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Leonte Carroo Is Drafted In The 3rd Round By Miami Dolphins

By Aaron Breitman
Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Leonte Carroo’s NFL dreams became a reality tonight when he was selected with the 86th pick in the third round by the Miami Dolphins. He was the 9th wide receiver drafted overall.

His physicality, both as an effective run blocker and his ability to catch the ball in traffic, are skills that will help him succeed at the next level. Carroo is also known for having great hands, as he rarely dropped balls thrown his way, and always seemed to come up with the clutch catch while playing on the banks. He also has a penchant for big plays, as he averaged 19.5 yards per catch for his career, including his senior season with a career high of 20.7 yards per catch.

Carroo is the all-time touchdown receptions leader in Rutgers history, hauling in 29 scores in just 31 career games at wide receiver. He was incredibly consistent with finding the end zone, as he scored between 9-10 touchdowns in all three seasons he played on offense. He had a rocky senior season that saw him miss four plus games, which included two suspensions for off field incidents, as well as due to injuries. Despite those factors, Carroo still averaged 4.9 catches for 101 yards and 1.25 touchdowns per game. He had five games in his career with three touchdown catches and had the second most games with 100+ receiving yards all-time at Rutgers. He will go down as one of the top receivers in Rutgers history, potentially the best ever to play for the program.

Although the suspensions resulted in the reigning 2014 First Team All-Big Ten receiver to drop to Third Team All-Big Ten in 2015, he proved doubters wrong with a strong combine performance and he reportedly did well in the pre-draft interviews with NFL teams. The Dolphins had a strong passing attack last season and with the departure of their #2 receiver Rishard Matthews, there is plenty of opportunity for Carroo to succeed in Miami. They traded a 6th round pick in this draft and their 3rd & 4th round picks in 2017 to trade up the 86th pick to take Carroo. That would indicate the Dolphins expect big things out of Carroo and consider him a key part of their future.

The Dolphins have Jarvis Landry, Kenny Stills, and DeVante Parker at the top of their depth chart at receiver. Landry, who starred at LSU when Rutgers quarterback Hayden Rettig was on the roster, had a breakout season in 2015 with 110 receptions and 1157 yards. Carroo will have a legitimate chance to become a starter for Miami opposite Landry, battling Stills and Parker to replace Matthews as the #2 receiver. The duo had just 53 catches combined between them last season, despite having Quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who threw for 24 touchdowns and over 4200 yards last season.

Congratulations to Leonte on getting drafted and we wish him the best of luck in his NFL career!