PRO 2025 Rookie Spotlight: KeAndre Lambert-Smith, WR Auburn
Rookie Spotlight: KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Auburn
Height: 6-0 1/2″ (Shrine)
Weight: 193 (Shrine)
Hands: 8 7/8″ (Shrine)
Arm: 33 1/8″ (Shrine)
2025 Age: 23 – (7/29/02)
NFL Play-Style Comparison: Rashid Shaheed, Dyami Brown
Draft Grade: 6th Round
Projected 40: 4.38
Breakout Age: 22 (Graduate Senior)
Event: Shrine Bowl
Offensive Market Share Metrics (Final Season)
Receptions: 22%
Receiving Yards: 31%
Receiving TDs: 30%
High School: Maury HS (Norfolk, Virginia)
As a high school prospect: Class of 2020; 4-star (5.8)
College Attended: Penn State(4), Auburn(1)
Pros
– Ability to make the first tackler miss and create after the catch.
– Hands have increasingly gotten better since freshman/sophomore season (14% drop rate, down to 5%)
– Does well working back to the football and adjusting in route
– Speed to burn if utilized in that fashion
– Blocked a defender into the stands against Alabama (6:54 in 3rd quarter)
– Adequate salesman in the run game, and willing to put his hands on defenders downfield blocking
– 37 (74%) of his receptions ended in first downs or touchdowns.
– Uncle is Super Bowl Champion and former Seattle Seahawk, Kam Chancellor.
Cons
– Limited route tree with a TON of comeback and dig routes
– Failed to breakout until his Graduate Senior Season at Auburn, despite accruing 1,721 yards in 4 seasons at Penn State.
– Occasional slot usage (14%), but predominantly played on the right side of formations, outside (515 snaps vs. 16 on the left)
– Struggles at times to get off of man-to-man press coverage
– Not a natural catcher of the football, allows too many balls into his stomach/chest
Highlight/Film
Scouting Notes:
The Comeback King is the title I’m tabbing KeAndre Lambert-Smith with, it’s not a bad thing, just more a formality of how his game unfolds. Lambert took 515 of his 531 outside snaps in 2024 from the right side of the formation and it felt like 70% of the routes he ran were shallow/intermediate digs or comeback routes. Lambert-Smith is a strong run-blocker, willing to put a defender in the stands and block through the whistle, that’s something you don’t see much these days. Despite so many shallow routes, Lambert-Smith was utilized on deep go routes as well, racking up 8 receptions of 30+ yards, tying Matthew Golden from Texas, Jordan Watkins from Ole Miss, and Ryan Williams from Alabama for 3rd in the SEC. While an extensive route tree can take time to add to your game, his natural separation skills and ball skills will allow Lambert-Smith an opportunity to make a roster in 2025. With a 6th Round grade in the 2025 NFL Draft, I see Lambert-Smith as a developmental receiver with plenty of room to grow as route runner and ball catcher within an NFL roster, similar to Dyami Brown and Rashid Shaheed.
