Ricardo Louis NFL Draft 2016: Scouting Report, Grade for Browns Rookie

POSITIVES

The loss of Duke Williams at Auburn was a gain for Ricardo Louis, who jumps off the film as an athletic, powerful receiver. Louis saw his catches go from 21 in 2014 up to 46 this past season. He added 716 yards and three touchdowns to his resume and proved to be a reliable deep threat in an offense with major struggles at quarterback.

In charting Louis' tape, our team found six drops on the season, but two were on deep routes where the pass could have had better placement. Louis can straight-up fly with the ball in his hands and has the yoked-up body to run through tacklers after the catch.

Auburn coaches asked Louis to run a full route tree, and he showed improvement throughout the season. He was never much of a deep threat until 2015 but emerged as a threat down the field. His ability to take short passes for big yards remains a positive.

With great speed and size, Louis has the potential to develop into a starter in the NFL. He needs coaching up as a route-runner on things like body control and timing, but his raw tools and natural hands make him a potential steal in Round 4.

NEGATIVES

Acclimating from the Auburn offense to the NFL will take a minute, as Louis was often put into positions to succeed without having to separate from defenders on his own. It's also a concern that he was really only productive for one season while waiting behind Williams and Sammie Coates.

Louis' route running will need work. He gives away routes with his body lean at the top of his route stem and fails to play with the leverage needed to pop and explode out of his breaks. Because of this, Louis tries to fake out defenders with a variety of jukes and shoulder shakes, but they end up being wasted motion that only slows down his actual route.

COMBINE RESULTS

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 215 lbs.

40 Time: 4.43s

3-Cone: 6.96s

Short Shuttle: 4.32s

PRO COMPARISON: Cordarrelle Patterson, Minnesota Vikings
FINAL GRADE: 5.90/9.00 (Round 4—Backup Caliber)