Rondale Moore - WR - Purdue
Rondale Moore had a very up and down career at Purdue to no fault of his own, but still an interesting rookie profile. He was a stud wide receiver as a true freshman, but unfortunately suffered an injury early in 2019 and then COVID cut his 2020 season short. Known for his size, or lack thereof, he has been a polarizing player for many this offseason.
Draft Results
Round: 2
Pick: 17
Team: Arizona Cardinals
Measurables
Age: 21
Height: 5′ 7″
Weight: 180 lbs
40-yard dash: 4.29
3-cone drill: 6.68
20-yard shuttle: DNP
Vertical Jump: 42.5″
Broad Jump: DNP
Bench Press: 24
Analytics
| College DOM | College YPR | College Target % | Breakout Age |
|---|---|---|---|
36.7% | 9.4 | 29.0% | 18.2 |
College Stats
| Receiving | Formation | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Team | Class | GP | Rec | Yds | YPC | TD | Snaps | Slot Snaps | Wide Snaps |
2018 | Purdue | Fr. | 13 | 114 | 1258 | 11.0 | 12 | 753 | 688 | 51 |
2019 | Purdue | So. | 4 | 29 | 387 | 13.3 | 2 | 185 | 141 | 40 |
2020 | Purdue | Jr. | 3 | 35 | 270 | 7.7 | 0 | 165 | 137 | 27 |
College Career
Rondale Moore started off his career at Purdue with a breakout season as a true freshman. He led the Big 10 in reception and receiving yards with 114 receptions for 1258 yards and 12 touchdowns. That doesn’t include the 200+ yards and 2 touchdowns he accumulated on the ground. Moore would go on to rack up awards in 2018 such as Consensus All-American, First-team All-Big Ten, Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year and more. Going into Moore’s sophomore campaign, he started off strong including a 13 reception 220 yard game versus Vanderbilt. He looked poised to build upon his great freshman year, but suffered a lower body injury against Minnesota that held him out the rest of the year.
The Purdue Boilermakers ended up playing a shortened season in 2020. With many opt outs around the country, Rondale Moore decided to stay and play for his junior season. Unfortunately, he was held out of the first three games due to injury. He eventually played the last half of the season for Purdue, playing in three games in 2020. He showed flashes of his electric 2018 season during his limited action. Following the conclusion of the strange 2020 season, Moore decides to declare for the draft as a junior.
During the offseason, many saw Moore’s NFL draft prep where he was putting up insane measurables and showing off his route running ability. Those workout videos absolutely translated as he put up a very impressive pro-day workout including a 4.29 40 yard dash. He boasts a 96th percentile burst score and 94th percentile agility score, two traits that translate on film. One concerning aspect of his pro-day was the fact that he came in at 5’7”. He is listed by 247 and Purdue athletics at 5’9”, so it was a bit of a surprise seeing him measure in 2 inches shorter.
Scouting Report
Positives:
Moore has an incredible ability to separate through his quickness and crisp route running. He has a great release off the line of scrimmage and possesses quick hips to get in and out of his breaks. With a natural twitch he can break down a defender and gain inside or outside leverage before the defensive back can get on him to contest the catch. He shows the ability to make any catch on the field with excellent ball tracking ability. Additionally, he can extend his catch radius very well for a shorter receiver, erasing inaccurate throws.
After the catch, Moore can rack up the yards. With great elusiveness and ability to make plays in the open field, he was a weapon not only in open space but also on kick returns. He shows a knack for quickly turning upfield or changing direction with top end start/stop speed. For a smaller receiver, he showed really good physicality, constantly fighting for extra yards and breaking tackles. When he was able to breakaway he put the burners on and showed his game-breaking speed to take it to the house.
Negatives
Rondale Moore’s lack of height is a concern at the next level. Outside of his special teams impact, he is somewhat limited in the fact that he is best in the slot and not as effective out wide. Additionally, in the blocking game, he runs mainly decoy routes rarely actually blocking for his teammates. He gives good effort when he does block, but generally he is only briefly getting in the way of a defender. Not only does his height cause issues in certain aspects on film, but it also makes him an analytical outlier if he hits.
While he is a physical player at times, he struggles with contested catches. On film, there were more body catches than one would like to see and occasionally he would bobble passes. Those could easily end in more incompletions than not, and at worst an interception for the defense.
The final concern for Moore is, can he truly get back to his form seen in 2018? He showed in 2019 and 2020 that he was still that dynamic playmaker. But those seasons were limited to his season-ending injury in 2019 and the impact of COVID in 2020. It will be something to monitor in the NFL, but with his talent it could very much be worth the risk.
Post Draft Analysis
Draft Capital:
Arizona Cardinals: Round 2, Pick 17
Landing Spot:
The Arizona Cardinals selected Rondale Moore with their second selection in the 2020 draft at pick 17 in the second round. The Cardinals were lacking a true difference maker to play alongside DeAndre Hopkins last season. Larry Fitzgerald is at the end of his career and not the great wide receiver he used to be. They brought in a host of other wide receivers the last two seasons that haven’t panned out the way they would like (Andy Isabella, Hakeem Butler, KeesSean Johnson, and Christian Kirk). While Kirk has been the best of them all so far, he hasn’t lived up to his second round selection and is a much better role player than consistent target for the team.
Rondale Moore walks into a wide receiver room wide open for that number two spot. He should get plenty of early playing time even if he doesn’t immediately win the number two role as Arizona runs a lot of four wide receiver sets. This also allows Moore to be more versatile lining up in either slot position. But when he does take that second wide receiver role, he is benefited with Hopkins on the other side of him drawing a majority of the defense’s attention.
Fantasy Impact
Moore provides a ton of upside for a receiver walking into a number two role for his offense. With Klingsbury’s “air raid” offense, a dynamic playmaker in Kyler Murray at quarterback, and a true alpha wide receiver in Hopkins to line up opposite of, Moore has a great situation ahead of him. In redraft, it is hard to see a rookie wide receiver producing right away, but Moore should walk into a lot of targets early in the season. He provides high-end wide receiver three upside for your redraft team in year one. In dynasty, this is a great player to stash on your team. He can contribute right away as a potential flex play with the high-end wide receiver two/low-end wide receiver one upside on a yearly basis going forward. Moore’s skillset and dynamic playmaking ability fits perfectly in this offense and the opportunity is there for his taking.
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Image Credit: Jesse Johnson – USA TODAY Sports
