Height Weight: 180 Age: 24 : 6-0: 180: 24

Born : 4/16/1994 Philadelphia, PA

College : Notre Dame

Experience : 3rd season

High School : Roman Catholic HS [Philadelphia, PA]









The Perception:

st overall selection in the 2016 draft to secure his services. When the Houston Texans drafted Will Fuller in the 2016 NFL draft, many criticized the move suggesting he wasn’t good enough to become a true difference maker in the league. The largest knock on Fuller during the scouting process, was his obvious lack of size for a receiver playing the outside with a lean frame difficult for evaluators to envision any team kicking him inside to man the slot. Adding to that, the consensus had grave concern for the lack of hand size Fuller possesses, believing that would limit his ability and increase frequency with dropped passes on the biggest stage. With all the negatives well documented, teams still had a difficult time looking away from Fuller’s lightning quick feet and elite level speed and acceleration. All coaches preach the fact that you can’t teach raw ability and Will Fuller is loaded with those traits which forced the Houston Texans to use the 21overall selection in the 2016 draft to secure his services.





Believing Fuller would add a dynamic complementary piece to the offense removing pressure from their all-star DeAndre Hopkins; Fuller become a camp favorite showing off his great speed in the process. While some compared Fuller to the likes of DeSean Jackson, the Texans received more Ted Ginn like play in his first season in spreading the field and not producing on levels the brain trust had hoped, but still had solid flashes to believe hype would come to fruition the following season. As the Texans moved on from free agent failure Brock Osweiler, the 2017 season had young potential star Deshaun Watson added to the mix, but ultimately seeing the staff defer to Tom Savage as the week one starter. Even as the Texans struggled with their decision to start Savage, Watson found his way onto the field earlier than expected, taking over in week one with no plans to give the job back. As the Watson train began to pick up steam, Will Fuller remained on the sidelines as a spectator for the first three weeks of the season eager to build chemistry with the electric Deshaun Watson.





With the lean frame feared to be an issue during the evaluation process, Fuller had been proving those grades to be true while missing eight games thus far in his first two seasons in the NFL, not the best start. As week four approached and Fuller was ready to take the field, his skillset which made him a first round selection was clearly on display. Showing a fantastic first step off the line beating press coverages with ease, baiting defensive backs to pinch closer while hitting fourth gear taking the top off of the defense was witnessed more than once. The proverbial coming out party for Will had begun with rookie sensation Deshaun Watson finally being the quarterback that could exploit his speedy skillset. Over the course of the next four contests, the Houston Texans took the league by storm as Watson lead the charge using Will Fuller much the way the Texans coaching staff had hoped. A vital secondary option, Fuller was literally unstoppable creating plays resulting in big gains and touchdowns. From week’s four to eight, Fuller amassed a stat line of 13 receptions going for 279 yards and a whopping 7 touchdowns becoming known as a playmaking machine. During this time the negative perceptions began to fade as Fuller was making a name for himself rather quickly.





The Reality:

As the Texans continued to roll piling up statistics but failing to see the results in the win column on a consistent basis, opposing team’s preparation when facing Houston now included the difficult task of stopping Will Fuller from finding the endzone. With a formula mounting in the direction of success, the Texans worst fears were realized during practice preparation for their week nine contest with the Colts, seeing Deshaun Watson hit the turf with a torn ACL ending his stellar campaign. While the media covered the news on Watson, our eyes went straight to the future outlook for Fuller now that Watson was relegated to the sideline for the remainder of the season. No quarterback aside from Watson has been able to generate the type of triumph thus far in Fuller’s short career, which led to skeptical future aspirations moving forward for that season.





It was no surprise to us at ADF that Fuller once again became an afterthought in the Texans offense now that their golden boy (Watson) was lost for the season. Over the course of the following nine weeks to close out the 2017 slate of games, Fuller found himself only able to muster pedestrian statistics in the neighborhood of 15 receptions going for 144 yards while putting up a giant goose egg in the touchdown column. It was more than evident that Deshaun Watson had a great deal of influence on his success. Just as quick as Fuller gained credibility, the public perception once again was flirting with reality suggesting Fuller is a product of circumstance with limited overall skills to support lesser talented passers.





The Outlook:

While the Texans 2017 season ended in utter disaster, the possibility that Fuller obtained new skills to hopefully translate to future seasons making him more than just a simple deep threat will be the guiding principle to our evaluation of him for 2018. There’s no question Fuller has elite level skill (speed and acceleration), while convincing us that his lack of hand size wasn’t a clear limitation to his overall game, the outlook does appear to have good upside. Injuries and lack of production with lower end quarterbacks is a great concern as we move into his third year in the league. It’s quite obvious this receiving core runs through DeAndre Hopkins and most of the targets will be deferred to his direction, Will Fuller has a great opportunity in year three to plant himself as a viable and reliable secondary piece with lower end coverage dictated to his side. The fear of course remains that lost time due to injury will result in lost productivity if he can’t find a way to steer clear of the medical room. His third campaign will tell a great story for the future outlook of his career. ADF is cautiously optimistic Fuller will have a banner year if all goes to plan.



