How Cornell Powell can compete for No. 2 receiver role: KC Laboratory Film Room
What Powell lacks in speed he makes up for with traits of a true "X" receiver
As summer heads our way and we continue itching for any and all Kansas City Chiefs offseason news, let’s continue our film review series covering the team’s rookie draft class.
One player arguably receiving hype from Chiefs fans — via a talent and opportunity standpoint — is fifth-round draft pick Cornell Powell. The wide receiver from Clemson had an incredibly impressive senior campaign and carried that momentum through the draft season which led to him emerging as an early fan favorite from the 2021 draft class.
The Chiefs played around in the free-agent receiver market but ultimately were unable to land a player providing a substantial upgrade or even a replacement for Sammy Watkins, who signed with Baltimore. Having struck out in free agency, that left the Chiefs searching for their Watkins replacement in the NFL Draft, with many fans hoping they would address the need in the early rounds.
The Chiefs opted not to take that direction and instead aimed for landing value in the middle of day three of the NFL Draft with the selection of Powell. The Chiefs have a lack of starting-caliber talent behind Tyreek Hill — especially players with size — in their receiver room which gives hope to Powell competing for playing time early as a rookie.
While it’s not common for rookie receivers to make a major impact in an Andy Reid offense, the circumstances for Powell are lining up incredibly well for just that. It will be up to Powell to take advantage of the situation and earn the opportunity. How exactly can he do that? Let’s dive into the first part of this KC Laboratory Film Room!
Ability as a possession receiver
The position most up for grabs in the Chiefs’ receivers room is the “X” position, or the possession receiver. With the departure of Watkins, the Chiefs currently lack a second underneath target to go along with Travis Kelce and lost their best big-bodied receiver in the red zone. That leaves the door wide open for Powell, but is he up for that task?
Route running
Normally when people think of a traditional X receiver they think of size and the ability to win contested catches. For the Chiefs, that’s not necessarily the case. Looking back through Reid’s past few possession receivers, we see names like Watkins, Jeremy Maclin, Jason Avant, Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle. None of these guys are tall or big targets but rather hover around the 6-foot, 200-pound mark (the Chiefs list Powell at 6-foot, 205 pounds). Rather than winning with their sheer size and ability to post-up defenders, they rely much more on route running.
This Blaze Out route by Powell certainly showcases a similar playstyle that could be used to describe the aforementioned players. Here Powell shows high-end footwork with the ability to understand and attack a defenders’ leverage resulting in a ton of separation rather than simply relying on size and strength to win at the catch point.
The nuance can be seen in how he attacks the bailing cornerback’s midpoint and runs him beyond his breakpoint. Powell is then able to maintain his speed and flash an inside breaking route to force the corner to commit downhill before using his fluidity to break back to the outside. Even going as far as selling the vertical route a second time coming out of the inside fake, this route just shows the full gamut of Powell’s ability to run routes and his understanding of leverage.
Powell showcases the potential as an incredible route runner on short and intermediate routes — as well as deep routes but more on that later — which allows him to function highly as an X receiver. It wasn’t as evident on that particular play due to facing bail coverage but another area in which Powell excels is beating press coverage. His feet are very quick off the line of scrimmage utilizing jab and stutter steps to generate lateral separation to run his full route tree. He pairs that with quality strength to rip through attempted jams and using his ability to create separation.
Physicality
While the ability to run good routes may be the most important aspect of playing the X in Reid’s offense, there is still a need for physical play. Outside of Kelce, the Chiefs have severely missed a consistent threat over the middle of the field and on underneath routes. Powell flashes the ability to not only fight through contact during the route stem but also finish catches through contact. His upper body strength clearing hands as he makes his break or changes his orientation to the defender is often visible whereas dealing with physicality at the catch point is a little more seldom.
It’s not due to a lack of ability, just rather the offense he played in at Clemson. When targeted in contested situations, Powell shows good ball-tracking ability so that he can elevate and attack the ball at its highest point while also shielding the defender. It’s not an untapped aspect of his game but an area that will certainly be explored further with the Chiefs than it was at Clemson where he was only able to show flashes of success dealing with physicality from a defender.
Vertical receiving ability
No matter what a receiver’s role is, for a Reid-led team there will always be some level of vertical element required in their game. Whether it’s the emphasis of their game or a secondary or even tertiary skill, players who can’t operate on the vertical plane simply don’t see playing time for Reid. So a big question with Powell: can this 4.53-second 40-yard sprinter win enough vertically to play for Reid?
Getting vertical
The most common way Powell is able to attack the field vertically is through utilizing double moves to get the corner out of phase. As touched on previously, he runs really good routes with a ton of nuance so it makes it easy for him to sell route breaks to defensive backs.
On this Corner-Post route, Powell does a great job reading the leverage of both the corner and the safety playing deep. This allows him to threaten the corner with the outside feint — forcing him to open his hips to defend the boundary — before running a “skinny” Post back inside to avoid the help from the far safety rotating deep. This isn’t even one of Powell’s more exaggerated double moves but rather an understanding of leverage for both his defender and a potential help defender and how he can manipulate them with the threat of his own route-running ability.
The second most common way Powell wins over the top is simply by winning at the line of scrimmage. He’s got a good initial explosion and when you combine that with his ability to release off of the line of scrimmage it is difficult to stay on top of him. He then has the body mass and size to stack a cornerback and not allow them to get back in the play to defend the football as he showcases excellent tracking ability up and over the top. He won’t often run away from defenders but presents a difficult task to defend by being able to beat off-coverage or press-coverage on the vertical plane.
Is Powell a complete receiver?
At the end of the day, we’ve all heard how Reid likes his receivers to play every position and they won’t get on the field until they can. I’m sure that is the message to all of the players in the locker room and the goal for every player that is brought into the team. The reality, however, is simply that some players won’t be as effective at all three positions. Currently, the Chiefs lack a true X or a second receiver the way Reid’s offense best operates. A healthy Watkins was able to provide that but when he’s been unable to suit up the team has suffered. Can Powell be that fix?
Powell has some of the skills and traits that match the most recent examples of Reid’s X receivers. He showcases high-end route running and the ability to operate in the dirty areas of the field. He even has shown enough ability to win up and over the top that the Chiefs should feel comfortable opening him up to the entire playbook and not limiting him to specific uses.
Wide receiver is a really finicky position when it comes to translating to the NFL. The step-up in athleticism sinks more players who otherwise would be plenty skilled enough to play in the league than just about any other position. Powell is a guy who absolutely has the skill to play at the next level, specifically as the X receiver in an Andy Reid offense.
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As his days of playing in the trenches ended, Matt Lane quickly realized he missed studying the game of football more than he did playing. Since 2017 he’s been lucky enough to fulfill that desire while covering the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL Draft.
You know I've heard of parting the sea but did Veach just part the Draft...
Hey Matt! Similar issue as below. I was able to get the video to load from the browser, however the link when clicking on the video in the email newsletter wasn’t working 😬 Just wanted to let you know so you guys can keep being awesome! Love the deeper content and the film stuff!