NFL Draft 2018: Missouri’s J’Mon Moore is another wide receiver to watch for the Packers

J’Mon Moore is a player that I overlooked after the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine. And for that, I feel silly.

I’m guilty of poring over Combine testing numbers for hours on end, searching for players who fit the Green Bay Packers’ traditional testing thresholds. Ted Thompson arguably had no cutoffs as rigid as those he applied to wide receivers, which is why I never bothered to give a second thought if a player measured in under 5-foot-11 or ran a 40-yard dash in slower than 4.56 seconds in Indianapolis.

Moore was guilty of the latter, posting a mediocre 4.60 official time. By filtering him out of consideration for that, however, I ignored his stellar — and I do mean truly stellar — agility results. Moore ran the 3-cone drill in a blazing 6.56 seconds, tying Texas Tech’s Dylan Cantrell for the fastest time of any wideout in Indy. He followed that up with a time of 4.04 seconds in the short shuttle, just 0.01 second off Cantrell’s pace. That 38-inch vertical and those 21 reps on the bench press are nothing to sneeze at, either.

However, once I saw that the Packers had reportedly brought Moore in for an official pre-draft visit, I had to do some more digging. What I found was that Moore did appear to meet the speed requirement at Mizzou’s Pro Day, with a reported 4.49-second 40 at that event.

So with Moore apparently meeting the Packers’ requirements and meeting with team officials as well, what does he bring to the table?

As his testing shows, he’s a player with great short-area quickness, especially for a taller, 6-foot-3 prospect. He also posted very good production in his two years as a starter, posting nearly identical stat lines: 62 catches for 1,012 yards and 8 touchdowns as a junior against 65 receptions for 1,082 yards and 10 scores in his final collegiate season.

Still, he is viewed as an early day-three prospect, and a rough week of practices at the Senior Bowl is part of the reason why. Furthermore, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com says that “Missouri’s offensive scheme made things easy on (Moore) and allowed him to rely on his athletic ability to succeed,” and notes that his route tree is far from fully developed.

Still, the Brian Gutekunst-led Packers appear to be doing their homework on wide receivers who fit the thresholds that Thompson used before him, and Moore falls within that category. If the team isn’t able to find a wideout on days one or two of the 2018 NFL Draft, don’t be shocked if Moore ends up in Green and Gold sometime next Saturday.