NFL Draft
3/17/25
5 min read
Jackson Meeks 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Syracuse Orange WR
Height: 6017 (verified)
Weight: 216lbs (verified)
Year: Senior
Pro Comparison: Jordan Whittington
Scouting Overview
Syracuse Orange wide receiver Jackson Meeks projects as a depth receiver and special teams contributor at the NFL level. Meeks is physical, tough and plays the game with a desired edge — this was groomed in part by his time at the University of Georgia, where he played a significant special teams role for the Bulldogs.
However, he got a chance to showcase his hands, contested catch ability, and body control on the perimeter this past year at Syracuse. The athletic profile appears to be missing the explosiveness required to be an all-around threat at wide receiver, but this is a rosterable player with room to grow in refining his routes.
2025 Pro Day Results
TBD
Positives
- An ultra-competitive player with a good fire in the belly, including as a perimeter run blocker without the football
- Showcases good body control and ball tracking ability on back shoulder targets
- Prominent special teams profile should boost his outlook to make a 53-man roster
Negatives
- Does not have the explosiveness off the line to threaten all defenders consistently down the field
- Route breaks must be pristine to create separation from defenders in man-to-man coverage
- Only one year of offensive production in four seasons
Background
Meeks is from Phenix City, AL, and played high school football for Central HS. There, he was ranked as a 3-star recruit (247 Sports) who had offers from Ole Miss, West Virginia, and others before ultimately enrolling with the Georgia Bulldogs as a member of their 2021 recruiting class.
Meeks played for Georgia for three seasons from 2021-2023. He was a part of the back-to-back National Championship runs that Kirby Smart’s program put together. But Meeks himself collected only 20 targets across those three seasons with the Bulldogs — he was instead banked upon to be a four-phase special teamer for his sophomore and junior seasons; he peaked at 194 reps in 2022.
After the 2023 SEC Championship, Meeks entered the transfer portal as a 3-star transfer (247 Sports). He landed with Syracuse and broke out in a big way as one of Kyle McCord’s preferred targets. He exceeded more than 1,000 yards receiving and was named Second Team All-ACC.
He accepted an invitation to the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl to culminate his college career.
Tale Of The Tape
The profile of Meeks as an athlete on the perimeter won't move the needle for teams that are seeing explosive plays in the passing game. But not all wide receiver roles and opportunities are created equally — and Meeks boasts a role-specific skill set that could be an asset to nearly any team with the right players around him.
Meeks is a physical player in all phases. He wins with physicality vs. press coverage and at the catch point. He wins as a blocker on the edges and in the core alike as a tone-setter to help win real estate. He’s more of a space claimer than a space creator.
In the passing game, Meeks capitalized on his one season of prominent play at Syracuse by showcasing budding timing and chemistry with McCord. Meeks lacks spring and bounce at the top of routes and is missing the juice to consistently stack cornerbacks on the perimeter.
Still, he has good body control and contortion ability, which allowed him to peel back on back shoulder throws or otherwise elevate and attack the football at its highest point. His hands are strong through contact, which allows him to win tough targets. He, accordingly, developed McCord’s trust in tight coverage and became a go-to option in the offense.
There’s plenty of room for Meeks to further develop his route running — although his athletic profile will cap his tempo and cadence through the stem. As such, his best outlook in the passing game may be as a middle-of-the-field zone squatter and free-access claimer on the outside. His size and ball skills project favorably to the red zone, however.
In the run game, Meeks is a load for defensive backs to handle on the edge. He’s physical and plays HARD, habits bred by his punt return role at Georgia — this isn’t a gunner. He plays in the core and stacks up releases in the middle of the field. Meeks brings that same stickiness to the game on offense and showcases good grip strength to sustain in space once he’s attached.
Meeks is chippy and plays through the echo of the whistle in this phase. He’s clearly bought into a role that allows him to plaster and wall off defenders without touching the football. Syracuse ran a lot of RPOs and tagged routes on their run plays, but it is telling that Meeks was often the one asked to win to the play side as a blocker.
They’d put him in tight alignments and ask him to crack, run defenders off vertically, and then secure downfield and seal the alley against overhang defenders. He won doing all of them.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Meeks projects as a WR4 or WR5 at the NFL level. He boasts very good run game skills as a blocker, and his special teams background and physicality would be a welcomed addition to any team.
The question lingers about what his ceiling is as a pass catcher, but timing and precision quarterbacks who develop good chemistry with him could net him a consistently relevant role in an offensive attack.
Grade: 69.50/100.00, Sixth Round Value
Big Board Rank: 221
Position Rank: WR24
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