White may have been more highly rated than Ross, since he had/has prototypical #1 WR size. Both players killed it at the Combine. The major knock on White was that he was a JuCo transfer and late bloomer in FBS. The major knock on Ross was his injury history.
What are these "numerous red flags"?
Ross only has one red flag that I see, the obvious one: health.
He checks out highly as a prospect otherwise. No other major flaws or hand-wringing aspects in his profile.
Assertions like "must likely a bust" at this point smack of lazy thinking. It'd be one thing if Ross actually played football his rookie year and was totally awful. But he didn't play. It's foolish to dismiss talent that hasn't even been tested yet.
As for precedent, NFL history is loaded with 'redshirted' rookies that went on to become stars. William Jackson and Travis Kelce are two immediate examples I can think of from just recently. Narrowing the comparables exclusively to wide-receivers is illogical since the position itself had nothing to do with why the rookie season was lost. Not to mention it makes the sample so small as to be rendered irrelevant.
