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Jordan Addison is one of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft. The former USC football pass-catcher is a speedy, versatile wideout who will fit in many NFL systems. As a later first-round prospect, the best Jordan Addison NFL draft fits include three teams picking in the mid-20s, the New York Giants, Minnesota Vikings, and Dallas Cowboys.
Addison started his career at Pittsburgh, playing two seasons for the Panthers. In 2021, with future Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, Kenny Pickett, at the helm, Addison caught 100 passes for 1,593 yards and 17 touchdowns.
The wideout then transferred to the USC football program for his final college season but didn’t have the same level of success. In 2022, Addison put up 59 catches for 875 yards and eight TDs.
As an NFL Draft prospect, Addison profiles as an ideal No. 2 WR. He is fast and has good short-area quickness, which helps with his precise route-running, and he can play on the inside in the slot or on the outside. However, he is 5-foot-11, 176 pounds, which is not the ideal size for a WR1 in the league. Addison needs to improve on his strength, both in the route-running process and when going up to snatch the ball from defenders.
New York Giants
The Giants have the No. 25 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and they desperately need help at wide receiver. Darius Slayton was the team’s leading receiver with just 724 yards, and three of their top five WRs from last season — Slayton, Richie James, and Sterling Shephard — are free agents this offseason.
That leaves Isaiah Hodgins and last year’s second-round pick, Wan’Dale Robinson, as the only two significant WRs from last year’s team on the roster heading into the 2023 offseason.
If Jordan Addison is the best player on the board when the Giants pick, he will make a good selection. Ideally, the G Men would take a WR that is bigger and profiles as a true No. 1, but that player just isn’t available in this NFL draft.
That’s not a massive problem for New York, though, as Brian Daboll has shown a real knack for tailoring his system to his players, not trying to do it the other way around.
The former USC Trojans football player also gives Daboll a ton of versatility, as adding Addison will make the Giants’ receiving corps a host of interchangeable parts on most plays.
Dallas Cowboys
Staying in the NFC East, the Cowboys are another team that could use wide receiver help in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Last season, CeeDee Lamb played like the superstar he is, putting up 107 catches for 1,359 yards and scoring nine touchdowns. After that, the Cowboys WRs gave Mike McCarthy and company little to no production.
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The leading wideouts after Lamb were Nolan Brown (43 catches, 555 yards), Michael Gallup (39 catches, 424 yards), and T.Y. Hilton (seven catches, 121 yards). That’s right. The Cowboys’ fourth-leading WR signed midseason, played in three games, and caught seven balls.
Jordan Addison would be an excellent fit next to Lamb and Gallup, as Brown and Hilton are free agents this offseason. He can play in the slot with Gallup and Lamb on the outside or swap with Lamb when new offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer wants to put his star in the slot to create matchup problems.
And without the pressure of having to be the go-to guy, like Addison would get with the Giants from Day 1, he will get to develop with less defensive attention on him, which could be an excellent thing for him.
Minnesota Vikings
Speaking of playing with a star wideout, like Jordan Addison would with the Cowboys, playing next to Justin Jefferson wouldn’t be that shabby, either.
Like the Giants and Cowboys, the Vikings need to pick up a WR to become the No. 2 to Jefferson. Last season — and for the last three seasons since Jefferson took the NFL by storm — Adam Thielen has been that guy.
However, Thielen will be 33 before next season starts, his production is declining, and has a $19.9 million cap hit this season. That means he is probably out in Minnesota.
Taking a WR at pick No. 23 in the NFL draft makes a lot of sense for the Vikings, and Addison is actually a very Thielen-like player in some ways, especially when it comes to route-running. Addison is smaller but faster than the long-time Viking, but he’ll fit in well with Jefferson.
In the end, though, Addison is the best fit with the Vikings because his route-running skills will mesh well with quarterback Kirk Cousins more than anything else, and that makes him valuable.
