Overview

Position: WR

College: Alabama

Class: Senior

Age: 22

 

Measurables

Height: 6’1 1/4”

Weight: 206 lbs.

Arm length: 30 3/8″

Hand size: 9 7/8″

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: 4.48 sec.

10-yard split: 1.52 sec.

Vertical jump: 32.5″

Broad jump: 125.0″

Bench press: N/A

3-cone drill: 6.71 sec.

Short shuttle: 4.31 sec.

 

Strengths

Very good size and build. Fit both out wide and in the slot. Top-tier hands and rarely drops passes. Terrific agility and acceleration at his size. Smooth on deep in-breaking routes. Will snap off his route on in-breaking cuts. Quick and deceptive on his release to win on slants in scoring territory. Confidently reaches up for passes over his head when on the run. Shows courage extending for passes and making the grab through contact. Deceptively fast and runs away from defenders. Gets open on deep corner routes. Uses physicality to separate on out routes. Ran a bunch of crossing routes. Smooth throttling down late to slow up and get his feet down on the boundary. Very effective reaching down to catch low passes and throws on his back hip. Able to stack cornerbacks versus press coverage. Smooth running more complex downfield routes. Comes back to attack the ball in the air down the field. Will draw pass interference on underthrown passes. Very fluid out-and-up double move. Catches the ball smoothly over the shoulder. Does a nice job adjusting for back-shoulder passes. Showed an ability to make grabs over defenders on underthrown passes. Outstanding feel and poise getting his feet down on catches along the sideline. Instantly and aggressively turns into a runner after the catch on all levels of the field. Will sense a defender bearing down as he makes the catch and adjusts to create a missed tackle. Phenomenal overall instincts as a pass-catcher and ball-carrier. Given designed touches in a variety of ways. Used on pop passes and motion handoffs. Lined up in the backfield and was targeted on designed passes underneath. Extremely smooth with the ball in his hands. Excellent ball-carrier vision and instincts. Like a running back pressing runs before bouncing outside. Tremendous ability to decelerate and accelerate to follow his blocks. Outstanding strength and balance as a runner. Never goes down easily. Innate elusiveness to make defenders miss. Great juke move and spin move. Will lower his shoulder to finish runs. Terrific balance along the sideline. Saw snaps as a wildcat quarterback. Very impressive arm talent for trick plays. Ideal size and physicality to block. Technical and physical blocking on the perimeter. Excellent blocker from tight alignment. Strong and accurate reaching safeties on the second level when blocking in the box. Good vision and awareness as a blocker. Shows effort blocking away from the action.

 

Weaknesses

Can be inconsistent getting on top of cornerbacks from cushion coverage on vertical routes. Coasts on some routes working towards traffic inside or as the backside receiver. Could have a more refined path on deeper stop routes. Could be better sitting and finding space on shorter routes between the numbers. Inconsistent tracking jump balls when covered down the field.

 

NFL comparison

A.J. Brown

 

Conclusion

Overall, Bernard is a smooth, physical wide receiver with excellent hands and ultra-rare feel with the ball in his hands. He has the talent to be the centerpiece for an NFL offense with shades of A.J. Brown and Deebo Samuel to his game.

 

Big Board ranking: #9 | Positional ranking: #1