They all come in different shapes and sizes.Comparing prospects to NFL players often leaves a lot to be desired, as there’s usually no middle ground. We tend to gravitate toward high-end comps to paint a picture of a player’s ceiling.Then there are others who can’t help themselves from hyperbole. “He reminds me of Terrell Owens.” “I see more of a Reggie Wayne.” Or, any 5’9” receiver with a bit of physicality is often seen as the second coming of Steve Smith.We’ll do our best to avoid comparing college kids to Hall-of-Fame-type players, but there are no promises.

Today, we’re using NFL IQ to help us identify how prospects with similar measurables have panned out in the NFL.Let’s start with a player who should have been drafted in the first round if not for injury. He has proved that he can win in NFL ways and would be in the conversation for teams in the teens had he not suffered a hamstring injury.Louisville WR Chris BellYou don’t have to worry about Bell catching the ball. His 10″ hands are in the 87th percentile.

Bell had the fourth-highest target share in this wide receiver class, ran a route tree that had 32 percent of his routes down the field, and still only had four drops. It looks like that when he catches the ball. The pigskin doesn’t move when Bell gets his hands on it.I asked NFL IQ how many receivers over 6’1” with at least 10” of hand length had 1,000-yard seasons.

The group’s gold standard is Michael Thomas. The former Saints wideout had 1,137 yards receiving as a rookie in 2016. That increased every year through 2019, where he peaked at 1,725.Other examples include Alshon Jeffrey, Keenan Allen, JuJu Smitch-Schuster, Jordy Nelson, Jordan Matthews, Marin Jones, and Kelvin Benjamin.There’s another example: a couple of inches taller, but a burner who ate up defenders’ angles, just as Bell did in college.

Demaryius Thomas is admittedly a bigger player, being an inch and a half taller, but it would not have been a surprise to see Bell come close to Thomas’s 4.38 40, as he’s already reaching 18 miles per hour:#Louisville WR Chris Bell, a potential first-rounder before tearing his ACL in November, is running 18+ MPH and ahead of schedule in rehab, per agent @ErikBurkhardt and Dr. Dan Cooper who preformed his surgery. At 6’2.5, 222 lbs with 4.3 speed, Bell is likely a Friday pick. pic.twitter.com/RSQX4VO8Zt— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 22, 2026Thomas had five consecutive seasons in which he surpassed 1,000 yards.

He also had three consecutive seasons of 10+ touchdowns. You can spam targets to the players unbothered by contact at the catch point because their hands are the size of a skillet.Thomas’s competitive spirit is one of the traits that made him rare. Whether it was on a screen, blocking on a run play away, or going up for a 50/50 ball, you were going to get an A+ effort.

That’s another reason why the Bell comp feels accurate.Don’t let Bell slipping to Friday deceive you into thinking he won’t be successful in the NFL. Since 2014, there have been a plethora of wide receivers drafted in the second round who ended up making a pretty penny. Tee Higgins, A.J.

Brown, Davante Adams, Deebo Samuel, DK Metcalf, Alec Pierce, and Courtland Sutton were all drafted in this round.Bell has a gear that few his size do. Signs a player is abnormally fast: When you see them running, and defenders either change their angle or the direction they’re running, or fail to get a hand on the ball-carrier. You see that when Bell gets the ball in his hands.

We saw it for years with Deebo. Bell is in that same class.He’s the most aggressive blocker in the draft. Running plays for Bell are another opportunity for him to show you how much better he thinks he is than you.

And trust me, this is the kind of person who wants to prove you wrong. That’s what jumps out to me when watching Bell.It’s why he pops back up after getting helicopter’d over the middle by two linebackers on an underneath route. In an occupation where you have to have a couple of screws loose to compete with the best, Bell embraces the contact and brings the fight to you.Pair that mentality with Bell’s Corvette-esque ability to get from 0 to 60, and you have yourself the prototype of what wins in today’s NFL at that size.

Bell is a carbon copy of what NFL teams should be willing to be wrong about. He’s worth it. He’s special.Washington WR Denzel BostonBoston visited the 49ers in