Vinny Anthony II WR Wisconsin |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| Jersey: #8 ROLE: Outside X-Receiver | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 02/25/2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FORTY time: 4.54 seconds (36%*) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jersey: #8 | |
| ROLE: Outside X-Receiver | |
| Last Updated: 02/25/2026 | |
| Draft Year: 2026 | |
| Forty time: 4.54 seconds (36%*) | |
| Overall Rating: | 79.0 / 100 | |
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| Average rating of opposition Defense player has faced | ||
| Defense Rating: |
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83% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| QB Rating When targeted: | 87.4 | |
| Hands: |
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71% |
| Short Receiving: |
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74% |
| Intermediate Routes: |
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78% |
| Deep Threat: |
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82% |
| Blocking: |
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52% |
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DRAFT PROJECTION:
UDFA
Overall Rank:
#261
Position rank:
#42 (WR)
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| College Games: 33 College Snaps: 1305 | ||
ESPN RATING: 77/100
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247 RATING: 88/100
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RIVALS RATING: 5.6 (92%)
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| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Charleston Rambo - Miami |
|
85% |
| Tre Turner - Virginia Tech |
|
85% |
| Ronnie Bell - Michigan |
|
84% |
Draft Profile: Bio
Vinny Anthony II grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, where he became one of the more decorated receivers in the city's prep football history at Louisville Male High School. A team captain who led his squad to the state title game, Anthony hauled in 49 catches for 1,108 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior, earning first-team all-state honors and a selection to the Blue-Grey All-American Game. He was also a second-team all-state pick as a junior after posting 34 receptions for 539 yards and nine scores. A four-year honor roll student, Anthony carried the same discipline off the field as he did between the lines.Rated a three-star prospect across the board by Rivals, ESPN, and 247Sports, Anthony chose Wisconsin over what was presumably a modest list of suitors. His freshman year in 2022 was quiet, with just 10 games played and three carries logged at receiver on special packages. The 2023 sophomore season brought a slightly larger role: 13 games, three starts, 10 catches for 99 yards, and meaningful reps as a punt and kick returner. Nothing flashy, but he was learning the craft and getting his feet wet in the Big Ten.
The breakout came in 2024. Starting all 12 games as a junior, Anthony led Wisconsin with 672 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 39 catches, averaging a robust 17.2 yards per reception, the best by a Badger in nearly two decades among receivers with 30-plus grabs. He notched nine catches of 30-plus yards that season and recorded just a single drop across 56 targets. He also flashed as a return man, averaging 27.9 yards on 14 kick returns. His senior year in 2025 did not build on that momentum statistically, as Wisconsin's passing offense cratered around him, leaving him with 31 catches for 391 yards and one receiving touchdown. But Anthony still found ways to contribute, scoring two rushing touchdowns and taking a kickoff 95 yards to the house at Alabama, becoming the first FBS player that season to score a receiving, rushing, and return touchdown. He earned honorable mention All-Big Ten on special teams and was a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection. His Senior Bowl week drew positive attention from scouts, with multiple reports citing his route-running savvy in one-on-one drills.
Scouting Report: Strengths
- Fires off the line with genuine burst on vertical stems, eating up cushion before corners can plant and drive.
- Exceptional reacceleration out of route breaks, particularly on hitches and curls where he can gear back up in two steps.
- Tremendous hands discipline near the boundary, consistently getting both feet down on sideline grabs with body control beyond his frame.
- Barely puts the ball on the ground. Dropped just one pass on 56 targets in 2024, and that kind of reliability is bankable.
- Tough over the middle and through contact. Will take a lick from a safety and still finish the catch with his body squared up.
- Dangerous after the catch on quick-game concepts, showing a knack for slipping the first tackler and turning upfield with purpose.
- Dual-threat value as a kick returner is real. The 95-yard house call at Alabama was not a fluke; his career return averages are consistently strong.
- Showed genuine growth as a route runner at the Senior Bowl, winning reps against quality defensive backs in individual drills with tempo changes and sell moves.
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- Career production is thin for a four-year player. Only 80 career catches and 1,162 yards across four seasons, even accounting for Wisconsin's offensive limitations.
- Leans his upper body into breaks on comebacks and stop routes, telegraphing his intentions to defensive backs who are reading his hips.
- Deep ball tracking is inconsistent. He can run by people, but adjusting to throws over his shoulder or to his back hip remains a work in progress.
- Run blocking is essentially nonexistent. He does not engage with any physicality at the point of attack and offers little as a blocker on the perimeter.
- Speed tested below average for the position, which limits his margin for error on vertical routes against NFL-caliber cornerbacks with closing speed.
Scouting Report: Summary
After sitting with the film for a while, Anthony strikes me as a player whose tape and testing tell two slightly different stories. The game speed looks better than the stopwatch suggests, and there are flashes on vertical routes where he stacks corners and creates genuine separation downfield. His 2024 junior year was legitimately impressive as a deep threat, and the drop numbers back that up. But the 2025 tape is harder to love because you cannot always separate the receiver from the offense around him, and the production dip raises fair questions about whether he can consistently win as a featured target.His path to a roster almost certainly runs through special teams first. The kick return ability is legitimate, and in a league where dynamic returners are increasingly hard to find, that skill set buys him time to develop the nuances of his route game at the pro level. As a receiver, he fits best in a vertical-oriented scheme where he can line up outside, run nine routes and post corners, and use his burst off the line to threaten deep. Asking him to work the short-to-intermediate middle of the field as a primary option right now would be a mistake. The route tree needs to expand, and the technique in and out of breaks needs to tighten up before he can be trusted in a full route tree role.
The floor here is a special teams contributor who gives you occasional big-play upside as a fourth or fifth receiver. The ceiling, if the route running continues to develop the way it flashed at the Senior Bowl, is a field-stretching Z receiver who can win on verticals and provide value in the return game. He is not going to be a Day 1 or Day 2 pick, and the production does not demand that kind of investment. But there is enough juice on tape to warrant a late-round flier or a priority free agent look, with the understanding that the return ability is what gets him in the building and the receiving development determines whether he stays.
Vinny Anthony II percentiles vs other Wide Receivers (NFL Combine historically - higher value represents better perfomance)
How other scouting services rate Vinny Anthony II (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
284.5
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
54.0
*Percentile Ranking in Player's Position Group (NFL Combine Historical Data): This percentile reflects how a player's specific statistics rank
in comparison to historical performances at the NFL Combine, specifically within their position group. A higher percentile indicates a better performance.
For instance, being in the 90th percentile for a particular stat means the player outperformed 90% of their peers in that category.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.