Five-time Pro Bowler raises red flag on wide receiver linked to Saints

Nobody can say Steve Smith Sr. doesn't know what it takes to succeed in the NFL -- just look at his five Pro Bowl appearances and four placements on the All-Pro team, or any of his frustratingly dominant games against the New Orleans Saints over the years. The former Carolina Panthers wideout has been scouting wide receiver prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft on his YouTube show, 89 with Steve Smith and James Palmer. One of his latest prospects to watch was Georgia Bulldogs wideout Zachariah Branch, who worked out privately for the Saints. And what he found warranted raising a big red flag.

"Bro listen to this. 52.1% of his routes were wide receiver screens. He ran a slant 7.4%, a hitch 5.3% and a crossing route 5.39%. So listen to this, and this is disturbing and utterly pathetic," Smith began, reading off the tracking data from Branch's route tree. "Corner route, post route, and a comeback route. One percent."

Noted wide receivers analyst Matt Harmon charted Branch for Reception Perception, and he had similar findings. Last year Branch ran post routes on just 6.8% of his total routes, hitting 1.4% on corner routes and only 0.5% on comebacks. A whopping 28.5% of his routes were screens, and Branch caught more than of his passes (54.8%) behind the line of scrimmage. That experience just doesn't translate easily to the pros.

But Smith made it clear that he didn't blame Branch for this. He blamed the team: "I almost cursed. You talking about banana in the tailpipe, setting a guy up to fail or not giving him enough opportunities to be drafted, is what the Georgia offense did to these wide receivers."

Smith went on to characterize Branch's usage at UGA as "hogwash," adding that these assignments haven't prepared him for an NFL playbook. He continued, "It's so hard. It's so difficult to tell because there are very few routes that you want to see him run that he gets an opportunity. Think about this, bro. Think about this. One percent corner, post, comeback? For a speed guy? Everybody runs post, man, run to the red car and go cut across, that's street ball, man."

It's not to say Branch won't be able to get open vertically and make big catches deep downfield. He just wasn't given a chance to show he could do it at the college level, and that makes him a big projection in this draft class. And that makes it tough to buy into the idea of drafting Branch early in Rounds 2 or 3. He may have to wait a day or two to hear his name called from the podium with so much to prove.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: 2026 NFL Draft: Steve Smith Sr. on Saints WR target Zachariah Branch