Jayden Higgins, Iowa State Cyclones, WR - News, Stats, Bio

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Team	Conf	Overall
ARIZST	7-2	11-3
BYU	7-2	11-2
IOWAST	7-2	11-3
COLO	7-2	9-4
BAYLOR	6-3	8-5
TCU	6-3	9-4
TXTECH	6-3	8-5
KSTATE	5-4	9-4
WVU	5-4	6-7
KANSAS	4-5	5-7
CINCY	3-6	5-7
HOU	3-6	4-8
UTAH	2-7	5-7
ARIZ	2-7	4-8
UCF	2-7	4-8
OKLAST	0-9	3-9

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Draft Scouting Report

Rating: 84.55 (Starter)

Pro Comparison: Marcus Robinson

Summary

The plus-sized Jayden Higgins won’t win every race downfield but is a pretty good candidate to be a reliable short- and intermediate-route target with good body control as well as a red-zone jump-ball winner. Nearly 6-foot-4 and 217 pounds with velcro hands attached to a large catch radius, the 22-year-old functioned as the No. 1 target in Iowa State’s mostly-spread scheme. He proved able to work both out wide and in the slot, and won on one-cut routes frequently thanks to his unique-for-his-size short-area quickness.

About

Combine: Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 9.87 out of 10.00, which ranks 46th out of 3,408 WRs from 1987 to 2025
2024: Second-team All-Big 12 (second in school history with 87 receptions, tied for second with nine touchdowns and third with 1,183 yards

Strengths

Size and hands: The combo of Higgins’ nearly 80-inch catch radius, 6-foot-4 height and excellent hands (just two drops on 129 targets last year) make him a reliable option for any quarterback. Higgins’ adjustments to off-target throws last season only strengthens this trait.
Quick step out of cuts: Higgins bought space on timed hitches, slants, digs and outs (one-cut routes) a little bit quicker than other receivers his size because of a quick first step after making one cut. Steps that followed weren’t always as quick.
Fight after the catch: Higgins frequently picked up extra yards with decent quickness and by dragging defenders when they tried to wrap him up.

Weaknesses

Speed: For his size, Higgins had just enough burst, acceleration and speed to be competitive, but if he got caught by Big 12 defenders weekly, you can be sure he’ll struggle to run away from NFL defenders weekly. Higgins also was routinely slow off the snap and doesn’t have much explosiveness overall.
Agility: Higgins struggled to separate on anything past his first cut. Stutter-steps, hesitations, double moves, jukes, headfakes, etc. all were snuffed out by coverage, primarily in part because of a lack of explosiveness in the steps after those moves. Maybe he could get better here.
Route tree: Higgins specialized in go, hitch and out routes over the past two years at Iowa State. That’s not to say he didn’t run other routes, but any expectation of him being able to run a full route tree should be tempered.

Combine Data