This year’s draft class has a strong group of wide receivers, and while some will hear their names called during the first-round festivities on Thursday, there will be plenty of talent remaining as Day 2 rolls around. Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley is projected to be a second or third-round selection in the 2024 draft. He spent four years as a Hilltopper, with his best year coming in 2022 as he finished the season with 1,293 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. In 2023, he had 984 yards and 11 TDs. Corley earned first-team All-CUSA honors in both 2022 and 2023.
Malachi Corley: Scouting Report
Corley measures in at 5-foot-11 and 215 pounds, and is able to use his broad size to gain yards after the catch and break tackles. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein breaks down Corley’s strengths and weaknesses:
Corley is a big, physical wideout who has been asked to carry a heavy workload for Western Kentucky using his talent after the catch. Corley’s highlight reel will be full of broken tackles and general carnage left in his wake. He’s an average route-runner with the tools to improve, but a disappointing drop rate and contested-catch rate are concerns relative to the way he plays the game in space. Like Brandon Aiyuk or Deebo Samuel when they were prospects, Corley has had a heavy percentage of his targets schemed around him and he will need to prove he can become more than just a quick-game bully or gadget guy.
Mock Draft landing spots
Mel Kiper has Corley headed to the Atlanta Falcons with the No. 43 overall pick of the draft. He could also head to the Panthers in one of their two second-round picks, as they are looking for more manpower in their receiving group. The Chiefs and Eagles are two other teams that may use a second- or third-round pick to grab the best remaining receiver on the board.
Fantasy football implications
Corley isn’t likely to have a breakout year in terms of fantasy earnings as a rookie, as he will enter as more of a WR2 or WR3 option at any of these landing spots. The Falcons and Panthers both hired new head coaches in the offseason, so it’s hard to say how successful or pass-reliant either offense will be in 2024, but you can probably let Corley sit on the board for a while.