2023 NFL Draft Player Profiles: Ole Miss WR Jonathan Mingo

From now until the 2023 NFL Draft takes place, we hope to scout and create profiles for as many prospects as possible, examining their strengths, weaknesses, and what they can bring to an NFL franchise. These players could be potential top 10 picks, all the way down to Day 3 selections, and priority undrafted free agents. Today, we’ll be profiling Ole Miss WR Jonathan Mingo.

#1 JONATHAN MINGO/WR OLE MISS – 6013, 226 (SENIOR)

Senior Bowl Participant

MEASURABLES

THE GOOD

— Pro-ready frame for the position
— Good release off the line, challenges defensive backs with double moves and speed
— Has the speed and power to beat both press coverage and zone
— Uses hands well in his release to get into his route without sacrificing speed
— Versatile having played outside, in the slot, or even as a flanker aligned in tight
— Strong hands at the edges of his catch radius
— Solid with the ball in his hands, can generate YAC and make the first defender miss
— Willing blocker with very good technique, able to drive defenders back with active feet and good latch strength
— Solid play strength, able to fight through arm tackles
— Solid creativity, changing up his routes with varied timing and subtle moves before accelerating out of his breaks
— Solid long speed

THE BAD

— Just adequate at generating separation at the top of his routes, rounds off some of his cuts and lunges his feet too far outside his frame when making a move
— Struggles to re-stack defensive backs when releasing outside, gives up too much space towards the sideline
— Inconsistent hands when the ball is put on his body, some concentration drops
— Relatively limited in the routes he ran in college, a lot of slants, posts and hooks with the occasional deep go
— Adequate in 50/50 or jump ball situations
— Plays high at the top of his routes, limiting his suddenness
— Stops his routes after the play appears over, doesn’t improvise or play backyard ball
— Struggles to adjust to the ball in the air when the throw isn’t where he is expecting

BIO

— 21 years old, will be 22 in June
— Multi-year honor roll student
— Four-star prospect out of Brandon, Mississippi
— Immediate starter as a true freshman
— Played in 41 games, starting 39 of them
— 112 career receptions, 1758 yards (15.7 ypc) and 13 total touchdowns, including one rushing
— Had his best season as a Senior, including a 9 catch 247 yard performance against Vanderbilt
— Injured for 7 games in his 2021 Junior season with a broken foot suffered in practice, returned to finish season
— Played with Matt Corral as his quarterback from ’19-’21, Jaxson Dart in ’22
— Played under Head Coach Lane Kiffin for three seasons
— 3 receptions for 25 yards in the Senior Bowl, lined up in the slot and out wide

TAPE BREAKDOWN

The first thing that stands out about Mingo’s tape is his blocking abilities. He is 226 pounds which is on the larger end for wide receivers and he pairs the size and strength with willingness and technique to be an effective blocker. In the first clip he is able to land the block in open space against a defensive back which is not easy to do. This extends the play behind him an extra handful of yards. In the second clip he is physical at the line of scrimmage with his guy in press coverage. He gets just enough of the block to prevent his man from making the tackle, but he was wise to release when he did to avoid a holding call.

For his size, Mingo is surprisingly quick accelerating out of his breaks, and he demonstrates a solid understanding of his relationship with defensive backs in his route. In this first clip, he runs right at the defender to force him to flip his hips before suddenly cutting outside for a wide open catch. In the second clip, he shows the vision as he turns around and sits underneath the zone coverage. In the final clip, he gets enough depth to get behind the defender stressing his vision and finding a wide open side of the field, though he has trouble adjusting to the ball when in the air. It wasn’t a great throw, but he still could have made the play.

It is tough to paint with a broad brush when you only watched a few games of a player’s senior season, but the few contested catches or 50/50 jump balls that occurred in the tape I watched did not go in favor of Mingo. He has the strength, length, and hand size to be successful in this area, but I did not see it. Here is one play where he has an outside release, giving up a little too much room to the sideline and giving the defender an easy mirror into the end zone. From there, Mingo can’t come down with the jump ball. The ball placement could have been better, but in a true 50/50 situation he couldn’t out-muscle the defensive back.

He is able to generate yards after the catch (YAC) in a variety of ways with footwork, quickness, and strength. In this first clip, the play goes just as its drawn up leaving Mingo one-on-one. He plants the defender on the ground with a stiff arm before turning upfield and showing off his long speed en route to a touchdown. The second clip, he knows where he has leverage against the defender and makes a quick turn inside to gain extra yardage and make the first defender miss. In the final clip, he absorbs a full hit before shedding off the tackler and gaining some extra yardage.

The last part of his film that I wanted to touch on was the deep ball. In this first clip, he wins the rep from the beginning with a nice inside release making use of his outside arm to prevent being slowed down. His long speed is good enough to keep the separation gained at the beginning of the play and he finishes with an over-the-shoulder catch. In the second clip, he shows off a subtle double move freezing the safety just long enough to buy him the entire sideline. In the fourth and final clip, he fakes the run block during the play-action before planting his foot and bursting downfield. Since he is a good blocker, defensive backs have to respect that possibility more which allows him to make plays like this. Again, his long speed is solid, not amazing.

CONCLUSION

Mingo had a decent, not great, bounce-back season in 2022 after a year lost to a foot injury in 2021. He likely could have had a better senior season, if not for losing Matt Corral to the draft and playing with the inexperienced Jaxson Dart. There were a number of big plays left on the field in the three games I watched due to quarterback play. His relatively meager production in 2022 should have been more robust.

His thick frame and large hands pair nicely with his surprising quickness to allow him to play well in traffic in the middle of the field. Though he played a majority of his reps on the outside, most of the positive plays I found were when he was lined up in the slot. He works best in space, having a solid sense of where the soft spot is going to be in zone. His release off the snap is good and his long speed is solid, so if he grows his route tree and tightens up some of his technique in and out of his breaks he has some NFL starter upside. In the short term, he could carve out a niche on an NFL team as their physical slot receiver in the right situation. Good run blocking is not a trait you often pair with wide receiver play, but what a nice thing it is to see when it’s there. He did not play much special teams in college, but his athletic profile and willingness to block would be an asset on a few special teams units. My pro comparison for him is Juju Smith-Schuster.

The Steelers are pretty notably missing a slot receiver at the moment. Steven Sims finished the year after Chase Claypool got traded away. The team has gotten mostly nothing out of that position for a few years now which speaks to some of the middle-of-the-field issues the passing game has experienced. In a weaker wide receiver class than normal, a solid showing at the scouting combine could put Mingo’s name in more of a spotlight. He had a good showing at the Senior Bowl both at practice and in the game, as well. The Steelers could look his way for help in the slot if he makes it to pick 80 in the 3rd round.

Projection: Middle-To-Late Day Two

Depot Draft Grade: 8.0 – Potential Starter/Good Backup (3rd Round)

Games Watched: at Vanderbilt (2022), at LSU (2022), at Arkansas (2022)