BYU NFL Draft Profiles: Can Chase Roberts follow Puka Nacua as the next great wide receiver?

As we count down the days preparing for the NFL Draft from April 23-25, we’ll be profiling this year‘s crop of BYU players, hoping to hear their names called on draft day. Today, we will focus on wide receiver Chase Roberts.

Chase Roberts BYU career summary

After playing his high school ball at American Fork High School then serving a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada, Chase Roberts went on to have a decorated career in Provo.

Over four seasons, he appeared in 49 games with 170 receptions, 2,586 yards, and 18 touchdowns. He did most of his damage over his past two seasons with 106 receptions for 1,656 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was a team captain in each of his last two seasons.

In 2025 he was given All-Big 12 Third Team honors and was invited to the NFL Combine.

Chase Roberts’ NFL skill set

It’s one thing to succeed in the Big 12, it’s another thing entirely to succeed in the NFL. In order to have a professional career players must have at least one or two high-level skills that will enable them to succeed at the next level. I see two of these skills in Chase Roberts.

First, at 6-foot-3 and 209 pounds, he has size that few NFL cornerbacks can match. His height allowed him to make a number of contested catches in Big 12 play. He’s a big target for quarterbacks, and there’s no teaching height.

Second, Chase is a very smart football player who possesses excellent technique. While he’s not going to beat corners deep at the NFL level, he has the savvy to find openings in the secondary and give his quarterback an open target. His ability to contribute in the pros will be more situational and a function of down and distance rather than as an every down player.

Chase Roberts’ Relative Athletic Score

A player's RAS — or relative athletic score — compares their performance in combine drills against other players at their same position. A RAS of 8.0, for example, means the player scored in the 80th percentile relative to players at their same position. Chase Roberts' RAS is a mixed bag.

While his size and explosion grades are considered to be great, his composite speed score is poor. His 4.64 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine is very slow for a wide receiver and will give teams some pause. However, he ran a more respectable 4.51 second 40 yard dash at BYU’s Pro Day which better reflects the on-field speed he flashed in Provo. While he was never considered to be a burner, his football speed wasn’t slow, either.

Draft projection and comparable player

Chase is currently projected to be a late-round pick or to go undrafted. ESPN projects him going in the seventh round. Sporting News also has him going in the seventh, while many other sites have him going undrafted. Life in the NFL will be much, much better for Chase if he can enter the league as a late-round draft instead of an undrafted rookie free agent. Draft picks are given every opportunity to succeed so GMs and coaches can prove they know how to find talent in the draft. Life for a UDFA is an uphill slog to make an NFL roster.

As far as a comparable player goes, I’ll just say this upfront that he’s not the next Puka Nacua. Puka flew under the NFL radar coming out of BYU but after being a fifth round pick quickly established himself as perhaps the league's best wide receiver. Chase Roberts has upside, but he doesn’t have Puka’s raw talent and immense potential.

A good NFL comparable player is Mack Hollins, who stands 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, so a little bigger than Chase, but not much. Both Roberts and Hollins are taller, bigger receivers who rely more on technique than elite athleticism. Hollins ran a 4.53 second 40 yard dash, which is comparable to Robert’s time at his BYU pro day.

While Mac Hollins isn’t a Pro Bowler, he has carved out a productive eight-year NFL career with 2,619 receiving yards in 19 touchdowns. If Chase Roberts could duplicate that kind of an NFL career, that would be a smashing success.

Over the last four years Chase Roberts has been everything BYU fans have wanted in a star player and team captain.

Whether he gets drafted or not this year, he’s going to get a shot at making an NFL roster. I'm willing to place my bets that he succeeds at the next level.