The Packers selected Michigan State wide receiver Jayden Reed with pick 50 in the 2023 NFL Draft. Here’s what scouts said about Reed in the pre-draft process.

Strengths

Dane Brugler, The Athletic — Above-average speed on vertical patterns and as a returner ... uses subtle hesitation to lull corners and create stride separation ... cornerbacks have a tough time matching his foot quickness at the top of routes and his acceleration out of breaks ... impressive hand strength at the catch point ... surprisingly effective finisher on contested balls ... maintains his focus through contact and when adjusting to throws away from his frame ... feisty perimeter blocker who frustrates defenders ... averaged 14.9 yards per punt return with three career touchdowns (39/581/3) ... also returned kicks, averaging 17.5 yards (48/841/0) ... served as a team captain in five games in 2022 ... caught a pass in all 31 games he played for the Spartans ... one of only eight players in Michigan State history to reach 18 career touchdown grabs.

Lance Zerlein, NFL.com — Highly competitive against bigger/stronger Ohio State corners in 2022. Accelerates to his top speed in a hurry. Keeps routes moving at an elevated tempo. Good ball skills to track and time the deep throw. Clever hands and positioning help carve out catch space. Makes winning plays on back-shoulder throws. Can be elusive when needed after the catch. Has three career punt return touchdowns.

Keith Sanchez, Draft Network — Alignment versatility. Run-after-catch ability. Special teams value as a returner

Bleacher Report — Above-average speed. Can threaten a vertical route tree effectively. Very good hand-eye coordination. Tracks the ball at a high-level. Very good hands and body control. Allows him to play bigger than he is at catch point. Flashes of crisp route-running, especially on inside-breaking routes. Brings plenty of experience and production as a returner.

NFL Draft Buzz — Although Reed is more of a possession target than a field stretcher, his fiercely competitive demeanor and run-after-catch ability make him a major threat in the middle of the field Offers an extra dimension as a punt and kickoff returner. Despite being a smaller receiver he's able to play as an X receiver and effectively fights tight press cover jams. Surprising hand strength - fights for the ball in contested catch situations. Crisp route runner - student of the game. While he may not display exceptional straight-line speed he takes advantage of open seams when his quarterback is on target. Reed has reliable hands and shows the willingness to make catches in traffic over the middle. Often used on deep routes, getting separation down the sideline or over the middle on crossing routes by extending his arms rather than pure speed.

Ian Cummings, Pro Football Network — Explosive athlete with easy accelerative capacity and legitimate 4.4 speed downfield. Hyper-energetic mover in short areas with torrid foot speed and superb lateral twitch. Surges through lateral movements and can offset defensive backs with ease. Electric route runner with snappy hip flexibility and a deliberate attention to detail. Smart separator with great zone awareness and leveraging identification skills in space. Can accelerate into stems, bend through breaks, and bait DBs with brutal head fakes. Laser-focused receiver with elite catching instincts, body control, and ball tracking. Has the hand-eye coordination to convert on high-difficulty chances outside his frame. Able to step through arm tackles and pry through press with calculated arm swipes. Very willing and tenacious blocker who can engage defenders with sturdy technique.

Greg Cosell, The 33rd Team — Smooth, fluid, naturally quick receiver with inside-outside versatility. Explosive burst off the LOS with free access. Natural quickness as route runner, showing refined use of vertical stem to create separation at the top of stem. Consistently showed route quickness attacking corners with his stem and separation quickness at the top. Balance and body control to stop on curl and out routes. Came back to quarterback, presenting himself flat and friendly. Showed body control and hands to make tough, contested catches. Attacked the ball in the air with aggression. Play speed to get on top of corners as a vertical dimension. Ran away from college corners with long speed. Flashed vertical speed to be effective on slot fades. Showed hand-eye and body control to track the ball well. Showed the body control and balance to stop on vertical routes and to be in position to catch back-shoulder fades. In limited reps, flashed the foot quickness and short-area burst to defeat press man. Fought through contact. Excellent run-after-catch with outstanding quickness and burst. Elusive in space with make-you-miss ability.

Weaknesses

Dane Brugler, The Athletic — Unimpressive body type with slender build and limited length ... will struggle to escape the jam once press corners get their hands on him ... needs to develop his hand technique in his releases and at the top of routes ... occasionally negates his foot quickness with excessive steps off the line or mid-route ...broken tackles were scarce on his senior tape ... drops too many easy ones ... accounted for three fumbles on the 2022 Penn State tape ... his senior year was marred by multiple injuries, including a foot injury in preseason camp (August 2022), left hip issue (September 2022), and he missed one game after he collided with the team bench and required stitches for the deep laceration in his back.

Lance Zerlein, NFL.com — High percentage of career catch tries were contested. Quicker than fast with average deep separation. Hip tightness limits in-and-out quickness at route breaks. Doesn’t always finish his routes. Loses catch focus working into the middle of the field.

Keith Sanchez, Draft Network — Limited catch radius. Lack of elite speed

 Bleacher Report — Below-average play strength. Can struggle at the line or when playing into the sideline. YAC skills are underwhelming. No dominant athletic trait, vision is uninspiring. Likely to be a slot-only player in the NFL. Will need to be kept off the line if aligned outside.

NFL Draft Buzz — Not an elite athlete - has a slim build and stands just 5-11. Reed also had problems with drops when coming back to the action. His ability to track the ball is good enough, but Reed too often let the ball get into his body downfield rather than snatching it with his hands. His playing speed is less than elite. Reed won’t run past defenders like he did at the college level. He’s short and slight, a non-option as a boundary receiver and a non-factor blocking in the run game. While his forty time was decent his short-area quickness and acceleration is poor (2.57 ten-yard split) Under average overall play strength Limited catch radius - shorter than ideal arms. Drops more passes than he should

Ian Cummings, Pro Football Network — Frame size is slightly below average, and middling catch radius hurts against longer DBs. Frame puts him at risk of being outmuscled by larger defenders in contested situations. Can be prone to occasional focus drops, especially when threatened by early contact. Sometimes allows defenders to pry the ball loose before completing the catch process. Sometimes works a bit too far upfield on releases and can be more efficient laterally. Lacks elite contact balance and can be halted in his tracks by direct contact. Occasionally drifts past optimal blocking angles and plays himself out of leverage. Will be a 23-year-old rookie, whose production dipped in 2022.

Greg Cosell, The 33rd Team — May not be a true vertical dimension who can consistently run by and get on top of corners. Not purely explosive. Made a lot of tough, contested catches in college. Can he do that at the next level given that he is only 5-foot-11? Did not see a lot of routes between the numbers working the middle of the field. That becomes a projection. There were times Reed played big, attacking the ball, and other times he played small. Inconsistency in his game.

Overall

Dane Brugler, The Athletic — A three-year starter at Michigan State, Reed was a perimeter receiver in offensive coordinator Jay Johnson’s offense. Although his senior year fell short of expectations because of injuries and the Spartans’ offensive struggles, he accounted for 46 explosive plays (20-plus yards) over the past two seasons and became just the third player in school history with multiple punt return touchdowns in the same season. Reed has outstanding foot quickness and skillfully throttles his route speed to separate from coverage. Despite dropping too many easy ones, his focus is heightened on contested windows, and he shows a knack for timing his leaps and snatching the football off the helmets of defensive backs. Overall, Reed will have a tougher time overcoming his slight size vs. NFL defensive backs, but his speed, route tempo and downfield ball skills are the ingredients of a potential NFL playmaker. With a few technical tweaks to his game, he has NFL starting ability (slot and outside) and adds value as a return man.

Lance Zerlein, NFL.com — Utility wideout with the ability to take snaps at multiple receiver positions while offering both kickoff and punt return talent. Reed looks smaller in many of his matchups, but he is rarely deterred by size. He’s too tight-hipped for stop-start routes on the tree, but he operates with good route speed and should improve his ability to separate with additional development and experience on the next level. His ball skills and feel for positioning on deep throws and jump balls are unquestioned. Limiting his focus drops on short and intermediate throws will be critical to becoming a long-term NFL contributor.

Keith Sanchez, NFL Draft Network — While Reed can be a versatile player, there are elements of his game that need to be improved. Reed is a good catch-in-traffic receiver but fails to really extend his hands away from his body to improve his catch radius. This allows defenders to be able to deflect passes and restricts his ability to make the difficult contested catch consistently. It also appears that Reed lacks true explosiveness. Reed is a player that is quicker than fast. Throughout his career, Reed has made big plays but they are not a direct correlation to Reed having elite speed.  In the NFL, Reed’s skill set will allow him to fill multiple roles early in his career while he continues to work on the details of his game as he attempts to work his way to being the first or second option of an offense.

Bleacher Report — Reed's requisite speed and high-level ball skills are enough to make him an early contributor. He will be a reliable target who can take on a variety of route responsibilities, though mostly from the slot. Size and play strength will hold him back to a degree, but there's enough in the rest of his skill set to overcome that and be a useful player.

Ian Cummings, Pro Football Network — Reed grades out as a top-100 prospect and worthy of a Day 2 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. The excess of depth in the middle-round range at WR makes it hard to discern exactly where Reed will go off the board. But as an athletic, hyper-instinctive receiving threat with separation ability, sure hands, and return experience, he has a very strong résumé.

Greg Cosell, The 33rd Team — Reed fits today’s NFL with his ability to create explosive plays on vertical routes where his ball-tracking ability and body control to make tough contested catches are strong traits, and his run-after-catch on short and intermediate routes and jet sweep, bubble and tunnel screen concepts come into play. Reed likely will best transition to the NFL as a movement z and/or slot receiver putting in position, where he can gain free access into his routes with quickness and accelerating speed to attack and break down corners and safeties. While not a true burner with dynamic vertical speed, Reed showed a strong release package vs. press-man coverage to beat corners off the LOS and get on top of them early in his route. Reed is a solid prospect who can be effective in multiple ways and likely projects best as a No. 3 receiver in 11 personnel groupings.

Todd McShay, ESPN — Reed's versatility on offense and in the return game will add value to his draft stock. His ability to accelerate off the line, beat press coverage and generate separation with savviness and quickness is what jumps out on tape. He has above-average ball skills and is very dangerous after the catch.

Where Jayden Reed appeared on evaluators’ big boards

Dane Brugler, The Athletic - 80

Pro Football Focus - 122

Draft Network - 105

Bleacher Report - 81

The 33rd Team - 103

ESPN (overall) - 47

Todd McShay, ESPN - 47

NFL Mock Draft Database Consensus Big Board - 89