RP Summer Lookback: Chris Bell Goes to the Dolphins

**Matt Harmon** (0:00)
This is Reception Perception The Show. Now, James Koh and Matt Harmon.

**James Koh** (0:06)
Chris Bell, senior, out of Louisville. Played at Louisville all four years, which is a, that's a rarity nowadays, a player sticking with one program for all four years. Good for him. 72 receptions this past year, 917 yards, six touchdowns. He's six two, he's a big boy, guys. He's six two, 222 pounds. He only, again, he only played, what is it?
Nine games, I think, this past year. Where did I get that?

**Matt Harmon** (0:35)
Yeah, he tours ACL in November.

**James Koh** (0:36)
He tours ACL. Yeah, he tours ACL. So late ACL tear, no testing. So I don't have any combine measurements or pro day measurements here.
The game speed from just watching the film, he looks pretty fast. He led the team in both receptions and receiving yards, despite only playing those limited number of games. And I will say this, Matt, my goodness gracious, there was a three game stretch where this guy was absolutely unstoppable.
May have won the bulletin of coffee, just kept going at this pace. This pace is insane. He played Pitt, Virginia and Miami. He had 10 catches for 135 and a touchdown against Pitt. He had 12 catches for 170 and two touchdowns against Virginia. And then he followed that up with a nine catch, 136 yard performance with two more touchdowns against Miami. I mean, come on, man. This is three games. He has five touchdowns. He's averaging more than double digit receptions. He's averaging more than 140 receiving yards in that three game stretch. That was impressive, to say the least.

**Matt Harmon** (1:46)
Yeah. And I mean, you see him, you mentioned the speed. You see him take a quick crosser, slant, whatever you want, a little quick in breaking route, and just house it against Miami. And you see him do the same thing against JMU. Shout out to the boys up in Harrisonburg here in Virginia. I mean, he will do it against low level competition. He'll do it against high level competition. He is definitely a fast dude at 222 pounds. There's no question about it. I think all in all, James, the quick summary is I think he is probably the most boomer bust player in the class. I think he's most boomer bus prospect in this year's NFL draft class.
And that makes him to me, I think the most difficult guy to rank because there are absolutely parts of the profile that would point you to a real ceiling. There are also some pretty clear red flags beyond just even what we're talking about in terms of the ACL tear late in the season, the whole deal. By the way, I think it's going to come down a lot to Chris Bell. What is he? Is he going to grind at this? Is he going to work at this? Which obviously we don't know. I've never interviewed Chris Bell. I've never talked to him because he's a very interesting player. When you watch him on film, he is very animated, very combative. I put a clip out of this of he clearly hates his quarterback this past year at Louisville.
He's got the like wide receiver one, I can't believe you didn't throw to me, antics all over the film. So he's a very confident guy, which could be good, can be bad, depending on your perspective. He's got the George Pickens gene where he will just absolutely light up a guy on a backside block.
He's on the right side, this runs going to the left side. He will lay out a dude that's completely not involved in the play. And people on Twitter will be like, look at this run block from Chris Bell. It's like, okay, well, it didn't actually do anything to the play. He just light this guy up. So you got to love the mindset. You got to love that part of it. Well, I don't know. Again, it depends on your flavor. It depends on your point of view. But I think we'll unpack this a little bit more. But the large thought process from people on him is, well, you know, just under 6'2, 222 pounds, is he the next AJ Brown or is he the next, in a long line of guys who people said were AJ Brown because they were 6'2, and 220 pounds. But they become Traylon Burks, they become Xavier LeGette, they become Jonathan Mingo, you know, like these types.
I know you're going to make fun of me. I'm going to probably fall somewhere in the middle of that very wide. Yeah, come right down the center on that.