Rookie Spotlight: Bo Melton, Rutgers (Photo via Rutgers Athletics)
Height: 5-11
Weight: 191
Hands: 8 3/4″
Arm: 32 1/4″
40 yard dash: 4.34
NFL Comparison: Amon-Ra St. Brown, KJ Osborn

College Production (Final Season)
24% team receptions
28% team receiving yards
33% team receiving TDs

Breakout Age: 20

Pros:
-Extremely versatile
-Elusive
-Gets out of breaks quickly
-Strong open-field vision
-Good improvisational skills
-Quick directional changes
-Gets to top speed quickly
-Reportedly excellent leader and locker room presence
-Both parents were athletes at Rutgers, as is his brother, comes from an athletics family
-Highly touted, 4-star recruit out of high school (25 offers)
-Great week at the Senior Bowl
-Long arms
-Tested with an incredible 40-time

Cons
-Raw route runner on tape
-Suspect hands on tape
-Weak blocker
-Played in college for five seasons
-Did not play in a powerhouse offense in college
-Smaller hands

Scouting Notes:
Melton is a utility player that plays mostly out of the slot, capable of breaking big plays through his elusiveness and adroit open field vision. A 4-year starter at Rutgers, Melton didn’t really shine until the latest coaching staff arrived. They made him a focal point of the Rutgers offense and utilized him in the kicking game as well. He lined up outside, in the slot and even at times as a running back. With ball skills to spare, Melton improvises well after the catch, aided by his ability to change direction on a dime and accelerate quickly downfield. Melton has tons of speed and often uses it in bursts, creating separation between him and his defenders. Because Melton is such a good improviser, he hasn’t really honed his route running skills like I would prefer to see, but that’s something he can work on and improve. He also has suspect hands on occasion and lets the ball into his body too often. He’s going to have to learn to concentrate better at the point of catch, instead of thinking of where he’s about to be heading.

Fantasy Outlook:
Like many receivers at this year’s Senior Bowl, we want to see if Melton can separate in one on one drills. (UPDATE: His separation skills were – somewhat surprisingly – fantastic) We know he can improvise in the game, but it’s important that he can showcase his savviness man on man in his routes. We’ve seen mid-sized, speedy slot guys excel in the NFL this season, a la Elijah Moore and Amon-Ra St. Brown, so there’s upside for a playmaker like Melton in the right offense. He has the goods to be a PPR asset that can turn on the jets and take it to the house in a snap, but probably has a better chance of ended up in more of a specialist role on the periphery of offensive production in a receiving room a la a KJ Osborn-type. If given the opportunity, Melton could likely contribute in an NFL offense, but his pre-draft process will say a lot about how soon that type of opportunity is likely to present itself to him. Surely the Senior Bowl will help us shape our final evaluation on Melton, but our initial instinct is that Melton is likely a late-third or 4th-round-type of flier in traditional 1QB dynasty rookie drafts with upside given his natural skills, athletic pedigree and workman-like approach to the game. After the Senior Bowl, we view him in the same value-range as a player like Romeo Doubs, even though their profiles are very different.

FROM THE RUTGERS ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT

2021 Third Team All-Big Ten (Pro Football Focus)
2021 Fourth Team All-Big Ten (Phil Steele)
2021 Biletnikoff Award Watch List
2021 Team Captain
2020 Honorable Mention All-Big Ten (Coaches & Media)
2020 Third Team All-Big Ten (Phil Steele)
2020 Biletnikoff Award Watch List
Hornung Award Honor Roll (Dec. 14, 2020)
2020 Team Captain

2021 (Senior): Started 11 games at wide receiver … leaves ranked third in program history with 56 games played, sixth with 164 receptions, tied for eighth with five 100-yard receiving games and 10th with 2,011 receiving yards … invited to the Reese’s Senior Bowl … earned MVP – Offense at the team banquet (12/12) … selected All-Big Ten by Pro Football Focus (third team) and Phil Steele (fourth team) … led the team with 823 all-purpose yards on the season (618 receiving, 116 kickoff return, 51 rushing, 38 punt return) … paced the Scarlet Knights with 55 receptions with seven games with five or more catches … recorded a career-high 217 all-purpose yards (116 kickoff return, 48 receiving, 36 rushing, 17 punt return) against Maryland (11/27) … moved into 10th in program history by adding 47 receiving yards at Penn State (11/20) … logged five catches for 50 yards, a 13-yard rush and a seven-yard punt return in the win at Indiana (11/13) … picked up six receptions for 61 yards versus Wisconsin (11/6) … contributed five catches for 58 yards in the win at Illinois (10/30) … returned at Northwestern (10/16) and hauled in eight receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown … played in 50th career game against No. 11 Ohio State (10/2) … added four receptions at No. 19 Michigan (9/25) … posted six catches for 125 yards and a touchdown versus Delaware (9/18) … added eight receptions at Syracuse (9/11) … scored a 40-yard touchdown on six receptions in the win over Temple (9/4) … selected to the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award (7/22) … voted a team captain for the second time … named Preseason All-Big Ten (third team) by Phil Steele (6/22) and Athlon Sports (5/19).