As Quarterback Dak Prescott predicted before the start of the 2021 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys had a defensive heavy draft. In an attempt to fix a defense that was one of the worst in the NFL in 2020, Will McClay, Stephen Jones, and Jerry Jones added eight of their 11 picks to Dan Quinn’s side of the football.
Of the three players they added to the offensive side of the ball, the most intriguing is easily Stanford Wide Receiver Simi Fehoko. At 6-4 and more than 220 pounds, Fehoko brings 4.37 speed to the Cowboys and provides incredible size.
Though he was a late producer in college, if you watch his work during the 2020 season for Stanford, you see a guy that has a lot of tools that can translate to the NFL game. According to Cowboys Vice President of Player Personnel Will McClay, Fehoko has that “it” factor about him.
Cowboys VP of player personnel Will McClay on @1053thefan on 5th-round WR Simi Fehoko: “He’s just got this ‘it’ about him as a player & he hasn’t achieved his full ceiling yet…I had about 4-5 teams contact me afterwards and they were like, ‘Damn, we were going to go after him.”
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) May 5, 2021
When you go back and watch him in 2020, you see a guy that lines up all over the field in Stanford’s offense. Fehoko plays on both sides of the formation and lines up regularly in the slot where he can use his size and speed to run seam routes down the middle of the field or slot-fade, slot-corner routes.
Fehoko possesses really good hands. He’s patient working across the formation. He has a good burst that allows him to make plays after the catch. Stanford used him a lot on shallow drag routes and WR/bubble screens. This allowed him to use him to get into open space and use his speed to run by people. On the outside, Stanford would send him on go and fade routes. He’s a natural hands catcher who isn’t afraid of the physical aspect of the game.
As McClay said, he’s got that “it” factor. And at the wide receiver position, that’s one of those intangibles that you just can’t measure. Wearing 81, the number that Terrell Owens wore, Fehoko gives off similar vibes when he has the ball in his hands.
Simi Fehoko may have only been a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, but his size, speed, route versatility, and scheme versatility make him an intriguing prospect that could fill in across the depth chart for the Dallas Cowboys. Though Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb will get a vast majority of the wide receiver snaps, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Fehoko earn offensive snaps in year one with the Dallas Cowboys.
