Jayden Higgins NFL Draft 2025 profile: Full scouting report, pro comparison, future outlook and more

As the Falcons were getting ready for a playoff run under second-year quarterback Michael Vick in 2002, Jayden Higgins was born in the Atlanta area. He moved shortly thereafter to the Miami area, where his father Moses Higgins was from, and he grew up just south of the University of Miami campus in South Miami, Fla. Sports followed soon thereafter, playing full-contact little league football and travel-league basketball while in elementary school. He seemed destined to succeed in hoops, playing nationally in third grade before winning a championship at Gulliver Middle School Prep. He still would mess around with football but actually gave it up after his freshman year of high school to concentrate on basketball, where he played regularly on the JV team.

He transferred before his junior year to Westminster Christian School, another private school due south by 15 minutes in Palmetto Bay, Fla. The focus was supposed to be on basketball, but he thought he’d give football another try after skipping a season. The decision changed his life — he didn’t miss a beat and caught 27 passes for nearly 500 yards and four touchdowns as a junior, landing all-Dade County honors in 2019. A couple of football camps later, Higgins began receiving offers from small programs like Long Island University and Houston Baptist University. As a senior he added track and field to his sports resume, made states in his first and only year and broke Westminster’s record in the 4×100. As a senior, Higgins played in just five games in a COVID-shortened season but caught 23 passes for 430 yards and five scores.

FBS programs didn’t have Higgins on their radars, and schools didn’t come calling for basketball like they did football, so Higgins ultimately settled on Eastern Kentucky after assistant coach Jake Johnson heard about him through friends in the area.

Two years later, those FBS schools finally noticed Higgins. The wideout broke out in 2022 for 747 yards and 10 touchdowns on 58 receptions for the Colonels and immediately started getting cat-calls from the transfer portal. With a chance to make his pro football dreams come true, Higgins left for Iowa State to play under head coach Matt Campbell. 

Jayden Higgins NFL Draft profile

• Age as of Week 1: 22 years old (23 in December)
• Height: 6-4 ¼
• Weight: 214
• Hand size: 9 ⅛ inches
• Comparable body-type to: Allen Lazard

CBS prospect ranking

Position: No. 5 WR | Overall: No. 43

Consensus big board ranking (via NFL Mock Draft Database): No. 47 (No. 5 WR)

To check out all of CBSSports.com’s most recent mock drafts, click here.

NFL comparison: Marcus Robinson

In the late 1990s, Marcus Robinson emerged as a primary receiver for the Bears before turning into a role player with them, the Ravens and the Vikings. Like Higgins, he won with size and hands, not with speed nor agility. Higgins can go on to have a better career than Robinson if he can stay healthy and find a reliable spot on a WR-needy team. 

Jayden Higgins scouting report

Accolades

• Combine: Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 9.87 out of 10.00, which ranks 46th out of 3,408 WRs from 1987 to 2025
• 2024: Second-team All-Big 12 (second in school history with 87 receptions, tied for second with nine touchdowns and third with 1,183 yards

Strengths

• You can’t coach size, and Higgins is 6-foot-4 with an 80-inch catch radius. It’s a huge selling point.
• Typically lining up wide. Higgins specialized in go, hitch and out routes over the past two years at Iowa State but he also ran a good number of slants, posts, digs and crossers. His route tree can be expanded upon.
• He’s a big guy, but he moves suddenly compared to a typical big guy. Higgins bought space on timed hitches, slants, digs and outs (one-cut routes) a little bit quicker than other receivers his size because of a quick first step after making one cut. Steps that followed weren’t always as quick but he got the best foot forward.
• Smooth running, very good balance and well-practiced footwork (his hitch route especially) helped him get open even when coverage was a little tight. And when coverage was too tight, Higgins wasn’t above using a subtle push-off just before the ball’s arrival to help him get a bit of space.
• Really good awareness that will come in handy at the next level. Good recognition of where to sit down versus zone coverage. Especially good concentration on contested catches made a difference, and his tracking on all passes was good too. Did a great job adjusting to off-target throws. If you need a third down converted or want a target in the end zone, Higgins can oblige.
• Higgins’ hands were among the best in the class. He had just two drops on 129 targets last year and one over 80 targets in 2023. And, just one fumble lost over four seasons — none with the Cyclones. That’s sensational and coaches will for-sure notice.

Here’s a big catch from his EKU days — he’s only gotten bigger since then:

• His physicality matched his size as he’d absorb contact without getting tipped over and would frequently pick up extra yards by dragging defenders when they tried to wrap him up. He brought the fight most often.
• Zero reported injuries in his two years at Iowa State, playing in every game except the bowl game.
• Was among the top receivers at the 2025 Senior Bowl week of practices.
• Started a youth football camp in South Miami before his senior season. 

Concerns

• Higgins’ release off the snap was consistently average. He’s got potential to further develop his footwork there but without that he’ll get pressed a decent amount in an attempt to throw off his timing with his quarterback.
• His first cut in his routes was typically good, but anything past that first cut often didn’t ditch coverage. Stutter-steps, hesitations, double moves, jukes, head-fakes, etc. all were snuffed out by coverage, primarily in part because of a lack of explosiveness in the steps after those moves. Maybe he could get better here.
• No one will draft Higgins for his speed. Of his seven receptions of 25-plus yards last year, none went longer than 39 yards and none had more than 9 yards after the catch. In 2023 he did have five catches of 40-plus yards — two had almost no yards after the catch, two others saw him get free because of his footwork but he still got caught from behind and the last one (at Oklahoma) was a gift after the opposing safety crash into his teammate, leaving nothing but space in front of Higgins.
• Granted, for his size he had just enough burst, acceleration and speed to be competitive against mostly Big 12 competition, but he got caught by those Big 12 defenders weekly, so you can be sure he’ll struggle to run away from NFL defenders weekly.
• Raw power on some blocking attempts was impressive but overall technique needs attention so he can be more consistent. He gives good effort, which is a quality starting point. 

Bottom line

Higgins worked as the No. 1 perimeter receiver in Iowa State’s mostly spread scheme, not only finding himself in downfield one-on-one situations but also coming up big across the field on money downs. His upside is tied to scheme fit and improved agility and technique. The plus-sized, Velcro-handed Higgins won’t win every race downfield but is a pretty good candidate to be a reliable short- and intermediate-route target with good body control as well as a red-zone jump-ball winner. 

Jayden Higgins college stats

The 2025 NFL Draft will take place from Thursday to Saturday at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. More draft coverage can be found at CBSSports.com, including daily mock drafts, consensus prospect rankings, biggest team needs and more.