How Does ASU WR Jaelen Strong's Wrist Injury Impact His 2015 NFL Draft Stock?

In 2014, the NFL saw an influx of rookie wide receivers unlike any in recent memory. Jarvis Landry of the Miami Dolphins. Sammy Watkins of the Buffalo Bills. Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And, of course, Odell Beckham Jr. of the New York Giants.

All made a substantial dent in their first NFL season.

This year's wide receiver class is similarly loaded, but news broke on Wednesday that could shake up the pecking order when the first round of the NFL draft gets underway in a couple of weeks.

As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweeted on Wednesday, Arizona State wide receiver Jaelen Strong has a wrist injury that will require the 6'2", 217-pounder to "likely" undergo surgery at some point in the not-too-distant future:

Strong, for his part, disputed reports that he's probably headed under the knife:

"

Old news. That happened Nov 1st. I'm fine. Played 5 games with it and I'm sure you couldn't tell. Don't believe everything you hear.

— Strizzy (@JaelenStrong) April 15, 2015"

Whether surgery is on the table (Get it? On the table? HA! I kill me!) or not, that puts Strong on a list of players who will soon be headed back to Indianapolis for a medical recheck, a list that includes Georgia running back Todd Gurley and Indiana tailback Tevin Coleman:

And that medical recheck carries more than a little weight in a stacked yet muddied crop of young pass-catchers.

Rank	Matt Miller (B/R)	Rob Rang (CBS) *	Mike Mayock (NFLN)
1.	Kevin White	Amari Cooper	Kevin White
2.	Amari Cooper	Kevin White	Amari Cooper
3.	DeVante Parker	DeVante Parker	DeVante Parker
4.	Dorial Green-Beckham	Breshad Perriman	Jaelen Strong
5.	Jaelen Strong	Dorial Green-Beckham	Dorial Green-Beckham

Strong's stock in the 2015 NFL draft was already pretty fungible, depending on which draftnik you asked. In the latest mock from Lance Zierlein of NFL.com, he has Strong headed to the Cleveland Browns (the poor kid) at No. 19 overall.

"Some teams are in love with Strong's ability to overmatch cornerbacks and make contested catches," Zierlein wrote. "This might be a little high for him, but it wouldn't shock me."

For the record, nothing the Browns do should shock anyone anymore.

Colleague Daniel Jeremiah has Strong going higher still, to the Houston Texans at No. 16. However, of the six mock drafts at NFL.com, those are the only two that have Strong being picked on the draft's first day.

There's a similar disparity in Strong himself.

Physically, Strong appears to check all the boxes, many of them emphatically. He isn't blazingly fast (4.44-second 40-yard dash at the combine), but he's not slow by any stretch. Strong demonstrated good physicality both outside and in the slot while with the Sun Devils, making a living on contested catches in Tempe.

That ability to catch the ball in traffic caught the eye of Bleacher Report NFL Draft Lead Writer Matt Miller, who sees some Alshon Jeffery of the Chicago Bears in Strong's game:

"

Throw the ball up and Strong will go get it. He doesn’t shy away from contested catches and has the strength to pull the ball down in traffic. He routinely saw bracket coverage in college and was able to split defenders and use his wingspan and jumping ability to generate a huge catch radius. He tracks the ball well over either shoulder and adjusts his hands to passes thrown off target.

"

With that said, while the physical tools are there and the productivity was certainly there with Strong at ASU, the youngster remains very much a work in progress in the opinion of Dane Brugler of CBS Sports:

"

Strong lacks the explosive traits or prowess as a route runner to create a ton of separation, but he has confident mitts and the hand/eye coordination to be a natural plucker even with defenders draped all over him. He might not be a home run hitter in the NFL, but Strong projects as a consistent singles and doubles hitter with the possession receiver traits to move the chains and do damage in the red zone.

"

And frankly, it's the last part of what Brugler wrote that's much more likely to keep Strong out of the first round of the draft than his injured wrist.

Granted, for a player who makes so much hay in traffic, the idea of an injured wrist could be off-putting for some scouts. However, if Strong is being honest about when the injury happened (it is silly season after all, so anything said by anyone gets the "grain of salt" treatment), then it didn't appear to affect him significantly down the stretch last year.

Unless something unforeseen shows up on the recheck, it's unlikely NFL teams will drop Strong very far because of it.

No, it's Strong's lack of polish as a route-runner that's the bigger concern. At the NFL level, there are essentially two ways to get separation from defenders—athletic prowess and technical efficiency.

Without the speed and quick-twitch cutting ability to separate, many pundits agree with Rang that Strong's future in the NFL lies as a possession receiver. And unless his route running improves, Strong may run into trouble functioning as even a chain-mover.

This isn't to say Jaelen Strong won't be a fine NFL receiver or even a Pro Bowl one. His deficiencies are mostly coachable, and most of the attributes you can't teach a player Strong has (and then some).

Still, in a class this deep it's pretty difficult to justify using a first-round pick on a player who (at first glance) appears better suited to be a complementary receiver than an NFL team's top dog.

And in that respect the timing of this news certainly didn't help.

Gary Davenport is an NFL Analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter at @IDPManor.