CeeDee Lamb or Jerry Jeudy?

You can’t spell “Lamb” without a silent b and maybe you can’t get real answers from top executives without a silent poll. That was the intent of The Athletic’s Bob McGinn this week as he posted his findings in a poll of 17 NFL executives and found that Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb edged out Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy as the top wideout in this draft class. Barely. (Pronounced as “bear-lee” as the b here is not silent, it has the regular amount of volume.)

Ranking the receivers on a 1 to 6 scale, Lamb scored 87 points compared to 86 for Jeudy. That’s how close it was.

While no receiver in this class has been viewed as an elite Larry Fitzgerald or Calvin Johnson type (which shouldn’t matter too much given that most great receivers all-time were not viewed as Fitzgerald or Megatron level draft prospects), Lamb drew comparisons to Anquan Boldin and Chad Ochocinco. (There are no silent letters in “Ochocinco” but there is poor usage of the Spanish language.)

Lamb caught 62 passes for 1,327 yards and 14 touchdowns last season, following up a sophomore campaign in which he had 65, 1,158, and 11. He increased his yards per catch average from 17.8 to 21.4. If you look at just the last three years with Lincoln Riley, the Sooners have produced Marquise Brown and Mark Andrews as weapons to the NFL level and both have performed well so far.

At the combine, he came in at 6’2, 198 lbs, a 4.5 40-yard dash and a 34.5” vertical.

Jeudy has gotten a lot of attention for being the next great wideout for the Crimson Tide, following in the footsteps of players like Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley, his teammate in 2017. When Ridley went to the league, Jeudy had 1,315 yards and 14 touchdowns, while Henry Ruggs, Jaylen Waddle, Irv Smith, and Devonta Smith all topped 690 yards. In 2019, Devonta Smith led the way with 1,256 yards and 14 touchdowns, compared to 1,163 and 10 for Jeudy and 746 and seven for Ruggs.

At the combine, Jeudy was 6’1, 193 lbs, ran a 4.45 and had a 35” vertical.

Of course, Ruggs is oft cited as the third part of the top three receivers in the draft and he was the fastest player at the combine, running a 4.27 at 5’11 and 188 lbs. It’s interesting to think that Jeudy and Ruggs were only separated by five pounds.

The Las Vegas Raiders have been heavily weighing their options and who the favorite is of all three of them for months. With picks 12 and 19, the Raiders could have the choice of all three or even perhaps none of them during next Thursday’s first round. I can’t imagine that there would be a pall in the war room (Mike Mayock’s kitchen) if they end up with their second or even third favorite, but seeing them all off the board in the top-11 isn’t impossible.

Seeing Lamb go over Jeudy could be probable*, depending on who you poll.

(*pronounced as “pro-AY-lee” as most people don’t know those Bs are also silent.)