Meet Hamler
This speedy receiver has had all heads turning this season as he has proven to the fans and scouts that his big-play ability is worthy of a roster spot in the NFL. Hamler only has a two-year sample size for teams to look at for scouting. But in that small sample size is plenty of head-turning plays that will make this player rise up boards (a couple of which I’ve shared below).
Statistical Breakdown
When looking at the stats it may seem as if Hamler was not utilized enough to be considered an NFL talent, but his “basic” receiving stats are inflated due to the offense design of the Nittany Lions. The Lions, in the 2019 season, ranked 88th in the nation in passing rate of plays run at 43.87%. A team that runs the ball at 56.13% of the time and relies on defense to stay in the game is not the perfect location for a big play wide receiver, but even in this scenario, Hamler put together two solid seasons.
When evaluating wide receivers I like to look at two things when gauging the player: College Dominator and Breakout Age.
College Dominator is the percentage of yards that the individual WR had in relation to the team’s total yards, and Breakout Age is the player’s age in which they eclipse a dominator rating of at least 20%. In the 2019 season, Hamler held a 31.4% dominator rating which in the words of Matt Kelley of playerprofiler.com, a dominator rating 20%-35% is a “mid-level talent with situational upside.” Hamler hit the 20% dominator rating required to “breakout” in his 2018 season as he held a 26.596% rating in another run-heavy season.
Hamler is currently 20 years old, so his breakout age is 19 years old (without using decimal ages) which is a great attribute to have in a profile that will be heavily studied when deciding on what wide receiver to draft in your rookie drafts. Some prospects require a deeper look into the stats, and Hamler is one of these prospects.
Film Breakdown
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1zqR1LzNKM[/embedyt]
I struggled with trying to find a set of plays to perfectly showcase what Hamler can bring to the next level, but the video above I believe shows everything that Hamler brings to the table. I like to give a name to a player to describe their play style. After watching tape on Hamler I have classified him as “go and get it receiver.” By watching the film above you can see that a lot of plays designed for Hamler were deep balls without a set route. This is not a bad thing as I believe Hamler contains the ability to run a full route tree, but it may be a bad thing when it comes to player evaluation as scouts may not fully believe that Hamler can run routes at an elite level.
All in all, Hamler is a speed demon that thrives in the downfield attacking offense. Remember in your rookie drafts, talent before landing spot…..always.
Thanks for reading. You can find me on Twitter @kacer_lukas.
