Colbie
Young.
Colbie
Young.
Georgia· 6'4"· 213 lb· 4.55s 40
R4 · #140 · Cincinnati Bengals"Big-bodied X receiver with a genuine catch-radius tool and a real off-field flag; the projection is a size-and-hands rotation piece, not a burner."Pre-draft read
Boundary X receiver who wins with catch radius, contested-catch strength and a physical release. Aligns almost exclusively wide, using a long-arm swim to defeat press and stacking corners with a jab-and-cross at the line. He body-catches high-point balls but tracks the deep ball well over either shoulder, particularly on back-shoulder fades and outside fades in the red zone where his frame becomes a shield.
The route tree is short, featuring hitches, comebacks, digs, and fades. Change-of-direction is heavy on double-moves and options. He is a willing perimeter blocker who latches and drives, though he plays high and can be pried off by longer corners. His athletic ceiling caps out as a linear vertical threat; separation against zone comes from late hands, not sudden feet.
West Coast timing offense built around a rhythm passing game and a play-action run scheme, with specific packages for personnel groupings.
Year 1 ceiling is a red-zone specialist and perimeter run-game enforcer, with a path to becoming a starting boundary X with a limited route tree in time.
An Air Raid or spread RPO offense that demands quick separation, extensive option routes, and high volume targets will minimize his effectiveness.
Young projects as a specialized boundary receiver whose value is maximized in a system that emphasizes contested catches, particularly in the red zone, and does not require him to be a prolific route runner or a quick separator.
Colbie Young — Full 2025 Highlights
Senior-year cutup at Georgia — press releases, fades and contested-catch reps that anchored his 2026 grade.
Colbie Young Georgia Highlights
Career-spanning mix showing the boundary X package and red-zone body-catch wins.
Colbie Young going up and getting it vs Clemson
2024 Clemson rep that flashed the catch-radius tool teams keep coming back to.
Young projects as a boundary receiver with a real off-field asterisk, offering teams a catch-radius target with Day 3 potential. His value and projection are tied to his ability to win contested catches and track vertical passes, particularly in red-zone packages, where his 6-4 frame with 33⅛-inch arms becomes a significant asset. The blend of size, length, and specific receiving traits makes him a specialized target.
His career, beginning as a Miami transfer and ending as a fifth-year senior at Georgia, was built on these catch-radius plays. The 2024 season was fractured by an October arrest on assault charges, leading to a suspension and a fight for reinstatement that cost him multiple games. A steadier 2025 senior year on the field restored his Day 3 grade, with his usage favoring outside fades and boundary work.
Boards were split more by the character flag than by the tape; evaluators were concerned with the off-field vetting. His athletic profile, confirmed by a 4.55 forty and 35-inch vertical at the Combine, was assessed as good, not special. Ultimately, he was drafted at pick 140, a cluster where teams comfortable with the due diligence were willing to select the size-and-traits profile.
- 01
Catch-radius profile
6-4 with 33⅛-inch arms and hands that snatch outside the frame; jump balls and back-shoulder fades on the boundary are a real, projectable NFL tool.
- 02
Contested-catch resume
wins with body position and late hands, box-out plays on slants and fades scored in both SEC and ACC play, translates directly to red-zone package usage.
- 03
Press release variety
long-arm swim and jab-and-cross beat physical corners cleanly, doesn't panic against outside leverage and gets vertical on the second step.
- 04
Vertical tracking over either shoulder
reads the flight of the ball early on 9s and posts, adjusts late without breaking stride, particularly clean on outside fades from the plus-30.
- 05
Perimeter blocking effort
latches and drives on stalks and crack blocks, gives outside runs a real edge against nickels who don't want the collision.
- 01
Off-field vetting
October 2024 arrest on assault charges triggered suspension and reinstatement fight; teams drafting him have to be comfortable with that vetting process.
- 02
Separation quickness
4.55 speed with heavy feet in and out of breaks; man corners with plus quicks close throwing windows on curls and comebacks.
- 03
Body catcher on layups
traps the ball into the frame on slants and screens, leads to concentration drops on catchable throws even when he wins the release.
- 04
Route tree is narrow
production concentrated on hitches, fades and comebacks; the diet of full-tree option routes an NFL X sees is largely new to him.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.55sp50
- Vertical
- 35.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 122inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Miami | 13 | 32 | 376 | 5 |
| 2023 | Miami | 13 | 47 | 563 | 5 |
| 2024 | Georgia | 9 | 11 | 149 | 2 |
| 2025 | Georgia | 13 | 26 | 358 | 1 |
| Career | — | 48 | 116 | 1446 | 13 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
- Gunner StocktonQB30%
- Zachariah BranchWR9%
- London HumphreysWR6%
#3 of 22 tracked contributors · Produced well above his snap share · Offense explosiveness 1.15 (p10) · CFBD — usage x PPA per tracked player
Long, linear boundary receiver whose Day 3 arc lived at WR4/red-zone package — a fair Year 1-2 outcome for Young.
6-4 boundary X whose game was built on catch-radius wins and back-shoulder fades rather than separation — Young's functional ceiling if the hands stay reliable.
Big-framed rotational X who never carved out consistent snaps because the separation didn't travel — the downside if the character questions or drops linger.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Pre-draft context
Young was a 6-4 Miami transfer who arrived at Georgia in 2024 to slot into a wide-receiver room that had been gutted by attrition, and the tape at Miami — roughly 76 catches and seven touchdowns across 2022-23 — was already built around catch radius and boundary fades rather than separation. His 2024 season at Georgia fractured in October when he was arrested on assault charges, suspended, and eventually reinstated after a legal process that played out inside Athens; the disruption cost him snaps and cost the tape a full year of continuity. A steadier fifth-year 2025 season restored the Day 3 grade, and a 4.55 forty at 213 with 33⅛-inch arms at the Combine confirmed him as an athletic-but-not-special outside receiver whose grade was going to live and die by the vetting.
NFL fit — Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati took him at 140 as the size piece behind Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Andrei Iosivas, and the fit is clean on paper: an X-first depth receiver on a roster that lives in 11 personnel, with an organizational approach that has quietly done well developing later-round wideouts. Early usage projects as WR5 with red-zone package snaps as an outside fade and back-shoulder option, plus core special-teams work. The Bengals have the room to bring him along slowly, which matters — the route tree needs expansion and the body-catch habit needs developing — and the presence of Higgins in-house gives him a mentor with a similar boundary profile. How much he plays as a rookie is downstream of the vetting; the ceiling if it holds is a WR3/4 who wins the jump-ball snaps a team schemes up on Sundays.
Retrospective
Young enters the league at exactly the value the tape suggested: a fifth-round investment in a size-and-hands boundary profile with a real character asterisk. The evaluation call — Day 3 rotation piece, upside tied to red-zone role, downside tied to off-field discipline — will play out inside two seasons in Cincinnati. If the routes expand and the hands stay clean, he becomes a functional WR4 with a specialized role that earns a second contract somewhere. If the off-field questions resurface or the separation never comes, he is a camp body and a cautionary note in the room, and pick 140 quietly disappears into the league's churn.