Malachi Fields Is the Perfect Jalen Nailor Replacement

The Minnesota Vikings have a sneaky need at wide receiver. Last year, Jalen Nailor emerged as the WR3 this team had hoped he would be. Ultimately, he priced himself out of their range, earning a three-year, $35 million contract from the Las Vegas Raiders. Therefore, the Vikings should look to draft a receiver who can play on the outside. Notre Dame’s Malachi Fields could be the perfect replacement.

Minnesota still has last year's third-round pick, Tai Felton, on the roster. However, there are many questions about how viable he is as an NFL starting wide receiver. Even if he’s ready, Felton is likely to start as a slot receiver, limiting the work Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison could do from the inside and exploiting matchups.

At 6’4”, 218 lbs, Fields is a bit of a throwback receiver. In an era obsessed with the route-runner and receivers who can win through a combination of speed and footwork, Fields is one of the few receivers who wins with pure physicality, using his size to go up and make grabs other smaller wideouts can’t. When you pair his impressive size with his 79” wingspan and 38” vertical, you have a receiver who is a threat to come down with almost every 50/50 ball he sees.

Fields started the first four seasons of his college career at the University of Virginia, where he finally got the chance to start in his third season, wrapping up 2023 with 58 grabs for 811 yards and five touchdowns. He posted almost identical stats in his senior year before transferring to Notre Dame.

With the Fighting Irish, Fields saw a reduced role in an offense that featured Jadarian Price and Jeremiyah Love, two potential top 100 picks at running back. Still, he proved to be just as prolific when given the chance, recording 630 yards on 36 grabs for a whopping 17.5 yards per grab.

Fields almost acts like a power forward with his size. With his insane wingspan and vertical jump, combined with incredible body control, he can attack the football, boxing out smaller defensive backs with his superior frame, coming down with the ball.

While Fields’ hands are a little bit smaller, that’s no cause for concern. He has tremendous grip strength. He can pluck the ball out of thin air, keep his hands in front of him, and attack it early rather than having it come to him and hit his body. Fields can use his strong hands, combined with his impressive frame, to survive violent collisions from incoming defensive backs looking to break up the pass.

Fields has an impressive ability to track the ball in the air, something that, in tandem with his physical ability, makes him among the better deep-ball receivers. However, he offers more than that. His ability to find the soft spot in the zone makes him an impressive intermediate and short route target.

When Fields gets the ball in his hands, he’s hard to bring down, breaking arm tackles with violence and spinning out of trouble. Despite his slower speed and bigger stature, Fields has impressive abilities to break out of tackles and get yards after the catch.

He also has a great motor, bringing the same intensity to every play. Even in the run game, he’s a capable blocker who uses his size and reach to push defenders away and seal the outside for ball carriers, something that teams will love.

While there’s a lot of upside to his game, he has a fair number of issues, primarily his speed. Running just a 4.61 40-yard dash, Fields is among the slower receivers in the NFL. He also isn’t a particularly good route runner because he rounds off on his breaks too often.

That, combined with his subpar speed, raises concerns. Primarily, in an era so focused on quick, twitchy, expert route runners who can generate separation at will, can an old-school back-shoulder X receiver work?

Fields’ slow speed also hurts him when trying to break press coverage. He lacks quickness to burn defensive backs over the top, so he has to default to using his hands and pushing them away with sheer force.

Another area where this hinders him is when the quarterback breaks the pocket and looks to improvise, something new Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray does often. When the pocket breaks down, Fields sometimes struggles to improvise routes and get open.

However, this model of receiver has become rare in the NFL, with guys like Keon Coleman being an example of a big physical post-up receiver. Fields could be an interesting tactical piece in a Vikings offense that’s missing a big-bodied receiver.

Fields can be a great complementary piece who thrives in the red zone on back-shoulder throws and end-zone fades, while allowing other receivers to work on the inside and create mismatches in the slot.