His 4.44 official in the 40, which will be recorded as a 4.38 or 4.39 on some teams' stopwatches, was not surprising. I kept telling people he would run faster than everyone thinks. On film he shows deceptive speed and separates vertically against defenders that were deceived into thinking he is slower than he really is. That happened in the Duke game, among others.
He's made more and more impressive contested and high point catches than a DeVante Parker, but suffers a little bit from the East Coast bias. His ability to find the football in the air and play it are very impressive. He can jump through the stadium roof, too.
Unlike a DeVante Parker, I think Jaelen Strong actually runs routes. He actually pops out of his break and can get moving horizontally, accelerating well. You like him for an offense that depends on receivers getting to a spot, whereas a DeVante Parker I think is going to play the man a little bit more (often getting into hand fights that could see him flagged for offensive pass interference).
I consider him a good RAC player, but Jaelen is not the type that is going to run a man cover beater with sight reads, cutting underneath the defender with such sharpness, explosiveness and body control that he pops right out of it and accelerates for some run after catch. However if you get him the football on routes that see him running into spaces on the field, ones that depend on a zone or off defender coming down on him, don't be surprised to see him break that tackle at 6'2" & 217 lbs with all that strength and explosiveness. He runs athletically with agility and speed, in addition to the power.
Strong fits Miami's offense precisely because of how dependable he can be at 1) running his routes to a spot, 2) securing the football, and 3) running after the catch on the go.
