Name: Michael Wilson

School: Stanford

Year: 5th Year Senior

Position: Wide Receiver

Measurables:  6’2”, 213 lbs. (per NFL Scouting Combine)

Combine: ARM: 31”. HAND: 9 ¾”. 40 YARD DASH: 4.58 seconds. 10 YARD SPLIT: 1.5 seconds. VERTICAL JUMP: 37.5”. BROAD JUMP: 10’5”. 20 YARD SHUTTLE: 4.27 seconds. BENCH PRESS: 23 reps.

Stats:

Courtesy of Sports-Reference.com

General Info:

Michael Wilson grew up in West Hills, California, just North of Los Angeles. At Chaminade High School, a private prep school with noted athletic success, he was a two-sport athlete, being named to California’s All-State team at WR in 2016 (no easy feat) and playing for their basketball team. According to 247 Sports, Wilson was a composite four-star recruit, the 42nd overall WR nationally, and the 30th ranked recruit in California. He received offers from numerous schools, including Washington, Washington State, Stanford, Iowa State, Oregon State, Kentucky, and Notre Dame, but wound up staying in California and joining the Stanford Cardinal.

Wilson’s true freshman season put his potential on display. He appeared in all 13 of the Cardinal’s games, starting two of them, and had 14 receptions for 126 yards and a score over the course of the season. Despite his youth, he was a consistent contributor for the Cardinal; he recorded at least one catch in each of the last eight games of the season, and had at least one catch in all but four games that year.

By far Wilson’s best season at Stanford came in 2019, when he was a sophomore. Along with off the field recognition (Pac-12 All-Academic Honor Roll), Wilson led the Cardinal with 56 receptions for 672 yards, while hauling in five TDs (second on the team). He had the first 100 yard game of his career (114 against Washington State), first double-digit catch game (10 against Notre Dame, and returned 12 punts for 72 yards during the season.

Wilson’s next three years at Stanford, his junior, senior, and super senior seasons, would be far more difficult than his first two. While his 2020 season started off very strong, with 19 catches, 261 yards, and a score in four games, a foot injury suffered against Washington ended his season early. Wilson’s recovery took 11 months, and he missed all but the final four games of the 2021 season. He was productive, once he had returned—50 yards in each of the final three games—but was definitely still hampered by the foot injury. Wilson, now a team captain, appeared to be returning to the form he flashed as a sophomore during his senior season, with some dominant performances, including 176 yards against Washington, but was injured once again after six games, and missed the rest of the year.

After five years with the Stanford Cardinal, Wilson declared for the 2023 NFL Draft. He was invited to Mobile, Alabama, for the annual Reese’s Senior Bowl, and stood out. After a strong week of practices, Wilson proceeded to lead all Senior Bowl pass catchers with 76 yards and a score on four catches. Following the Senior Bowl, Wilson was also invited to the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, where he had…somewhat enigmatic measurables, with a poor 40, a stellar 10-yard split, shuttle, and bench, and middling explosives.  

Positional Skills:

Strengths

A bit of a bizarre combine… while his 40 was disappointing, Wilson had a 1.5-second 10-yard split, suggesting he is a very quick accelerator. He also turned in the best bench of any WR at the Combine this year. Wilson also had a strong Shuttle. He is a curious prospect, Athletically—but the areas where he stood out were good ones for a WR to stand out in. He also measured well with height and weight.

Willing and effective as a blocker in the run game—that good bench shows up—and seems to really relish opportunities to spring teammates for big gains.

Despite his limited snaps, Wilson was voted a team captain in 2022. A good locker room guy.

Seemed to be a player on the rise prior to his foot injury in 2019; he was putting up really good numbers as a sophomore.

Special team experience and traits. He’ll be able to see the field as a rookie in that capacity, at the very least, and should be reliable in it.

Plays with energy. Wilson gives his full on each snap.

Has a well-developed route tree, by virtue of playing in Stanford’s Pro Style offense for five years. As a rookie, he will be able to play whatever position is asked of him.

Weaknesses

Ran a 4.58 40-yard dash—the eighth slowest time among WRs at the 2023 Combine, nearly a tenth of a second slower than the average for WRs at this year’s combine.

Only played in 14 games between 2020 and 2022 due to injuries. Played in 15 games for the Cardinal in the two seasons prior. His best season came way back in 2019. A definite lack of experience.

While I can’t find an exact age, as a fifth-year senior who has been playing college ball since 2018, Wilson is presumably one of the older prospects in this draft—a conservative estimate would have him turning 23 early in the season. 

Unpolished route-runner. He has the ability to improve, but right now, Wilson wastes too much movement and is not especially precise. He has a bit of a penchant for slipping, too, as a result of leaning into cuts too much.

Does not have natural ball skills. He’ll need to develop those.

Fit with the Packers:

Wilson has the potential to develop into a quality receiver in the NFL, but some patience will be needed to get him there. Injuries have kept him from developing at Stanford, simply because he did not see the field as much as you’d like, especially in his final few seasons. Those injuries are a definite concern, too, and whatever team drafts him will have to be comfortable with that red flag. He also has a strange athletic profile—slow but reaches that top speed quickly. Agile, but not explosive. Big and strong, but with short arms. He’s a little enigmatic, and that makes it difficult to project him to the NFL. I like Mack Hollins as a comparison, though I think Wilson has a higher ceiling.

Wilson is slower than the WRs we’ve grown accustomed to in GB. Among WRs under contract right now, he would have the slowest 40 time, and I believe it would be the slowest 40 by a WR drafted by Brian Gutekunst. However, Wilson meets, or is at least close to, most other metrics that GB seems to follow for WRs—and his run blocking is a non-athletic standard that the Packers love. It’s been difficult to get a real gauge on where Wilson could go—I’ve seen anywhere from 2nd to 5th. If I had to place a wager? I’d say the bottom of the 2nd, early in the 3rd, by a team that really likes Wilson, and I don’t think that will be the Packers. With that said, should Wilson be drafted by Green Bay, he’ll see the field early as a gunner (one wonders if the influence of Rich Bisaccia might lead to the Packers overlooking their normally rigorous athletic markers) and a run-blocker, even if he isn’t ready to produce as a pass catcher early. Wilson is an intriguing developmental prospect that could certainly become a starting-caliber player, and could be a reasonable target for Green Bay in the middle rounds (3-5) if he is available.