Malik Benson is a wide receiver and 2026 NFL Draft prospect who completed his collegiate career at the University of Oregon after previous stops at Alabama and Florida State. A native of Lansing, Kansas, Benson was a standout track athlete in high school before beginning his college football career at Hutchinson Community College, where he set the program's all-time receiving yardage record with 2,152 yards and 21 touchdowns across two seasons and earned First-Team NJCAA DI All-America recognition. As the consensus top JUCO recruit in the 2023 class, he joined Alabama and appeared in all 14 games in 2023, finishing with 13 catches for 162 yards and a touchdown in a rotational role. He transferred to Florida State for 2024, where he totaled 25 receptions for 311 yards in a struggling Seminoles offense before moving to Oregon for his final season. At Oregon in 2025, Benson became one of the team's most important contributors, finishing with approximately 36 catches for 645 yards and six receiving touchdowns while averaging over 17 yards per catch and providing a highlight-reel 85-yard punt return touchdown in a pivotal win over USC that helped the Ducks secure a College Football Playoff berth.
Standing at 6-1 and 195 pounds, Benson ran a 4.37-second 40-yard dash at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, confirming speed that shows up unmistakably on tape. He is primarily a vertical field-stretcher who can stack corners on go routes, run deep overs and posts with fluidity, and tracks the deep ball with natural body control through the catch point. His year-over-year improvement in receiving grades from Alabama to Florida State to Oregon represents a meaningful progression, and his value as a two-way special teams contributor as both a returner and coverage player adds a dimension that makes him attractive to NFL special teams coordinators. Benson projects as a Day 3 selection whose value is tied to his ability to stretch the field and flip field position as a returner, with a long-term role as a deep-threat complementary receiver in a vertically oriented NFL offense.
