Contextualization Of WR Devin Duvernay’s 2019 Pass Targets At Texas (6 Games)

Is Texas wide receiver Devin Duvernay one of the most underrated players at his position in this year’s very deep class? It’s quite possible and especially when it comes to wide receivers that predominantly play in the slot. On the heels of me mocking Duvernay to the Pittsburgh Steelers in my latest post-scouting combine offering on Wednesday, now is the perfect time to contextualize a large selection of his targets from the 2019 season.

In total, Duvernay caught 106 passes for 1,386 yards and nine touchdowns in 2019. In the six games of his that I contextualized for this post, he caught 47 passes for 749 yards and seven touchdowns on 55 total targets. That works out to 15.9 yards per reception, which is almost 3 yards more than his average for the entire 2019 season.

Duvernay’s average target depth distance for the 55 pass targets in the six games that I contextualized was 9.3 yards and his average completed depth for his 47 total receptions was 8.8 yards.

It’s worth pointing out that 15 of Duvernay’s 47 total receptions in these six contextualized games from 2019 were caught behind the original line of scrimmage as he was used quite frequently on wide receiver screens. He did, however, average 9.8 yards after the catch on those 15 receptions and that includes his starting points being behind the line of scrimmage. In total, Duvernay averaged 7.6 yards after the catch on his 47 contextualized receptions in these six games and that’s even with him catching three passes in the end zone for touchdowns.

While nearly 33% of all Duvernay’s 47 contextualized catches from 2019 came behind the line of scrimmage, he also had his share of deep pass receptions as well. as the data shows below, 11 of his 47 total receptions from 2019 came more than 15 yards past the line of scrimmage with four of those resulting in touchdowns.

It’s also worth pointing out that 13 of Duvernay’s 47 contextualized catches from 2019 came in the middle of the field and thus between the hash marks. he totaled 212 yards on those 13 receptions and averaged 8.1 yards after the catch as well.

Finally, Duvernay’s 85.5 catch percentage on his 55 total contextualized targets from 2019 is beyond ridiculous and especially when you consider that 30 of his targets were more than 5 yards past the line of scrimmage. He had very good hands in 2019 and of the eight passes he failed to catch of those 55 that I contextualized, only one closely resembled a drop and even that one is debatable. For whatever it’s worth, Pro Football Focus has Duvernay down for three drops in total for the entire 2019 season on 129 total targets

Why did Duvernay have such a huge jump in receptions in 2019? For starters, it’s because he was moved inside to the slot from the outside. Additionally, and as I pointed out above, he had a high percentage of receptions via wide receiver screens.

To look at Duvernay from a physical standpoint, he’s built very similarly to current Steelers wide receiver James Washington. In short, he looks more like a running back than he does a wide receiver. At the recently concluded scouting combine in Indianapolis, IN, Duvernay measured in at 5104, 200-pounds. While not a burner on tape, Duvernay did run his 40-yard dash in 4.39-seconds and only four other wide receivers registered faster times than him.

Duvernay possesses a great character and was even a captain during his final season at Texas. He was at this year’s Senior Bowl and represented himself very well there by several accounts. In short, expect Duvernay to be on the Steelers draft board this year as he’s a player they surely like.