Scouting Report: Malachi Corley (WR) - Western Kentucky
Sales Pitch: "Explosive slot WR who is at his best with the ball in his hands. Lacks the polish or route running skills to be a true outside WR but will bring a jolt of excitement and playmaking to an offense with his vision and contact balance in space."
Athletic Profile
Height: 5’ 11”
Weight: 215 lbs
Arm Length: 32 1/8”
Hand Size: 9 1/8”
40 Yard Dash: 4.49
10 Yard Split: 1.59
Vertical: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
Short Shuttle: 4.22
3-Cone: N/A
Age: 22
Relative Athletic Score: 7.76
Statistics
Career: 259 REC - 3,035 YDS - 11.7 YPR - 29 TD
2023: 79 REC - 984 YDS - 12.5 YPR - 11 TD
Strengths
Well built upper body with good length
Explosive athlete with very good balance and agility
Multiple years of high level collegiate production
4.8% drop rate in his career
Sticky hands that attack the ball outside his frame
Body control to adjust to errant throws
Dynamic YAC threat with impressive contact balance and vision
Delivers energy to an offense with his aggressive finishing style
Strong vision as a ball carrier in space and traffic
Gives effort as a blocker
Athletic gifts indicate upside as a separator
Weaknesses
Raw route runner who struggles to read coverages
Slot only who played a majority of his snaps away from press coverage
Requires play calling to scheme him free releases and manufactured touches
Simplified route tree that is limited to shorter concepts
Poor hand usage to play through contact at the top of his routes
Fails to set up defenders with his stems as a route runner
Tendency to drift at the top of in-breakers invites DBs into the play late
27% career contested catch rate
Poor jump timing and ball tracking down the field
Goes down easy when hit on his thin lower half
Struggles to identify and settle in open zones
Summary
Malachi Corley is a dynamic YAC threat who brings an extra level of energy and playmaking to an offense. The former 2-Star recruit from Kentucky leaves school as the Western Kentucky’s all-time receptions leader. The two time All-Conference USA player will also finish 2nd and 3rd respectively in touchdowns and yards for the Hilltoppers. Corley’s game is built around his ability to create with the ball in his hands. A good athlete he shows the agility and contact balance to elude defenders in the open field. He is a smooth mover who quickly transitions to become a ball carrier after the catch and delivers punishment at the ends of his runs. Corley’s strong upper half allows him to barrel through arm tackles. He has dependable hands (5% career drop rate) and long arms that are capable of corralling errant passes outside his frame. Corley was primarily as a slot WR at WKU (85% career slot rate) and displayed a simple route tree that featured a heavy dose of screens (44% of targets in 2023 were screens), slants and crossers to get him the ball in space. He rarely showed the ability to win versus man coverage on the outside. He will need to have touches manufactured for him early in his NFL career and aligned in creative ways, such as in stacks and bunches, to avoid press coverage. Corley has the athletic gifts to create separation but he is very raw as a route runner right now. He fails to use tempo and angles to set up defenders and despite good upper body strength he lacks the hand usage to fight through pressure at the top of his routes. Corley also struggles to win in contested catch scenarios (27% conversion rate in his career), especially down the field. He displays below average jump timing and ball tracking skills on vertical routes, often failing to meet the ball at its apex. He also has a poor habit of drifting at the top of his horizontal breaking routes, which allows defenders time to get back into the play and disrupt the catch. Corley projects as a dynamic slot early his career who provides playmaking with the ball in his hands. While he has the athletic gifts to mold into a more complete receiver he needs polish and refinement. Until he learns how to read and manipulate both man and zone coverage he will be relegated to a gadget role at the next level. Corley’s ability to create after the catch will add juice to any offense from the jump, when paired with solid all around upside it makes him strong candidate to go early Day 2.