Danny
Gray.
Danny
Gray.
SMU· 6'0"· 186 lb· 4.33s 40
Gray was SMU's vertical accelerator, a boundary receiver whose entire route tree bent around a 4.33 gear that forced cornerbacks to open their hips early. He won on go balls and post routes off long, gliding strides, stacked defenders quickly after the release and turned any single-high look into a shot play, averaging better than 16 yards a catch as a senior.
Underneath he was more idea than product. He flashed the bend to sink on slants and shallow crossers and he was used on jet sweeps and returns, but the release package was thin and contested work near the sideline was inconsistent. The signature was straight-line speed with enough body control to track the deep ball, a field-stretcher first and a route technician second.
Play-action heavy wide-zone offense that manufactures vertical shots off run action
Year 1 as a designated field-stretcher on 12-18 snaps per game and a return candidate; ceiling is a starting Z receiver who takes the top off coverage while the underneath tree develops.
A timing-and-rhythm quick game built on option routes and contested slot work, where his rounded breaks and inconsistent hands would be exposed on every third down.
Needs a quarterback willing to throw him open downfield and a coordinator who scripts vertical shots rather than asking him to win on the move.
Danny Gray Highlights // San Francisco 49ers Draft Pick // SMU Football
SMU's official career cut-up of Gray released after the 49ers drafted him at pick 105.
Danny Gray 2021 Highlights | SMU WR | 2022 NFL Draft Prospect
Senior-season reel showing the vertical wins and deep-ball tracking that drove his draft stock.
Danny Gray SMU Highlights
Additional SMU cut-up featuring his jet-sweep and after-the-catch usage.
Gray took the long way to the third round. Academically ineligible out of high school, he spent two years at Blinn College before landing at SMU, where he played only two seasons and never carried a full workload. What he did carry was rare speed, and by 2021 he was the Mustangs' primary vertical threat and a first-team All-AAC selection.
The senior year was the case. He started all 10 games he played and led SMU with 803 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on 49 catches, with two 100-yard games and a scoring streak across the season's first five weeks, then confirmed the tape by running an official 4.33 forty at the Combine. The concerns were volume and polish: 18 career FBS games, a route tree that leaned heavily on verticals, and hands that betrayed him on enough contested reps for evaluators to flag them.
Most boards had him in the fourth-round range as a developmental speed specialist. San Francisco, a team whose offense had just spent a season searching for a defined field-stretcher opposite Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, took him at 105 and bet that Kyle Shanahan's play-action system would turn one elite trait into a role while the rest of the game caught up.
- 01
Vertical speed
An official 4.33 forty that plays on tape; he eats cushion in a hurry and forces safeties to widen the moment he releases outside.
- 02
Deep-ball tracking
Locates the football over either shoulder without breaking stride, which is why he averaged more than 16 yards per reception as a senior.
- 03
Stacking ability
Gets on top of press corners quickly and works back across their face, erasing the leverage advantage on go and post routes.
- 04
Production spike
Led SMU with 803 yards and nine touchdowns in 2021 while starting every game he played, earning first-team All-AAC honors.
- 05
Positional utility
Handled jet sweeps, kick returns and punt returns at SMU, giving a staff more than one way to get the ball in his hands.
- 01
Route tree
His college usage leaned on verticals and quick screens; the intermediate breaks are unrefined and he rounds off comebacks and digs.
- 02
Hands
Too many drops and bobbles on contested and body-adjust catches, a concern that followed him from SMU into NFL training camps.
- 03
Release package
Wins with speed rather than technique off the line, and physical press corners can knock him off his stem before the route develops.
- 04
Experience
Just two Division I seasons and 18 FBS games after a junior-college start, leaving him behind on the details a pro offense demands.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.33sp50
- Vertical
- 34inp50
- Broad jump
- 126inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | SMU | 8 | 33 | 448 | 4 |
| 2021 | SMU | 10 | 49 | 803 | 9 |
| Career | — | 18 | 82 | 1251 | 13 |
FBS totals only, verified against cfbstats (SMU team 663, player 1113166). Gray played 2018-2019 at Blinn College; junior-college production is not indexed by cfbstats and is therefore excluded rather than estimated. Season totals sum exactly to the career line. Also had 3 carries for 30 yards and 2 TD plus 9 kick returns and 2 punt returns in 2020, and 3 carries for 40 yards in 2021.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Pure-speed boundary receiver whose role lived and died with the deep shot and who never developed a full route tree.
Long-striding vertical specialist who carved out a long career as a defined field-stretcher despite hands questions.
Explosive athlete whose NFL usage shrank to gadget touches and special teams once the receiver role never materialized.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The bet never paid. Gray played 13 games as a rookie in 2022 and caught one pass for 10 yards on seven targets, stuck behind a deep 49ers receiver room and unable to earn snaps beyond situational deep shots. He did not appear in a regular-season game in 2023, was released by San Francisco and landed on Philadelphia's practice squad in 2024, where he remained through the Eagles' Super Bowl LIX season. He was on the roster bubble again in 2025, and in 2026 he made the practice squad out of camp after missing time with a concussion before being placed on practice-squad injured reserve in September. Four years after the draft his career line was still one catch.
In hindsight this is what a single-trait pick looks like when the trait does not translate. Gray's speed was real, but speed without a release plan or reliable hands has nowhere to go against NFL corners, and San Francisco's offense demands receivers who block, run precise timing routes and win after the catch. The fourth-round grades on him were closer to right than the 105th pick was, and his lack of college volume proved to be the tell rather than a footnote. He has stuck in the league on speed alone, which says something, but a third-round receiver who never becomes a rotational contributor is a miss.