Yahoo Sports Rookie Snapshot 2021: Terrace Marshall Jr. fantasy football profile
Terrace Marshall Jr., WR, LSU Tigers
Size: 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds
Age: 20-years-old (6/9/2000)
Background
Raised in the Shreveport area of Louisiana, Marshall grew up hearing stories about his beloved Uncle Joe, who played in the pros.
A running back out of Northwestern State, Joe Delaney was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round of the 1981 draft. He quickly became one of the league’s rising stars, earning Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl honors in his first season. Sadly, Delaney wouldn’t live to see his 25th birthday, sacrificing his own life to rescue three drowning children.
Marshall isn’t physically built like his uncle and he plays a different position. But the similarities between — and expectations for — both athletes are clear. They’ve culminated into a life motto for Marshall, who wears the initials M2B — which stands for Meant to Be — around his neck.
And he certainly looks like he’s meant to be on the football field. A five-star recruit out of Parkway High, the 2017 Shreveport Times Male Athlete of the Year received 27 scholarship offers. Ultimately, however, he decided to stay close to home and committed to LSU.
A three-year contributor, Marshall gained national attention in his second season as a Tiger, rounding out the team’s dominant receiving corps over its historic 2019 campaign. Despite missing three games due to a toe injury, Marshall closed out his sophomore effort with a 46-671-13 stat line.
In 2020, with Justin Jefferson off to the pros, Marshall gained valuable reps in the slot, taking 308 snaps inside and 96 out wide (compared to 173 snaps in the slot and 486 wide the previous year). Nonetheless, he recorded double-digit scores for the second consecutive season.
After seven games, Marshall declared for the 2021 NFL draft in late November, opting out of the remainder of LSU’s season.
Pros: Ideal size/speed for the position; enviable catch radius; consistent red-zone weapon.
Cons: Concentration drops (12.7 percent drop rate in 2020); limited sample size as No. 1 WR; potentially benefited from single-coverage in 2019.
The Big Picture
A long strider with sneaky speed, Marshall is a classically built receiver who projects to be a solid vertical threat at the next level. At nearly six-foot-three and with a wingspan of over 78 inches, he can high-point, climb the ladder, and win 50/50 battles.
While his playing style is more assertive than aggressive, Marshall remains a physical prospect with excellent spatial awareness and a nose for the end zone. Per a stat shared by Steve Frederick, the Florida product managed a TD on 21.6 percent of his career catches at LSU.
WR Snapshots: Toney | Chase | Smith | Waddle | Marshall Jr.
His 2020 deployment via the slot illustrates versatility as well as a growing football IQ. There’s still room for improvement, as his route technique needs refinement and his lateral agility lacks snap. Overall, however, his stature in combination with his ability to stretch long and glide up field make him a capable No. 2 with eventual No. 1 potential at the next level.
NFL Comp: Robby Anderson
Fantasy Fit
Marshall seems like a solid fit for the Packers. We all know (and have discussed ad nauseam) the lack of dynamic pass catchers in Green Bay. Interestingly, Eric Edholm compared the LSU product to Marquez Valdes-Scantling — and noted the team’s affection for prospects with similar skill sets — on a recent episode of the Rookie Snapshot Podcast.
Ideally, Marshall would land on a squad where he could work opposite an alpha while evolving his craft. Were that the case, I could see him notching 5-7 scores in his premier effort. I’m just not sure we’re going to see him pop soon enough to command an early season roster spot in redraft formats.
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