Carnell Tate NFL Draft Scouting Report: Smooth Like Chris Olave

THE Ohio State University has produced at least one first-round wide receiver in each of the last four NFL Drafts–and it's doubtful even a Laremy Tunsil gas-mask situation could prevent Carnell Tate from making it 5 for 5 come April 23.

Today, we'll get to know Tate a bit better by breaking down five cool things about the 21-year-old talent, including:

How we got here: Sir, there's another five-star Buckeyes WR
Biggest strengths: As smooth as Santana
3 cool stats: Has never had a butterfinger in his life
Causes for concern: Not exactly a freak among freaks physically
Fun facts: The man is wicked smart

And, of course, we'll finish things off with several provocative comps that will hopefully get the people going.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report for Carnell Tate | WR

How We Got Here: Sir, there's another five-star Buckeyes WR

Tate didn't exactly come out of nowhere. The Chicago native took his talents to the national powerhouse IMG Academy before his junior season and quickly proved more than capable of dominating at the highest level high school had to offer. 247 accordingly slapped a five-star rating on Tate, and he moved to Columbus to develop under renowned WR coach Brian Hartline.

Once at Ohio State, Tate paid his dues behind Marvin Harrison Jr. and company in 2023 before bursting into the starting lineup as a sophomore alongside Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith in 2024. His 52-733-4 receiving line during the Buckeyes' National Championship run was highlighted by big-time performances in two of the team's closest wins against Nebraska (4-102-1) and Texas (7-87-0).

This start to his career made Tate a bit of a darkhorse first-round pick prior to 2025 … and then he proceeded to ball the hell out and make himself a near consensus projected top-10 selection.

6-foot-2, 192 pounds, 4.53-second 40-yard dash
2025: 51 receptions, 875 yards, 9 TD
Ranked first in passer rating when targeted (151.8) and fifth in yards per route run (3.02) among 143 Power Four WRs with 50+ targets in 2025
Second-team AP All-American, first-team All-Big Ten as a junior
Mock draft projection: No. 8 overall to the Saints

The overall numbers weren't necessarily gigantic relative to what we've seen other studs produce at Ohio State. Still, they came in just 11 games, and the style points for creating big plays and coming down with circus catches can't be overstated. This brings us to the strengths that have teams salivating to select Tate very early in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Biggest Strengths: As smooth as Santana

Three key strengths that Tate brings to the table:

Contested-catch artist: Tate caught 12 of 14 contested targets (85.7%!) in 2025. Only two Power Four WRs have bested that mark since 2019 with a minimum of 10 contested targets: 2019 Justin Jefferson (12/13, 92.3%) and 2021 Jaxon Smith-Njigba (9/10, 90%). Pretty great company! But, yeah: Tate's combination of strong hands, body control, and leaping ability make him a nightmare to defend at the catch point.

Smoothness is Olave-esque: While Tate won't be confused with an elite YAC producer, he wasn't exactly asked to operate in the underneath areas of the field very often, and there were plenty of flashes of him gliding past defenders in the open field either way. Independent of Tate's ability after the catch: His smoothness getting in and out of breaks is very impressive for a taller outside receiver.

Vertical route-running is borderline erotic: This is the main selling point here: Tate's superpower is winning down the field. Much was made of Tate's relatively disappointing 4.53-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine; just realize it takes far more than just pure speed to consistently win on the outside. Just look at the NFL track record from the fastest players the position has to offer. It was rare to see defensive backs stand a chance against Tate's smooth and explosive vertical stems—and good luck winning the jump ball on the few occasions where immense separation wasn't created.

109 seconds of Carnell Tate winning downfield pic.twitter.com/atVWDcMbYN
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) March 11, 2026

3 Cool Stats: Has never had a butterfinger in his life

Three more cool stats and facts about Tate that line up with what you'll see from watching him play:

Hands are as sure as they come: Tate was not charged with a single drop on 66 targets in 2025. His 4% career drop rate is the fourth-lowest mark among the top-16 draft-eligible WRs, while his (very nice) career 69% contested-catch rate is easily first. The hands are also put to good use in the blocking: Only Denzel Boston had a higher PFF run-blocking grade among the primary Power Four 2026 draft eligible WRs in 2025.
Good on screens when given the chance: Tate drew only 16 screen targets during his final two years in Columbus (for comparison, USC/Georgia WR Zachariah Branch had 72 in the 2024-2025 seasons), but he usually made the most of them. Overall, Tate averaged a mor- than-respectable 8.1 yards per target on screens—the eighth-highest mark among 59 draft-eligible WRs with double-digit screen targets over the past two seasons, and better than the position's biggest names (with the exception of, again, Boston).
Lethal vs. man and zone alike: Tate ranks sixth and seventh in yards per route run vs. man and zone coverage among the top-25 highest-ranked draft-eligible receivers in the 2026 draft. This makes sense when watching the ol' film: Tate is very capable of blowing by one-on-one coverage on the outside, but he also displayed consistently good, sound ability to find open holes against zone coverage on curls and in-breaking routes.

Causes For Concern: Not exactly a freak among freaks physically

Of course, as is the case with any prospect, there are some potential red-ish flags to concern yourself with here—primarily in the YAC and physical traits departments.

Was never the No. 1 WR on his own team: Something that was also the case for Emeka Egbuka and arguably Jaxon Smith-Njigba, although in that case it was more so an annoying hamstring injury that wiped out his 2022 campaign. Either way: There were plenty of times on film (especially vs. Texas) where it was clear that opposing defenses were doing everything they could to limit No. 4 and live with whatever Tate did on the other side of the field. Credit to Tate for making a habit of making those defenses pay for not sending more help his way; just realize he'll need to take his game to an even higher level to deal with more attention in the pros.

Not overly shifty after the catch: We've complimented Tate's smoothness and underrated production on screens already, but that doesn't mean he'll be confused with the position's more dynamic talents with the ball in his hands. This is evident in him forcing just six missed tackles in his final college season–a mark that sits low in not-great company when looking at recent first-round receivers.

Doesn't have elite physical traits: 40 times aren't everything, obviously, but Tate's status as a 4.5 guy does reflect the reality that he wasn't exactly burning past corners with pure speed on Saturdays. He's pretty thin at 6-foot-2, 192 pounds with 31-inch arms (52nd percentile). Tate's decision not to jump or do agility drills at the combine is probably a decent sign that his agent didn't think they had much to gain from whatever his marks are. It'd make sense if Tate fills out and becomes more explosive with NFL strength training—the man just turned 21 after all—but we aren't exactly looking at a freak among freaks here.

Fun Facts: The man is wicked smart

Four facts of the fun variety about Tate:

First-team Academic All-American with a 3.5 GPA while majoring in sport industry.
Caught 2 touchdowns at Wrigley Field against Northwestern in a homecoming of sorts in 2024.
Was on the same South Florida Express 7-on-7 team as eventual Ohio State teammates Jeremiah Smith and Brandon Innis. Yes, they won the title.
Has a deep bag of touchdown celebrations. He hit the Paul Bunyan stance against Michigan. Gave respect to Shedeur Sanders after scoring against Minnesota. B2A against Penn State. I'm too old and lame to know what this dance was against Texas, but it looked cool!

Carnell Tate NFL Draft Comps

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for: My favorite comps for Tate:

If Corey Davis played the Patriots every week
Mild-mannered George Pickens
Taller Chris Olave
Rich man's Tyquan Thornton
That field-stretching WR from the Little Giants once he started using stickum

Best of luck to Tate on his NFL journey and thank you all for reading!

Players Mentioned in this Article

EmekaEgbuka
WRTB
PPG
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