When Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate clocked a sluggish 4.53-second 40-yard dash in Indianapolis back in March, the immediate reaction was brutal. He ranked 27th out of 34 receivers in the drill.
Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane even joked on the NFL Network broadcast, “He’s pretty slow. I probably wouldn’t take him early.” That single run was supposed to tank his draft stock. Instead, the exact opposite is happening.
Carnell Tate’s Top-Five Hype Defies the Stopwatch
With the 2026 NFL Draft just weeks away, the league has collectively decided to ignore the stopwatch and trust the tape. Tate hauled in 51 passes for 875 yards and nine touchdowns for the Buckeyes last fall. He dominated Big Ten defensive backs.
Tate finished last season ranked 8th on the PFSN’s College Wide Receiver impact with an impact score of 84.5 and a Grade: B.
The tape shows a premier football player, not a track athlete. That distinction has catapulted him right back to the top of the draft board. And the narrative shift is jarring.
A month ago, analysts debated whether Tate would slide into the back half of the first round. Now, plugged-in draft insiders are hearing his name called alongside the elite edge rushers and franchise quarterbacks.
NFL Network draft expert Daniel Jeremiah recently floated the idea that the New York Jets could take Tate with the No. 2 overall pick. Jeremiah noted on a recent podcast appearance that teams are looking past the measurables to see the complete player.
“I think he’s in play, like, at two,” Jeremiah said. “I think that conversation, that he’s entertained at two. There’s a lot of Tate supporters out there. A lot of people that need a receiver. I’ll say this: if Tate was 205 pounds instead of 192 pounds and he ran a 4.42 instead of 4.53, I think there’s a real chance he’s the second pick in the draft.”
The Ringer’s Todd McShay backed up that massive climb. McShay noted that his conversations with front-office executives reflect a deep conviction in Tate’s actual football skills.
“Based off of my conversations with people in the league, don’t be surprised if Sonny Styles and Carnell Tate both go in the top five,” McShay said on his podcast. “It’s different when you sit back and listen to people in the league. You can hear in the inflection, the tone. There’s no ‘yeah, buts.'”
Part of the confidence stems from a quiet dispute over that official combine time. Several teams reportedly clocked Tate in the 4.45 range on their own hand timers inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
That discrepancy gave scouts the cover they needed to trust their eyes. When you watch Tate play, you don’t see a slow receiver. You see a route-running technician who creates separation through nuance, leverage, and footwork. He catches everything thrown his way.
McShay pointed out that Tate’s contested catch rate hovered around 86 percent, an absurd number for a player who lacks elite size.
The Browns Loom Large at No. 6 to Nab Tate
If the Jets pass on Tate at No. 2, and the Tennessee Titans ignore him at No. 4, his freefall likely stops abruptly in Cleveland. The Browns sit at No. 6 overall and desperately need a reliable WR1 to stabilize their offense.
Cleveland media and fans have spent weeks arguing over the merits of taking an offensive tackle versus a playmaker. Taking Tate offers the Browns an immediate focal point for their passing game. He operates with a quiet efficiency that draws natural comparisons to former Indianapolis Colts great Reggie Wayne.
Wayne famously slid to the No. 30 overall pick in the 2001 draft because he lacked game-breaking speed. He then spent 14 years torturing cornerbacks with flawless routes and exceptional hands, racking up over 14,000 receiving yards. Tate brings that exact same profile to the professional level.
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The Ohio State pedigree provides another massive safety net. The Buckeyes operate a factory for NFL wide receivers. Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Marvin Harrison Jr. all translated immediately to the professional ranks. Tate is simply the next model off the assembly line. Plus, the NFL evaluators trust the Ohio State receiver room.
Beane’s joke about Tate being slow was widely viewed as a sarcastic smokescreen. The Bills, picking late in the first round, would love nothing more than a top-tier talent dropping to them over a bad 40 time. Beane knows game speed matters more than testing in shorts. His wishful thinking appears doomed.
