Dewayne Peace NFL supplemental draft scouting report
Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE
2012 stats: 54 receptions, 603 yards, two touchdowns
Dewayne Peace’s long and winding college career eventually led him to Houston. Out of high school, Peace originally committed to Michigan. He decommitted after being asked to play cornerback. He landed at Arizona and redshirted. After his redshirt freshman season, he transferred out to Blinn College (which you may remember as the former home of Cam Newton). Finally he finished out at Houston.
His career in the potent offense probably didn’t go as expected. He played sparingly in 2011. Last season, he was Houston’s leading receiver with 54 receptions for 603 yards and two touchdowns. But he was suspended three games in 2012 for an undisclosed violation of team rules. He left Houston after being ruled academically ineligible.
Now Peace finds himself in the supplemental draft. Wide receiver is a fairly popular position in the supplemental draft, with seven being picked since 1977. Last year, the Browns used a second-round pick to take wide receiver Josh Gordon.
Peace is a distinctly different type of receiver than Gordon. At a listed 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, he has average size. His speed seems only ordinary and his athletic ability is standard.
Peace was most often split out wide in Houston’s vaunted multiple receiver sets offensively. His most regular routes were come backs and shallow crosses. The majority of his receptions in games viewed were come backs. Peace doesn’t quite have the smoothest footwork making his break, but he doesn’t give up too many extra steps.
On come back routes, Peace shows the ability to locate the ball quickly. Where Peace gets in trouble is with his hands. He’s consistently a body catcher, and only seemed to catch with his hands when a defender was closing. Because of his catching style, Peace has a penchant for letting balls bounce off him for incompletions.
Running routes, Peace doesn’t show a lot of burst or acceleration to beat defenders. He mostly gets open picking apart holes in zone coverage or when a defender is late to break when Peace snaps off his routes. He has enough functional strength to beat a lazy press and is a willing blocker.
After the catch, Peace doesn’t have the pure speed or elusiveness to make defenders miss on tackles. He’s also not strong enough to break many either. If he can clean up his catching style, Peace has the look of a traditional outside possession receiver. He’s not going to make a lot of plays in the red zone, and maybe wouldn’t even be considered for special teams duty.
Peace should get a camp try out, but doesn’t appear to warrant a pick in the supplemental draft.
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