He's 5-10, 180lbs and he's faster and bigger than Tutu. He hit 26 MPH on a treadmill at SC. Great punt returner. Do you try and get him? They NEED speed - Puka is awesome but not as a burner. They have no scary speed guys on the team. And Branch could be used on jet sweeps and WR screens. I don't think they'd use the #13 choice, but he will probably be gone by the Rams' choice. What do you do?
Zachariah Branch?
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Branch is not physical at all, has worse hands than Tutu, and doesn't have the route running acumen necessary to take advantage of his speed. The guy definitely has speed, sure, but he isn't even the route runner or receiver that Tutu was coming out of college, and his production matches that. He'd be a gadget player in our system, and that would be a waste of a second-round pick.
Aside from that, he will absolutely be available at the late first choice and even the second-round choice because quite frankly, there are bigger, better receivers that have pushed him likely into the third round (which would be before our pick, but I am absolutely not willing to spend a second on Branch when Bell, Brazzell, Sarratt, and Lane are possibly on the board).
To my point, Branch was productive at South Cal, but he wasn't the gamebreaker that Georgia was expecting (81 receptions, 811 yards for ten yards average, and six touchdowns. His receptions were a record breaker for Georgia wide receivers, but it's deceiving: the yards average, the targets (93 times) and lacking touchdowns for the number of receptions/targets meant that they force-fed him a lot and he didn't take advantage of it with his speed and/or hands like other players, such as Brock Bowers and A.J. Green, have in the past.).
Branch isn't the receiver I'd want in the first or second round, and if I'm using the third-round pick on a receiver, I'd prefer to use it in a trade with a bad team with a new coach that has a highly-regarded receiver that doesn't fit their system (for example, Jack Bech of the Raiders) or a team like Green Bay where they literally have more receivers than they know what to do with.
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Small, doesn't block and has an extremely limited route tree. He's not a McVay type of WR based off that. Anything can happen in the draft but that is 3 strikes against him.
Makai is a much better fit, But go look at Bostons film, Great hands reminds you of Puka. Big, fast enough, breaks tackles just looks like a Ram to me
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