Draft Analysis: Ainias Smith

April 21, 2024 /
  • Height: 5’9″
  • Weight: 190 lb.
  • College: Texas A&M
  • Tape watched: Arkansas 2022, Auburn, Miami, Alabama
  • NFL Comparison: Devin Duvernay

Pros

  • Hands

Drops from Ainias Smith are few and far between. He shows a nice ability to secure the football in most situations. He is tough and strong at the catch point and fights for the ball.

  • YAC

Smith is a short, compact, muscular receiver that poses a difficult challenge to tackle. He can run through arms tackles at all levels of the defense. He was a very good punt and kick returner in college. Smith forced 15 missed tackles in 2023.

  • Blocking

I was impressed with both of Smith’s dedication to his blocking assignments as well as his technique. He looks to hit someone on every play, a focus that is lacking in this draft class. Smith can stay low and lock his hands inside defenders pads.

Midline

  • Release

Excellent when given free reign off the line of scrimmage, Ainias Smith eats up cushion through his route stem. I like his strong base that he plays with, making him a non-liability at his size. He does struggle to get to his route break if defenders play bump and run. At some point his strength profile fails with his height and short arms.

In the slot at the bottom of the screen, Smith is overwhelmed with the press coverage.
  • Route Running

There were times Smith would run his routes too deep and end up finding another zone defender to break on his route. On two-way options in man coverage, he failed to move his defender before his route break, allowing the defender to close on his hip. Smith’s route tree was very limited to the intermediate middle of the field.

Smith fails to move his defender and can’t separate at his route break.

Ainias Smith does a nice job staying flat and protecting throws from his quarterback. I thought he did a nice job of finding windows to sit in.

Cons

  • Size

8th or worse percentile in height, wingspan, arm length, and hand size, Smith struggles to deal with bigger defenders. Despite him being extremely strong, Smith can become overmatched with leverage against corners with long arms.

  • Deep Speed

Smith failed to make a big impact pushing down the field on routes. A big reason is his short strides and lack of real game changing speed. His separation downfield came almost entirely from schemed plays and double moves.

Overview

Failing to amass over 800 yards and six touchdowns in any of his five collegiate seasons, Ainias Smith will look to use his advanced experience and special teams prowess to stick on an NFL team. I believe he projects as a returner with WR5 upside on a team.