NFL Draft Profile: Chris Autman-Bell, Wide Receiver, Minnesota Golden Gophers

NFL Draft profile scouting report for Minnesota WR Chris Autman-Bell

Chris Autman-Bell
Minnesota Golden Gophers

#7
Pos: WR
Ht: 6000
Wt: 200
Hand: 948
Arm: 3038
Wing: 7400
40: 4.50
DOB: 3/31/1999
Hometown: Kankakee, IL
High School: Bishop McNamara
Eligibility: 2023

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One-Liner:

A receiver that can stretch the field with athleticism and technique, Autman-Bell has a well-rounded skillset.

Evaluation:

Terrific build for the position with adequate length and noted musculature. Has played in both tight alignments and outside the numbers as a slot and X receiver. Used as a kick and punt returner. The team has an emphasis to get the ball in his hands early and often. Route runner extraordinaire with technique in his releases, head fakes, throttles, and route pacings. Sets defenders up with route stems that attack leverage or double moves that get corners to bite and create over-the-top separation. Handles physicality both at the line of scrimmage and the top of the route. Strong hands that catch the football in traffic and at the apex of goal-line fades. Natural mismatch in the slot if guarded by a safety. Will press their toes and win deep on inside go routes. Reacts to underthrown balls accordingly, getting his hands up late to avoid pass breakups. No use as a blocker. Misses his assignment frequently between poor hand usage or missed strikes. What you see is what you get in regard to yards after the catch. Doesn't break a lot of tackles and lacks functional short-area quickness and agility. Tends to hesitate with the ball in the air, mistiming his jump. Autman-Bell has many desirable traits with considerable upside. His ability to separate vertically with athleticism or underneath with his route running will contribute to a solid resume come the draft.

Grade:

4th Round

Quotes:

I can confirm that #Gophers WR @chrisautmanbell will be returning for a seventh season in 2023, as he just confirmed it to me here at the @ChairTrophy event tonight. He'll be getting his medical redshirt.

He also confirmed that he tore his ACL in the non-conference.

— Ryan Burns (@RyanBurnsMN) November 4, 2022

Background:

Chris Autman-Bell has been an excellent player for Minnesota, where during his career, has played in forty-four games and has had over seventeen hundred yards and twelve touchdowns. In his freshman season in 2018, after redshirting in 2017, he started in nine of the thirteen games and had close to four hundred fifty receiving yards. Autman-Bell went to Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, Illinois and as a junior, had over eight hundred receiving yards. Chris Autman-Bell is the son of Reggie Bell and Tawone Autman and has four brothers and six sisters.