Over the previous few weeks, we’ve been breaking down the Jets’ rookies. We’re transferring onto the undrafted free brokers now, beginning with former Stephen F. Austin State huge receiver Xavier Gipson. At present, we break down Gipson intimately.

The 22-year outdated Gipson is listed at 5’9” and 189 kilos and was a 4 12 months starter for the Lumberjacks. He was an all-WAC first teamer twice and an all-Southland Convention first-teamer as soon as. Gipson caught over 50 passes in all 4 seasons, had two thousand-yard seasons and caught 37 landing passes in his profession.

Background

Gipson was a two-star prospect as a highschool recruit, having performed at huge receiver and cornerback, and in addition ran observe in his ultimate 12 months. He initially opted to attend SMU as a cornerback, however then as an alternative determined to enrol at SFA as a receiver.

His affect was quick, as he caught 52 passes for 934 yards and 7 touchdowns in his freshman 12 months and was named as an all-Southland Convention second-teamer. He was then named as a first-teamer in his sophomore 12 months as he caught 52 passes once more, this time for 841 yards and 9 touchdowns (and in two fewer video games).

The Lumberjacks moved to the Western Athletic Convention earlier than Gipson’s junior 12 months and he posted back-to-back thousand yard seasons to earn first-team all-conference honors in every year. He was additionally the WAC offensive participant of the 12 months in every season. 2021 noticed him catch 74 passes for 1,367 yards and 14 touchdowns. He wasn’t fairly as productive in 2022 however nonetheless had a thousand-yard season, 65 catches and 7 scores.

Gipson was not invited to the scouting mix or the senior bowl, however he caught a 48-yard move within the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and put collectively a superb exercise at his professional day. The Jets signed him to an undrafted free agent contract with a $15K signing bonus and $150K in assured wage.

Now let’s check out what Gipson brings to the desk, divided into classes.

Measurables/Athleticism

Gipson lacks dimension, which could possibly be a limitation on the NFL degree. He has a really small catch radius and solely two mix attendees within the final 15 years have had smaller fingers. One was Hunter Renfrow, although.

What he lacks in dimension, he makes up for together with his velocity and agility. He ran a 4.42 at his professional day and posted wonderful numbers within the brief shuttle and three-cone drill. His explosiveness and power numbers have been about common, though his 1.46 break up within the 40-yard sprint was quicker than anybody at this 12 months’s mix.

Utilization

Gipson performed about 95 p.c of his offensive snaps within the slot and that’s clearly going to be his place on the subsequent degree. There have been just a few packages the place he lined up within the backfield in a two-back set and seemed good working routes from there.

He carried the ball so much on finish arounds and jet sweeps, racking up 179 yards on 32 carries in his faculty profession, and even threw just a few passes.

Deep risk

Gipson has had loads of success on downfield throws, as he has the velocity to get behind the protection and the power to trace and find the ball early.

Regardless of lining up within the slot, Gipson generally is a issue on go-routes, down the seam and on deep crossers.

4 of his seven landing catches in 2022 got here on passes caught greater than 20 yards down the sphere.

Routes

Regardless of not having performed huge receiver till his ultimate 12 months at highschool, Gipson seems to be fairly polished as a route-runner and had loads of success getting separation on the FCS degree. We’ll see how rapidly he adjusts to the leap in degree throughout preseason.

Gipson goes to be a troublesome cowl anyway due to his velocity, however seems to be good breaking down and making sharp cuts.

His capacity to vary route at full velocity could make him an enormous play risk on play-action passes.

There are, nonetheless, occasions the place he does an excessive amount of making an attempt to arrange the break in his route so he can gradual himself down by taking false steps or telegraph the change of route. These are issues he’ll get a superb probability to work on towards NFL gamers.

Arms

Regardless of his small catch radius, Gipson is environment friendly on straightforward passes, exhibits good focus on tipped balls and adjusts effectively to usher in off-target throws.

He could make catches within the air, going to floor, or over by the sideline however right here’s maybe probably the most spectacular seize on his spotlight reel.

Drops weren’t a significant challenge as he solely averaged 4 per season and by no means had greater than six in any 12 months. He did have just a few focus drops in site visitors although.

Pink zone

A good proportion of Gipson’s 37 profession landing passes got here from exterior the crimson zone, however he did make some good performs down there together with his capacity to create fast separation coming off the road at velocity. He can even make robust catches in site visitors.

After the catch

Gipson was extraordinarily productive after the catch together with his open area velocity making him a breakaway risk on slants and screens. Taking each FBS and FCS into consideration, he had the fourth most yards after catch within the nation in 2022 and the second most in 2021. He led the nation in common yards after the catch by over a yard in 2021.

He impressively averaged virtually 10 yards per catch on display screen passes alone over the previous three seasons.

Along with his velocity and acceleration, you’ll usually see Gipson beating a defender to an angle and forcing them to over pursue. He doesn’t break many tackles, however can actually make the primary man miss on a brief move with a fast minimize in house regularly.

His ball safety has been strong as he didn’t lose an offensive fumble in his total faculty profession.

Blocking

Gipson’s lack of dimension will restrict his effectiveness as a blocker on the NFL degree and he was usually used simply as a decoy with the Lumberjacks.

Scouting experiences observe that he offers a superb effort as a blocker and his grades have been typically good. You possibly can see an instance of that effort right here.

He had one penalty for offensive move interference in faculty, on account of blocking too early on a receiver display screen.

Physicality

Gipson has added about 35 kilos for the reason that begin of his faculty profession and 20 to his listed weight from final 12 months, however the bodily aspect of the sport is one thing he’ll have to preserve working at.

He’s not afraid to go over the center and can battle for yardage and compete for leverage as a blocker, however he might be de-routed when making an attempt to get open and doesn’t have a superb success fee on contested catches.

Particular Groups

Gipson can doubtlessly carry added worth within the return sport and Braxton Berrios’ departure presents a chance for somebody to seize a job that might earn them a roster spot.

With 4 punt return touchdowns in his profession and a median of over 20 yards per return, Gipson has spectacular talents on this space.

He does even have some expertise on kickoff returns, averaging 21 yards per return in his first season. He hasn’t completed a lot kickoff return work over the previous few years although. Gipson muffed two punts in his profession, together with one final season.

Along with his return sport contributions, Gipson has simply performed 5 snaps in punt protection and one on the sphere objective rush unit.

Instincts and Intelligence

Gipson has a superb knack for getting himself into open areas and might regulate his route and improvise when a play is prolonged though he maybe must be higher at coming again to the ball with extra aggression.

He has good instincts within the open area and shows the power to show a brief acquire into an enormous play.

He additionally shows good imaginative and prescient and the power to observe his blocks within the return sport and has good instincts about when to area the ball.

He had one pre-snap penalty in his faculty profession, for a false begin.

Angle

Character and angle are clearly not a priority with Gipson who was a superb chief who was a four-time captain with the Lumberjacks.

Gipson’s on-field self-discipline was additionally good with simply three penalties in his total collegiate profession, though one was a private foul.

Accidents

Accidents haven’t been a problem for Gipson in faculty as he didn’t miss any important time in faculty. Sturdiness could possibly be a priority on account of his lack of dimension however, as famous, he has added some weight.

Scheme Match

Aside from Gipson, Randall Cobb might be the closest factor the Jets need to a “pure” slot receiver on their roster, though almost the entire gamers of their rotation are able to producing from there.

Realistically, Gipson is unlikely to crack the huge receiver rotation this 12 months except there are accidents but when he earns the return man function, then he has an opportunity to get some enjoying time. Down the street, maybe he has the potential to be a slot specialist on the NFL degree.

Conclusions

Gipson’s determination to show down an FBS scholarship in order that he might play huge receiver at a decrease degree appears to have paid off however he’ll now have to show he can produce towards NFL expertise.

He had blended outcomes towards FBS competitors with the Lumberjacks, however did have just a few good video games, together with one towards Texas Tech the place he caught 13 passes for 158 yards.

As an FCS prospect, he was as dominant as you possibly can hope for, on a workforce the place no different receivers have been notably productive, which is an efficient signal.

Aaron Rodgers praised Gipson’s efficiency throughout the offseason and he appears to have made probably the most of a superb alternative to work with the primary unit with Cobb and Mecole Hardman each lacking time. We should always get a way of whether or not he’s within the combine for a return function, which stays his most viable path to a roster spot, throughout camp however he has a superb wanting being on the apply squad on the very least.