Patriots draft profile: Elic Ayomanor looks like a perfect complement to Stefon Diggs

The Stanford product projects as a Day 2 selection in this year’s draft.

The New England Patriots made a splash at the wide receiver position earlier this week, signing free agent Stefon Diggs to a three-year deal worth up to $69 million. Despite being 31 and coming off a torn ACL, Diggs adds considerable experience and playmaking potential to the team’s offense; he also might just change New England’s draft plans.

With him added to the mix as a Z-type receiver, the Patriots might look more towards pure boundary receivers to fill the X-role currently more of a question mark. If so, Stanford’s Elic Ayomanor is a player to watch.

Hard facts

Name: Elic Ayomanor

Position: Wide receiver

School: Stanford

Opening day age: 22 (6/15/2003)

Measurements: 6’1 3/4”, 206 lbs, 78 3/8” wingspan, 32 3/8” arm length, 10” hand size, 4.44s 40-yard dash, 38.5” vertical jump, 10’7” broad jump, 9.78 Relative Athletic Score

Experience

Career statistics: 24 games (23 starts) | 1,468 offensive snaps, 43 special teams snaps | 215 targets, 125 catches (58.1%), 1,844 yards, 12 TDs | 12 drops (5.6%), 1 fumble

Accolades: Second-team All-ACC (2024), Honorable mention All-Pac-12 (2023) Jon Cornish Trophy (2023)

Born and raised in Canada, Ayomanor moved to the United States while in high school. A star on the track and the football field at the Peddie School in Hightstown, NJ, and later Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, MA, he was listed as a three-star wide receiver recruit entering the college level. Receiving scholarship offers from a wide variety of schools including Notre Dame, Tennessee and Boston College, he eventually decided to join Stanford.

After sitting out his first season with the Cardinal for medical reasons, he burst onto the scene as a redshirt freshman. Starting 11 of 12 games, he led the team with 62 catches for 1,013 yards and 6 touchdowns. Ayomanor also was the team’s leading receiver in all three categories during his 2024 sophomore campaign: the top weapon on an otherwise challenged offense, he hauled in 63 passes for 831 yards and 6 more scores.

Ayomanor decided to forgo his final two years of eligibility to enter the NFL Draft in 2025. He was invited to both the Senior Bowl and the Scouting Combine.

Draft profile

Expected round: 2-3 | Consensus big board: No. 55 | Patriots meeting: N/A

Strengths: Ayomanor looks the part of an NFL wide receiver. Standing at 6-foot-2 and 206 pounds with long arms and big hands, he has the build to compete against pro-level perimeter cornerbacks. He has shown to take advantage of his size, too, bringing a physical element to contested catch situations and adjusting his body to make receptions outside of his frame. His ability to track passes and make even difficult catches look routine also helps.

Besides his size, Ayomanor offers an intriguing athletic makeup. He has good straight-line speed and pairs it with an explosiveness profile that allows him to run clean, efficient routes with smooth breaks and no wasted movement. He also has shown a feel for adjusting his tempo to bait defenders into making wrong choices, bringing good acceleration and burst to the fight. He also has proven himself a hard hat-type player both when faced with press coverage and when asked to block in the running game.

In addition to his on-field work, he received Stanford’s Tommy Vardell Award in recognition of his work both on the field and in the classroom.

Weaknesses: Even though he has shown he can run good routes, his route tree in the Cardinal’s offense was limited: he was primarily used on vertical routes down the sideline or on intermediate crossers such as slants. While his physicality helped with the latter, he failed to consistently generate separation with the former: his release into his route needs refinement in order to win against press-man looks on a regular basis.

Ayomanor also has not generated a lot of yards after the catch during his two seasons at Stanford. While some of his 4.5 YAC number over his two college seasons can be explained by his usage along the sideline, he ranked only 95th in the country with 10 missed tackles forced in 2024. For comparison, he ranked 35th-worst with 6 dropped passes while also having a tendency to catch the ball with his body rather than his hands.

His injury history is also something teams need to be comfortable with. Ayomanor tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus as a senior in high school, and then suffered a separate knee injury upon his arrival at Stanford.

Patriots preview

What would be his role? Offering size and natural athleticism, Ayomanor is your classic X-receiver. While he can be moved around the formation, he is best suited to line up on the perimeter and serve as a volume receiver with three-down upside. Due to his explosivity and build as well as the route tree he is comfortable with, he should be able to see regular action in the red zone and in short-yardage situations early on in his career.

What is his growth potential? In many respects, Ayomanor is still a raw prospect. His route tree needs to be expanded, and his technical makeup to counter press is not yet where it needs to be. As a consequence, he might be best suited to serve as a package player during his rookie season. With some refinement, however, he has definitive starter upside and could develop into a No. 1 receiver option as soon as his second year.

Does he have positional versatility? During his two seasons at Stanford, Ayomanor lined up split out wide on 1,278 of 1,468 offensive snaps (87.1%). That is a clear sign of his skillset and relative lack of versatility at this stage in his career. With more experience might come more moving around the formation, but that — just like his limited special teams usage coming mostly on the kickoff return team — is merely a projection.

Why the Patriots? Even though the aforementioned Stefon Diggs is now part of their wide receiver group, the Patriots have room for improvement on the perimeter of their offense. Ayomanor could be able to bring just that, and would get an opportunity to get eased into the mix: with Mack Hollins also joining the team this offseason, he could be a draft-and-develop player — one whose size and athletic makeup fits an Eliot Wolf-built team.

Why not the Patriots? Besides his medical history and uncertain developmental outlook, the Patriots also might just be happy with what they have at the X relative to what is available. If the team views the likes of Javon Baker or Kayshon Boutte as better prospects in a Josh McDaniels offense, Ayomanor coming to Foxboro may not happen after all.

One-sentence verdict: A Canadian-born X-receiver who needs to improve against press coverage might give Patriots fans some N’Keal Harry flashbacks, but Ayomanor would still be good value on Day 2 and give the team a perfect developmental complement to recently-signed Stefon Diggs.

What do you think about Elic Ayomanor as a potential Patriots target? Please head down to the comment section to share your thoughts.