rushing 9 attempts 24 yards 0 TD
The Tape
The Colts selected one of the most interesting receivers in the draft. Ohio States Parris Campbell is this year’s swiss army knife, a do it all receiver who’s incredibly dangerous with the ball in his hands. This term usually has negative connotations as these types of players as they often fail to live up to the hype on the pro level. Tavon Austin, Cordarrelle Patterson, among many others never realized their first-round billing, but Parris won’t fall into the same place.
Most of these types are players have explosion and great vision as a runner, but lack the ball skills, route running, and feel for the coverage to be more than a backup role. Parris needs improvement in these parts too, but he has the right fundamentals to be an exception.
First off, Parris is a hands catcher with close to ideal form, as opposed to allowing the ball to come to his body or try to underhand catch balls. It’s a small part of being a good receiver, but an important one nevertheless.
Here we see two plays that look pretty simple but show what I am talking about. In the first clip we see, Parris a screen pass to his chest with his hands, he adjusts to the ball to allow him to still square upfield as quickly as possible for a first down. You’ll see a lot of young receivers body catch these throws, most likely killing their momentum or even just allowing the ball to bounce off their chest.
In the second clip, you see a similar reception, the ball is slightly behind Parris, but he adjusts to catch the ball with his hands (and finishes off with some cuts for the first. Again, you see Parris show better technique than many “offensive weapon” type players do in college.
The Ohio State Buckeye shows a good feel for finding open space as well, which will help him gain Andrew Luck’s trust early in his career. Here he realizes that the Washington defenders made a coverage gaffe leaving the safety out on an island with no help to cover him, but instead of accelerating through his route making it a tougher throw, he slows down, finds the space and again makes a clean hand catch for the score. Again, it’s a small part of being a good receiver, but for rookies in a crowded position room, doing the little things right will allow him to get on the field early and often.
Now for the fun stuff, Parris is electric with the ball in his hands and will be a weapon for Reich and company right away. I could do a whole article just on these types of plays (just look up his highlights if you want more), and they are fun. Ben Banogu may get flashbacks at rookie minicamp from this play; Campbell shows his speed and ability as a ball carrier on the tunnel screen for the 70-yard score.
Campbell shows a good feel for breaking tackles, he is slippery and uses the defender’s momentum against them to break tackles, as shown in the second gif above. This isn’t a trait you can teach, and it’s only going to get better the longer he plays at the pro level. He’ll be a candidate to go viral every week, and his splash plays will keep coordinators up late.
Remember all those failed screen plays last year? How about the fourth and short end around to Eric Ebron? Frank Reich LOVES these types of gadget plays and he will use Campbell the way he should be used early and often. This skillset will add a whole other dimension for the Colts offense that will keep the defense on their toes on every play.
Parris, not surprisingly, is a good kick returner averaging 30 yards per attempt on 30 career attempts at Ohio State early in his time there. Although I don’t see the Colts placing him there long term, don’t be surprised to see the Colts try him there and likely punt return as well.
Outlook
What does Parris need to work on? Few things, he still has ways to go as a route runner although he has improved over his time at Ohio State. He mostly played from the slot, so his ability against press coverage will be tested early. However, I am sure Reich will allow him to play from the slot as much as possible to avoid this type of trouble if it arises.
Also, despite his 4.31 speed, he wasn’t often used as a deep threat at Ohio state. Some of the plays where he was he looked a bit awkward and double-caught the ball, hopefully with some practice, the Colts could improve on that to make him as much as a vertical threat as he is horizontal.
One question that is on Colts fans minds is drops. Indy has had a dropping problem in recent years, and all would like that to stop. Campbell isn’t Larry Fitzgerald, but he isn’t Darrius Heyward Bey either. He has improved a lot in the drops area and it shouldn’t be too much of an issue in his Colts career.
Parris, of course, is the type A character that Ballard loves. He committed to Ohio state at just 16 years old, and by his own admission, was a very mature kid growing up. I could go on but check out this nine-minute video on him and you’ll see what I mean:
Its always been more than just football for @PCampbell21. His dream since he was 8 years old is now a reality. The kid from Akron is heading to the @Colts.
#GoBucks #DevelopedHere #ColtsForged pic.twitter.com/NwAHKsxSyq— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) April 27, 2019
Campbell was a draft crush of the head coach, who as seen in these pictures below, was absolutely stoked to add this weapon to his squad. Reich obviously has a clear plan and vision for Parris and personally, I can’t wait to see it play out in 2019 and beyond.
Is this a Parris Campbell pick reaction from Frank Reich?
That’s one happy head coach/play caller knowing the speed coming into his offense (photos from @mattbowenphoto). pic.twitter.com/p8HJQNXJ9g
— Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) April 28, 2019
Article by: Maxx Hotton
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