{"id":229367,"date":"2025-07-23T09:49:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T09:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/229367\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T09:49:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T09:49:13","slug":"todd-mcshay-reveals-why-hes-so-high-on-germie-bernard-as-2026-nfl-draft-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/229367\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd McShay reveals why he’s so high on Germie Bernard as 2026 NFL Draft prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alabama<\/a> has some big names at wide receiver both now at the college level and in the upcoming years in the NFL Draft<\/a>. That starts this year for \u2018Bama with WR Germie Bernard<\/a> already being projected among the better names at the position in his class.<\/p>\n

Todd McShay named Bernard as one of his top-seven receivers for the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a> on the latest episode this week of \u2018The McShay Show\u2019<\/a>. That\u2019s with Bernard having developed year over year through three collegiate seasons at three programs, including his best one yet last season with the Crimson Tide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m high on Germie Bernard,\u201d said McShay. \u201c6\u20191, 210, runs a 4.5 estimated. Spent his first two seasons at Washington<\/a>, obviously the coaching change, Kalen DeBoer<\/a> comes over and he goes with him. Had just four catches as a freshman at Washington. Made a big jump in 2023 at UW, though. He had 34 catches, 419, 12.3 (yards per catch). And, you\u2019ve got to remember, that\u2019s a guy who, their three wide receivers were Jalen McMillan<\/a>, Ja\u2019Lynn Polk<\/a>, and Rome Odunze<\/a> so, like, yeah, we can excuse the production\u2026Not a lot of production early in their career, obviously. So, that\u2019s his backdrop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen he gets to Alabama last year \u2013 50 catches, led the Tide with 50 catches. The offense, obviously, quarterback, passing game was not up to the level. Averaged 16 yards per catch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over three stops at Michigan State<\/a>, Washington, and Alabama, Bernard has posted 91 catches for 1,341 yards, at an average of 34.4 per game and 14.7 per catch, and six touchdowns. Of those stats, 50 receptions for 794 yards, averaging 61.1 per game and 15.9 per catch, and two scores came last fall in Tuscaloosa as Alabama\u2019s leader in catches while just a bit behind in yardage to only WR Ryan Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That tape and numbers from last year are starting to gain interest for Bernard as a player in the NFL<\/a>. A lot of that to McShay was the reliability he showed in playing in a way that was a help to his quarterback by finding openings and almost always coming down with the football<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s a burner but he\u2019s a tough receiver who I think has a knack for uncovering. Scouts I\u2019ve talked to are really high on his \u2013 I don\u2019t even want to say upside, but just think he\u2019s going to be a guy in the NFL and I don\u2019t disagree,\u201d McShay said. \u201cI think he\u2019s better, I think he\u2019s good versus single coverage but I thought he was really good in zones, finding softs, you know what I mean. Just like that\u2026and like, where to sit, how to help his quarterback, right.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally reliable hands, man. Plucks it naturally. Tough catches over his head. Strong, reliable in traffic. Takes hits, holds on. Just two drops all of last season. And, I was interested too, like, he\u2019s shifty and really heats it up after the catch.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, McShay and Steve Muench both liked Bernard despite what they felt were issues in the pass game last season<\/a> with QB Jalen Milroe<\/a>. They\u2019re both now want to see how he progresses over this next season with some changes within the offense for Alabama, namely with a new starter at quarterback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019ll be interesting to see the offense too with Ty Simpson<\/a>, right, coming in,\u201d said McShay.<\/p>\n

Williams, rightfully so, gets a ton of attention at wideout for Alabama. Still, Bernard<\/a> looks to have a future at the next level as well with a chance to solidify himself as a high-round pick in the draft next spring after his upcoming senior season in T-Town<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alabama has some big names at wide receiver both now at the college level and in the upcoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,11873,6,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-229367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-germie-bernard-22-liberty","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114901926930945030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}