A year ago, Malachi Corley turned down lucrative offers and elected to stay at Western Kentucky a final season to complete his illustrious collegiate career. On Thursday, Corley cashed when he signed his first professional contract with the Jets after the Green & White selected the offensive playmaker in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
"In the world of NIL (name, image, likeness), I was offered $350,000, $400,000 after 2022 to uproot my school," Corely said last week. "But for me, I went to a small high school in Campbellsville, KY, with 250 people in it. I was never in it for the limelight or for the fame or for any of that. I love ball and I love communication; I love relationships. And the people of Campbellsville and Western Kentucky gave me that love, that support, that home, that heartwarming energy that you want – people that wanted to see you grow as a human being and as a person more. So more than just a football player, so that's why I stayed at Western."
In 49 games (32 starts) at WKU, Corley (5-11, 210) set a school record with 259 receptions while his 29 TD receptions and 3,033 receiving yards rank second and third, respectively. Last season, Corley registered 11 TDs on his 79 receptions while amassing 984 receiving yards.
"We are juiced man," said Jets GM Joe Douglas after moving up seven spots in the third round to take Corley. "Malachi is a guy that you watch his tape and it is hard not to get excited, just an explosive dynamic player with the ball in his hands, just a guy we feel like can be a real weapon."
Corley, who earned the nickname "YAC King" for his special skills after the catch, will join a WR group that is headlined by Garrett Wilson and was bolstered by the free-agent signing of Mike Williams.
"He is elite with the ball in his hands, he is an angry runner," HC Robert Saleh said. "He calls himself the YAC king and he is deserving of it. But we will get him here, he has got some things to work on for sure. But at the same time, we love his mindset, we love his style of play. He is going to bring an added element that we don't have to our team."
When he stepped up in competition last year at Ohio State, Corley caught 8 balls for 88 yards and had 1 TD. He was also named the top wide receiver for the National team at the Senior Bowl and was named Offensive Breakout Player of the Week at the East-West Shrine Bowl.
"He played Ohio State this year and he performed well," Douglas said. "His YAC speaks for himself, his production speaks for itself. He was highly productive the last two years and the centerpiece of that offense, and again someone who can be slot, someone who can be X, he can be Z, he can be running back. He does a lot of different things, so he is a really nice and versatile chess piece."
