Bub
Means.
Bub
Means.
Pittsburgh· 6'2"· 212 lb· 4.43s 40
"A boundary X who plays above the rim and blocks like a tight end, drafted on traits that two straight seasons ended by injury never gave anyone the chance to properly test in the NFL."Pre-draft read
Means lined up almost exclusively as the boundary X at Pitt, a 6-2, 212-pound target asked to win alone outside the numbers behind a quarterback room that changed hands twice. His best mechanic lives at the top of the route: he stacks corners with a long, patient stem, tracks the deep ball over either shoulder and attacks it at its highest point with strong, late hands.
The secondary trait is competitive toughness. He finishes through contact and blocks with intent on early downs, which is why Pitt never took him off the field. His 4.43 speed reads as build-up rather than burst, and the tree stays narrow: go, comeback, slant. The signature is the 50-50 ball, which he wins more often than his separation profile says he should.
Play-action vertical offense that isolates an X receiver into boundary go balls and back-shoulder fades off condensed formations.
Year 1: fourth receiver and core special teamer who plays early-down X snaps for his blocking. Ceiling: contested-catch WR3 and red-zone specialist.
A timing-and-spacing quick game that lives on option routes and slot leverage, where he has to uncover in under two seconds.
His value is tied to shot plays and the red zone, not to volume targets.
Bub Means 2023 Regular Season Highlights | Pitt WR
Full senior-season reel of his boundary wins, deep tracking and contested catches at Pitt.
NFL Draft Film Ep 843: Bub Means / WR / Pittsburgh / 2023 / Full Highlights
Draft-cutup breakdown of his 2023 tape, focused on release, vertical stems and catch-point strength.
Saints Rookie WR Bub Means ALL CATCHES vs. Bucs | 2024 Week 6 Full Highlights
His most productive NFL game as a rookie, two weeks before the season-ending ankle injury.
A fifth-year senior with three schools behind him, Means arrived in the 2024 class as a finished physical product and an unfinished route runner. Tennessee never gave him a snap, Louisiana Tech gave him a role, and Pitt gave him the ball outside the numbers. The identity was clear on every reel: a big-bodied X who plays above the rim and does not flinch in traffic.
The production was solid rather than loud. He posted 41 catches for 721 yards and six touchdowns as a senior at 17.6 yards per grab, all of it on a Pitt offense that finished near the bottom of the ACC in passing efficiency and cycled through quarterbacks. That context cuts both ways: the volume was capped, but the tape showed a receiver creating his own throwing windows. The flags were real, too, with drops that came in bunches, a limited release package against press and separation that mostly came from length instead of quickness.
The board had him as a Day 3 developmental X, generally in the fourth-to-fifth-round band with a mid-30s positional rank. New Orleans took him at 170 as a size-and-speed swing behind an aging receiver room. At that price the call made sense: no team was drafting him to start, and the fifth round is exactly where you pay for traits and coach the route tree later.
- 01
Catch point
Plays above the rim with long arms and late hands, high-pointing throws over both shoulders and finishing 50-50 balls with a corner draped on him.
- 02
Deep tracking
Locates the ball early over either shoulder without breaking stride, adjusting to underthrown verticals and back-shoulder throws with natural body control.
- 03
Vertical stem
Eats cushion with a patient, long stride and stacks corners cleanly, turning go routes into contested wins rather than sideline throwaways.
- 04
Play strength
Wins through contact after the catch and does not get rerouted by contact within five yards once he gets his frame moving downhill.
- 05
Blocking will
Sustains on the perimeter with real effort and finish, a legitimate early-down asset that raises his floor as a rotational outside receiver.
- 01
Route tree
Lived on go, comeback and slant at Pitt, with stiff hips and rounded breaks that leave little separation on option or intermediate stems.
- 02
Drops
Concentration lapses came in bunches, with too many clean, uncontested targets hitting the turf on tape across both Pitt seasons.
- 03
Release package
Limited counters against press corners who jam his outside shoulder; he wants to win with strength instead of a varied hand and foot plan.
- 04
Short-area quickness
Build-up speed rather than burst, so he struggles to uncover quickly on timing throws or to threaten leverage from the slot.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.43sp50
- Vertical
- 39.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 122inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 19repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Louisiana Tech | 11 | 22 | 430 | 2 |
| 2022 | Pittsburgh | 13 | 27 | 401 | 2 |
| 2023 | Pittsburgh | 12 | 41 | 721 | 6 |
| Career | — | 36 | 90 | 1552 | 10 |
Receiving totals verified against College Football Data season stats (listed as Jerrod Means). He recorded no game action at Tennessee in 2019 and sat out 2020 after transferring to Louisiana Tech, so those years are not listed as phantom seasons. Season sums match the 90 rec / 1,552 yds / 10 TD career line.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- Conference USA All-Freshman Team (2021)
- Led Pittsburgh in receiving yards and touchdowns (2023)
- Sun Bowl champion with Pittsburgh (2022)
A fourth or fifth receiver kept for vertical speed and special teams whose target share never grows past double digits.
The realistic ceiling is a tough, blocking-first outside receiver who earns a starting role by doing every dirty job well.
Camp-body outside receiver with the frame and speed to keep getting looks but never a defined role on a game-day roster.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Fifth-round X receiver who caught nine of 15 targets for 118 yards and a touchdown in seven rookie games before a high-ankle sprain, then missed all of 2025 after an August injury landed him on injured reserve, and returned to practice in the 2026 camp still fighting for a roster spot.
New Orleans used him exactly as drafted: a rotational outside receiver and special teamer with a small target share. He appeared in seven games as a 2024 rookie and caught nine of 15 targets for 118 yards and a touchdown before a high-ankle sprain ended his season. Then the injury luck turned brutal. He went down again in the 2025 preseason at SoFi Stadium and was placed on injured reserve in August, wiping out his entire second year. He returned to the practice field in the 2026 training camp still carrying a lower-leg designation, and still holding a roster spot with fewer than ten career catches to his name.
In hindsight the evaluation of the player was reasonable and the evaluation of the durability was not. The traits scouts liked showed up in the small NFL sample, but two straight seasons cut short in August and October have kept him from ever answering the actual question about him, which was whether the route tree could grow. Fifth-round receivers get about two years of runway; his were spent in the training room. The pick is not a scouting miss so much as an unresolved one, and the developmental window has effectively closed on it.
Data note: Receiving totals verified against College Football Data season stats (listed as Jerrod Means). He recorded no game action at Tennessee in 2019 and sat out 2020 after transferring to Louisiana Tech, so those years are not listed as phantom seasons. Season sums match the 90 rec / 1,552 yds / 10 TD career line.