Michael Wilson Scouting Report and NFL Draft Profile

Michael Wilson Scouting Report: Stanford, Wide Receiver

2023 NFL Draft Profile

Playing his high school football at Chaminade High School, Michael burst onto the scene during his junior season. He would finish the season with 70 receptions for 1,280 yards and 12 touchdowns. Wilson would follow it up with 56 catches for 1,157 yards and another 12 touchdowns during his senior season. He left Chaminade as the school’s all-time leading receiver with 2,900 yards.

He would earn a four-star rating from Rivals, ESPN, 247Sports, and PrepStar. All publications had Wilson has a top-240 national prospect, a top-50 wide receiver prospect, and a top-50 prospect from the state of California. He would eventually stay in-state, enrolling at Stanford.

Stanford

Michael would see playing time right away upon his arrival, playing in all 13 games his freshman season. In his limited playing time, he would end with 14 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown. He would play a bigger role during his sophomore season, starting in all 12 games for the Cardinal. He would lead the team in receptions (56) and yards (672). His five touchdowns were second on the team.

After starting in the first four games of the season, Wilson’s season would be cut short due to an injury. He would still manage 19 catches for 261 yards and a touchdown in his limited time. Michael wouldn’t return from the injury until the last four games of the 2021 season. He would finish with 19 receptions for 185 yards.

Wilson would decide to come back for a 5th season in 2022 and would be named a team captain. After six games, he was leading the Cardinal with 26 catches for 418 yards and four touchdowns. Sadly, his season would once again be cut short due to a foot injury during a win against Notre Dame.

Wilson would end his career with 134 catches for 1,662 yards, and 11 touchdowns. Still, he did enough during his time to get invited down to Mobile, Alabama for the Senior Bowl and got an invite to the NFL Combine.

Strengths

Route Running

Wilson is an excellent route runner with the full route tree at his disposal. While he doesn’t have great top-end speed, his acceleration allows him to get up to full speed in no time. He also displays excellent footwork. Because of this he doesn’t need a ton a space to slow down and speed back up. He’s able to plant his foot into the ground and make sharp, sudden cuts. Michael also has a huge bag of tricks that he’s able to use. Even when running the same route on back-to-back plays, he’ll vary the way he attacks the route and defensive back. This makes is routes extremely difficult for defenders to read.

Run Blocking

Even though Michael is a wide receiver, his run blocking was my favorite part of his game. First, not only was he a willing blocker, but he’s actually really good at it. He understands is role within the play and gets himself into the correct position. This allows him to wall off defenders and open up running lanes for the ball carrier. The best part is that he doesn’t just get in the way, he truly engages the defender and gets physical with them.

Wilson knocked out 23 reps on the bench press at the combine. This was the most for any of the wide receivers. That strength was on display with his blocking. He would often knock the DB’s around and wouldn’t stop until the whistle was blown. I loved the tenacity that he showed while blocking. So not only can Michael help out in a team’s passing attack, but he’ll make an impact in their rushing attack as well.

Weaknesses

Release vs Aggressive Press Coverage

I mentioned earlier Michael displays great acceleration and has excellent footwork. This allows him to tear defensive backs apart at the line of scrimmage when they play a softer press on him. However, it’s a little different story once they start to get really aggressive. He had a real tough time when matched up with Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez. Christian did a great job of getting hands on Wilson right away, and never let him get into his routes. It wasn’t every single play, but it was enough to notice it.

Injury History

This is something that simply cannot be overlooked when you know that Wilson hasn’t played a full season since 2019. He played in 25 games during his first two seasons at Stanford. Over the last three, he would only play in 14 games. I will point out that he was one of the stars down at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, and did a good job at the NFL Combine. Hopefully that was enough to ease the minds of NFL GM’s.

Michael Wilson Draft Stock

Probably due to that injury history and lack of overall production, Wilson wasn’t really on many radars coming into the season. After his great showing at the Senior Bowl though, he really jumped into the national spotlight. Currently, according to NFL Mock Draft Database, he ranks as the 134th overall prospect. That would make him an early Day 3 pick. Personally, I think that he’ll be gone by the end of Day 2.

Final Thoughts on Michael Wilson

I think that Wilson is a really interesting draft prospect. I don’t think he’s quite at that WR1 potential though. That, mixed with his injury history, is going to be enough to keep him just out of reach of that first group of wide receivers in this year’s draft class. Personally, Wilson is on my draft wish list for my team. He can easily come in and be a solid WR2 and would be one of the better WR3s in the league right away.