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Draft Winds: Wide Receiver Breakdown

Discussion in 'NFL Draft Forum' started by ckparrothead, Apr 21, 2013.

  1. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    Target Board: Wide Receiver
    Day One: Cordarrelle Patterson, Tavon Austin
    Day Two: Stedman Bailey, Markus Wheaton, Quinton Patton, Justin Hunter, Mark Harrison, Marquise Goodwin, Ryan Swope
    Day Three: Da'Rick Rogers, Marquess Wilson, Sam McGuffie, Chris Harper, Denard Robinson, Corey Fuller, Conner Vernon, Zach Rogers

    As I originally predicted in the Draft Winds piece on Cordarrelle Patterson, the Miami Dolphins addressed their wide receiver position in a very significant way during the period prior to the NFL Draft. However, I do not believe they should consider themselves adequately supplied at the position. Two key traits that I believe any well stocked receiver position should exhibit include electric short-area quickness and run after catch play making ability, as well as the brute physical strength to make contested catches and to break tackles after the catch. These traits are necessary if you want to have a receivers unit that produces touchdowns and not just a lot of yards.

    Though Mike Wallace’s pure speed makes him a threat with the football in his hands, he doesn’t have the kind of elite short-area quickness and play making ability that would see him able to be used in the slot with success. Davone Bess is the player the Dolphins have that can play that role, but his run after catch abilities are consistently mediocre, ranking in the 50th percentile among the NFL’s receivers year after year after year. Brian Hartline and Brandon Gibson do not come even close to providing this short-area, after-catch excitement. Meanwhile, none of the above players are large and/or physically strong and brutal threats to pull down contested catches and/or break a tackle physically after the catch.

    The board starts off with Cordarrelle Patterson and Tavon Austin at the top. By now, especially after the first Draft Winds, those players have been talked to death. I would see either player as a worthwhile get at the 12 overall pick in the Draft. Mike Wallace is not a guy who seemed comfortable in Pittsburgh whenever being used as a true number one receiver. He is a guy whose efficiency generally dropped by a good margin the more you tried to force him the football during games. Giving him number one money is a risk. Furthermore, Ryan Tannehill has not shown a comfort level either at Texas A&M or in Miami leaning heavily on a player of Mike Wallace’s type. He did much better with a short-area, option route guy like Ryan Swope, or perimeter intermediate route running specialists like Brian Hartline and Jeff Fuller. Dropping a $12 million per year player of Wallace’s type in Tannehill’s lap could put pressure on him to find ways to get him the football, and there could be some friction. Lastly, Joe Philbin himself has expressed discomfort with the idea of having a number one receiver that creates pressure for the coaches to find ways to get him the ball in order to justify his cost. If you add, for example, a Tavon Austin to this mix at 12 overall, you balance out the pressure and create a more egalitarian environment, while at the same time giving Ryan Tannehill the kind of player he’s shown a clear comfort level relying upon at Texas A&M. The question with Cordarrelle Patterson would be whether he could play the slot like Austin, and I fully believe he can, because of his unique short-area quickness and run after catch skills.

    The very first player I have beneath them is Stedman Bailey, who embodies the old cliché about a guy just being a “football player”. Bailey’s short-area quickness and strength are very impressive in their own right, and he has significant run after catch skills which is why I have noted that he is amongst the top specimens that provide an element that Miami’s receivers unit currently lacks. He could, at the worst, be a gifted slot receiver at the next level. The question is whether he can play on the outside and I believe he can as his frame, technical route running skills, ball skills and pure feistiness present problems for defenders.

    Markus Wheaton reminds me of a cross between Santonio Holmes and DeSean Jackson. He has every ounce of DeSean’s pure long speed, but not quite his creativity in running after the catch. In that way, he’s more like Santonio Holmes. Wheaton has shown throughout the process that he has the speed, quickness and technical route running skills to get open against anyone. My only slight concern with him is the way he finishes plays, either finishing the catch or finishing the run after the catch. Sometimes he leaves a little to be desired in his ability to physically finish, which is why I have him behind Stedman Bailey.

    If Quinton Patton were more physically gifted in the speed department, he might be the best run after catch player in the entire draft. His instincts, balance and quickness after the catch are very impressive. He is another guy who is noteworthy in an area which Miami needs, in that way. He adds on top of that a lot of technical route running skill and especially ability to finish plays. His speed is not quite on the same level with a Markus Wheaton’s, but his speed is still good in the mid-4.4’s, and you might argue he is a more well-rounded player.

    Folks watching Justin Hunter in 2012 would probably find a fair amount to nitpick in his game. He did not always create separation, or finish contested catches. He is so leggy that his run after catch skills will never really be elite, although they were surprisingly good all things considered. However, what will keep the evaluator awake at night about Hunter is the fact that he is a 6’4” player with 4.36 speed, a 40.5 inch vertical and 11’6” (very close to Calvin Johnson) broad jump ability. At times on the 2012 tape you are left wondering where that athletic prowess is hiding, until you stop and realize that in 2012 he was only in his first year of recovery from an ACL tear he suffered in 2011. Traditional wisdom holds that players in their second year off ACL surgery finally become “themselves” again. What exactly was Hunter prior to the ACL tear? As a mere freshman in 2010 he caught only 16 passes, but converted 7 of them into touchdowns, averaging nearly 26 yards per catch. Before taking the ACL injury at the beginning of his third game in 2011, he had caught 16 balls for 302 yards and 2 touchdowns against Montana and #25 ranked Cincinnati. These are the things that would keep me awake at night if I were an evaluator trying to short Justin Hunter’s stock. He has the pure ability to be a true number one at the next level.

    The last player in this group on the targets board would be Ryan Swope. I actually like Swope a little as a player, however I believe there have been times he's been overrated based on a 40 time that does not necessarily show up on tape. However, he is a nice slot player that I would consider taking on Day 2 should several other receivers not be available. There are a fair number of guys I would roll the dice on before him. The positive to taking him on Day 2 would be the potential for giving Ryan Tannehill a familiar security blanket that could siphon off some of the pressure he will naturally feel to get the ball to the $60 million receiver Mike Wallace. As I have been saying, the pressure to use Wallace may not be a great thing for a player like Tannehill, who seems to thrive best when he's utilizing a great route runner on the outside like Brian Hartline or an option route/slot player like Ryan Swope. With his old college buddy in tow, Tannehill may fall into relying on him over the middle of the football field and off the scramble, and that may not be a bad thing.

    Terrance Williams does not necessarily present the Dolphins with elements that they need in their receivers unit, and so he is not on the targets board, but that does not mean he won’t be a good player. What has always impressed me about Williams most has been his ability to run his route and create separation in a very narrow patch of grass. Art Briles’ offense splits their wide receivers very wide, and Williams was mostly a boundary player. This means he had very little cushion between himself and the sidelines every time he ran a vertical route. Defensive backs could use the sideline as an extra defender a lot more easily, yet Williams showed a knack for creating the necessary separation and especially finishing the play with impressive ability to catch the football. His run after catch ability is only mediocre, but it also is not necessarily a weakness. He has shown me that he can operate within a physical, compressed environment, and still get the job done.

    Da’Rick Rogers makes my list despite severe potential for off field drug and personality problems. He was kicked out of Tennessee for testing positive for marijuana too many times, and my own sources indicated to me that prior to that he very much played the role of the headache player. There have been rumors that he was the same kind of headache at Tennessee Tech. The bottom line, however, is that I am not in position to interview Rogers or dig heavily into his background. All I can do is look at the talent on the football field. There is no getting around the fact that whether it’s on the field or in a pair of shorts, Da’Rick Rogers is not a fast player. He does not have pure long speed. I constantly noted him being outrun or evenly running with players that have verified 4.5 and 4.6 speed. However, despite this, he is an explosive player with agility and quickness, and best of all he exhibits the physical strength factor that I feel the Dolphins are missing in their receivers unit. He can consistently make physically challenged catches, and break tackles after the catch. He has very good ball skills.

    Marquess Wilson is a player that at one point I thought might end up the best wide receiver in the entire class. He has the frame, quick feet and ball skills that remind me so much of a Chad Johnson back when he was in his prime. Not unlike Johnson, he is not an overly physical player. However, he has as 6’3” frame and runs solidly in the 4.4’s. The quick feet and agility were evident at the Combine when he ran a blazing 6.65 second cone drill. Like Da’Rick Rogers, there are significant off field issues to sort through as he quit his team mid-season. Even before 2012, he showed some troublesome body language on the field at times, though nothing I have not seen before from many successful NFL receivers. The problem arose when Mike Leach arrived at Washington State and seemingly decided to make an example of Wilson as the most talented player in the locker room. I have heard practice onlookers say that Wilson often seemed to be singled out in front of the team for discipline and punished for routine occurrences such as drops, etc. During one such instance, Wilson walked off the field, which may have drawn a one-game suspension. Sometime later, he informed the team that he was quitting, and wrote a public letter in which he accused the coaching staff of verbal and mental abuse. Though he made himself quite clear in the letter, most media outlets read the single word “abuse” being levied at Mike Leach (again) and ran away with the idea that Leach and his staff may be physically abusing athletes. This was clearly not the case, yet when Wilson wrote a text to the Athletic Director clarifying that he was not alleging physical abuse, media outlets misreported that Wilson had “recanted” his allegations. Once again I find myself unable to engage the kind of full exploration of Wilson’s character and history that would be necessary to make a potential multi-million investment in him, however my gut tells me this was an instance of two wrongs making a wrong.

    Rounding out my list of preferred players, you will find guys like Zach Rogers of Tennessee, Conner Vernon of Duke, Chris Harper of K-State, Corey Fuller of Virginia Tech and Denard Robinson of Michigan. My reasons for liking the above players are varied. It was impossible to watch as much tape as I did of Cordarrelle Patterson and Justin Hunter without noticing the sheer route running and ball skills of Zach Rogers. He was a player that Tyler Bray could rely upon in the most critical situations to get open and catch the football. He has Brian Hartline-like ability to work the sidelines, manipulate his body positioning, make the catch and get his feet down in-bounds. Conner Vernon of Duke does not quite possess the same body control as Rogers, but his short-area quickness makes up for it and there is a reason he was such a productive player in the ACC. Chris Harper is a very thick player that has a surprising amount of speed, and he is one of only three wide receivers in this class that I feel truly exhibits the strength and physicality to make a difference as a player in that role within his receivers unit. He is a natural after-catch player that also knows how to get open on routes. Corey Fuller is a guy that is all potential. He is a track and field guy from a football family, who made a late introduction to football only a few years ago, yet he’s come very far, very fast. That tends to be a flag that I look for in a player. He is a consummate professional with a great attitude and his learning curve since joining the football team has been remarkably steep. The final player here is Denard Robinson, the standout running quarterback at Michigan. Robinson is one of the fastest, most explosive open field runners in all of college football. He took the team on his shoulders at Michigan and succeeded despite meager passing skills. I saw raw route running skills at televised Senior Bowl practices that left me very intrigued. He issues with drops during the practice week, but that probably had a bit to do with an injury that had not fully healed yet and left a lot of his fingers numb. Yet, during the game itself, I thought he showed his gamer mentality as was thrown the football a few times and did not drop anything. All he did was break tackles and run after the catch the way you hope he would be able to do at the NFL level. He is definitely a worthy conversion project on Day 3 of the NFL Draft.

    You will notice that I am not nearly as high on players like Keenan Allen, DeAndre Hopkins, Robert Woods or Aaron Dobson as most other people. Keenan Allen has very good physical mentality, especially with the ball in the air. However, his pure strength and explosiveness does not quite qualify him as a player exhibiting those characteristics to a degree that I can be confident adds something to the Dolphins’ offense. He is a run after catch player that all too often failed at his run after catch. I believe he is a good player, otherwise I would not have included him in the Day 2 list. However, I do not have a high conviction that he is ever going to present something truly intriguing at the next level Additionally, there are flags and issues to investigate in his character and attitude background that would have me concerned and making sure I did my homework before investing in him. On the other hand, all indications are the DeAndre Hopkins has the perfect mentality to be successful at the next level. What I think he lacks are the pure skills to be a number one. As a college player, he was a deep threat, a big play maker. That was his identity. Yet he is not a fast player, and he made those big plays based on a combination of inferior competition, extended play opportunities, and defenses falling asleep on him. He will not be the same kind of deep play maker at the next level. The question is whether his skill set is varied enough to survive, despite that. On the one hand he’s a tremendous route runner and so you can imagine him carving out a very Brian Hartline-like career. On the other hand, that’s the best you can imagine because like Hartline, he lacks the speed to score touchdowns vertically and is also strongly lacking in run after catch ability. He can be physically intimidated at the top of the route too often to consider him a threat to make a lot of big plays through physically contested catches. I don’t see great run after catch skills in Robert Woods, nor do I see the explosiveness, agility and balance to run great routes at the next level. I see him as a tight, straight line player without top end straight line speed. I thought the 4.5 second short shuttles (comparable to offensive linemen) run by both he and DeAndre Hopkins were not aberrant results but rather corroborations of things I had seen in the two players on the field. Meanwhile, Aaron Dobson is a lot lower on the list for me because I consider him to be a very soft player. His lack of physicality turns me off every time I try and watch his tape.



    Wide Receiver Position Ranking
    01. Cordarrelle Patterson, Tennessee
    02. Tavon Austin, West Virginia
    03. Stedman Bailey, West Virginia
    04. Markus Wheaton, Oregon State
    05. Quinton Patton, Louisiana Tech
    06. Justin Hunter, Tennessee
    07. Mark Harrison, Rutgers
    08. Marquise Goodwin, Texas
    09. Ryan Swope, Texas A&M
    10. Terrance Williams, Baylor
    11. DeAndre Hopkins, Clemson
    12. Keenan Allen, California
    13. Robert Woods, USC
    14. Da'Rick Rogers, Tennessee Tech
    15. Marquess Wilson, Washington State
    16. Chris Harper, Kansas State
    17. Sam McGuffie, Rice
    18. Denard Robinson, Michigan
    19. Corey Fuller, Virginia Tech
    20. Conner Vernon, Duke
    21. Tavarres King, Georgia
    22. Zach Rogers, Tennessee
    23. Kenny Stills, Oklahoma
    24. Josh Boyce, TCU
    25. Aaron Dobson, Marshall
    26. Cobi Hamilton, Arkansas
    27. Jheranie Boyd, North Carolina
    28. Chad Bumphis, Mississippi State
    29. Ace Sanders, South Carolina
    30. Aaron Mellette, Elon

    Player Spotlight: Mark Harrison, Rutgers

    After a non-descript freshman year behind standouts like Tim Brown and Mohamed Sanu, Mark Harrison expected to win a starting job opposite Sanu in the training camp of 2010. However, Harrison lost the job to Tim Wright, who outworked him for it. Criticized for lacking focus, Harrison only reclaimed the job because Wright got injured. In the first four games of the season, Mark tallied only 5 catches for 70 yards. However, as soon as freshman quarterback Chas Dodd took over, Harrison broke out. Starting with the Connecticut game, he piled on 39 more catches for 759 yards and 9 touchdowns in only 8 games. His season totals doubled Mohamed Sanu’s yardage output and more than quadrupled Sanu’s touchdown output. Yet, issues with Harrison’s lax attitude persisted. He did not handle the expectations of stardom well. The offense moved from a spread to a more pro-style offense, and Gary Nova shared time with Dodd at quarterback. Mohamed Sanu took his place back at the head of the passing offense and the quarterbacks fed him to the tune of 115 catches for 1,206 yards and 7 touchdowns. Plagued by drops and a diminished role in the offense, Harrison only caught 14 balls for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns.

    Even before the disappointing season, Mohamed Sanu described Harrison as being “in a battle with himself to be more aggressive.” He noted that, “once he wins that battle all the time, he will be unstoppable.” To Harrison’s credit, after such a disappointing season he did not blame any extenuating circumstances. He put the responsibility squarely on himself. He had the following to say in 2012:

    Even with renewed focus, reclaiming the top receiver spot in the offense would be elusive in 2012 because his trouble in 2011 gave the sensational 6’6” and 220 lbs. freshman receiver Brandon Coleman the opportunity he needed to catch 17 balls for an astonishing 552 yards and 6 touchdowns. Harrison caught one more ball than Coleman in 2012, but his 583 yards and 6 touchdowns were still topped by Coleman’s 718 yards and 10 touchdowns. Even so, Harrison finished his Rutgers career 2nd in school history with 18 touchdowns.

    His Combine results were a revelation. His height measured 6027 (6 feet, 2 and seven-eighths inches) and 231 lbs. He ran the 40 yard dash in 4.37 seconds, with a 38.5 inch vertical, 10’9” broad jump, a 4.33 second shuttle drill and a 6.99 cone drill. He did 17 bench reps. You can see the athleticism on the field. He isn’t just fast, he is very quick, and he’s very physical with that 230 lbs. body of his.

    Bottom Line: Harrison is one of only three wide receivers in this class (the others being Da’Rick Rogers and Chris Harper) that notch a key trait I feel the Miami Dolphins lack in their current wide receivers unit. That trait is the innate strength and physicality to make big, contested catches as well as to break tackle attempts after the catch. This kind of strength and physical ability should lead to touchdowns at the next level. The Dolphins could sneakily add this trait by adding tight end Tyler Eifert, who can play out on the wing like a wide receiver and make plays a lot like those you see from Rogers, Harrison and Harper. However, the price for Eifert will be high. Not every player ‘gets it’ at such an early age. Cameron Wake had just as many coaches decrying his lax attitude at Penn State as Harrison had at Rutgers, and had less production to boot. He is now one of the hardest working men in the NFL. Paul Soliai had demonstrable issues with focus early in his career. He has now become a role model for younger players. If you are looking to add this kind of physical strength and play making ability at a bargain price, Harrison is an excellent guy to target. The tape speaks for itself.

    Favorite Videos:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOiwIK_2FiE
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NywkiSC4xPU
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4686tLeqw0


    Player Spotlight: Marquise Goodwin, Texas

    Marquise Goodwin is an Olympic caliber track and field athlete whose exploits in the long jump competition at the NCAA level are legendary. In his college career at Texas he caught 119 balls for 1329 yards and 7 touchdowns. He added 47 runs for 446 yards and 3 more rushing touchdowns. His background seems pretty straight forward as a track and field speed and jump guy trying to play football and never quite finding his niche as a dominant player.

    At the NFL Combine, he was clearly everything that was promised. At 5087 (5 feet, 8 and seven-eighths inches) and 183 lbs. he ran a 4.21 in the 40 yard dash with a 1.50 in the 10 yard split. I re-timed the run myself using high quality video and found that time to be the most accurate. I fully believe him to be the fastest man in the NFL the moment he is drafted. He did 13 bench reps and had an 11’0” broad jump. He pulled his calves during the workout and so he did the rest of his drills at his Texas pro day, jumping a fantastic 42 inch vertical and running a 4.09 second shuttle drill, and superb 6.66 second cone drill.

    The question is whether Marquise Goodwin is going to be a better pro than college football player. There has to be some level of discomfort over a guy with this much athletic ability bleeding out his ears not ever dominating the college game. Being a guy that competed in the Olympics in London, you sense that he always had only one foot in the door where it concerns football. This was a big part of why he had only 39 touches in his senior season, as he missed spring ball to train for the London Olympics. Coaches at Texas have expressed their regret that they could not get him more involved in the offense.

    The reasons for such regret would be obvious to anyone watching whenever his number did get called. This is not some long-only player who can’t operate on a football field without a lot of space around him. His short-area quickness and burst are incredible, and he shows physicality that you would never find in someone like a Ted Ginn, for example. Coaches regretted not getting him more involved because they knew they left yards on the field by not getting him the ball in the short areas of the field and allowing him to run with it. That’s the irony of a Marquise Goodwin. He is absolutely a threat to blow the top off a defense any time he steps on the field, but that is not necessarily what he is best at. When the coaches express regret for not getting him the ball more often they do not necessarily mean they wish they had thrown more deep balls to him. You can’t necessarily manufacture deep opportunities that way. But you can manufacture opportunities to catch the ball in the shallow sections of the field, allowing his gifted run after catch ability to take over. It is not a coincidence that this is where he excelled during Senior Bowl practices as well as during the game itself. He was thrown the football during the game 8 times, which is far more than any other receiver at the Senior Bowl. The majority of these passes were bubble screens and underneath stop routes. He got open, caught the football well, and ran well after the catch. This gives you a glimpse of what he could do at the NFL level as a slot receiver.

    Bottom Line: Continuing with the theme of finding players that exhibit qualities that the current cast of Miami Dolphins receivers lack, Marquise Goodwin is a guy with superior short-area quickness and run after catch ability that would work well from the slot and potentially create explosive plays. He mixes in a fair threat of blowing the top off a defense, but until he really trains on his wide receiver instincts in earnest, he does not need to be good at that in order to survive initially at the NFL level. Every time he gets the ball in the short field, he is a threat to make a guy miss or break a tackle and run an extra 20 or 30 yards.

    Favorite Videos
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EPuktHe7bk
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nq9emo0hWs
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViWLWmMA-Yo
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je7sPrc4RnQ


    Player Spotlight: Sam McGuffie, Rice

    McGuffie was a highly touted, four star tailback coming out of Texas. He had rushed for nearly 6,000 yards on 8.4 yards per carry with 83 touchdowns. In his junior season alone he tallied over 3,000 rushing yards with 44 touchdowns. Though small, his quickness, athleticism and acrobatics were already legendary. He was a YouTube star. He committed to Michigan prior to Rich Rodriguez taking over, and decided to keep to his commitment despite the coaching switch. He started as a freshman, tallying nearly 500 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on over 4 yards per carry with another 175 yards and touchdown receiving, but sustained three concussions in just the one year of football. After his third concussion, on a kick return against Ohio State, and with his season over he decided to transfer to Rice to be closer to home. He did some damage at Rice as a tailback in 2010 but suffered through some more injuries in 2011. Eventually, he and the staff decided that wide receiver was the best fit for him, and so he moved there in 2012.

    The move was the right one. In his first year as a wide receiver he had 54 catches for 603 yards and 5 touchdowns. He added another punt return touchdown. The numbers may not seem much but in the Owls’ offense, the production was impressive. No player, not even highly touted tight end Vance McDonald, had more receiving touchdowns. Generally speaking, one trait I look for in a player is the ability to make transitions from one position to another and come a very far distance in a very short amount of time. It is not always a perfect indicator, but it is a good one. I am a huge fan of Houston corner D.J. Hayden, whose praises I have been singing since November of 2012. He is now starting to get recognized as a potential 1st round player. However, Sam McGuffie is one of a very few players over the last two years that can accurately claim he got the better of Hayden when the two matched up. McGuffie caught a physically contested 24 yard touchdown in direct single coverage against Hayden. He also drew a big pass interference call from Hayden in the 3rd quarter. Later in the 4th quarter, a busted coverage (not Hayden) allowed McGuffie to snag a big 88 yard touchdown.

    Sam filled out since being recruited as a tiny tailback out of Texas. He measured 5102 (5 feet, 10 and two-eighths inches) and 201 lbs. at his pro day and about 198 lbs. at the NFL’s Regional Combine. At his pro day he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.36 seconds according to NFL Draft Scout, with a 1.49 second 10 yard split. His 26 bench repetitions at that size puts many offensive linemen to shame. He jumped 39.5 inches on the vertical and 11’2” on the broad jump. His shuttle time was 4.14 seconds and he ran the cone drill in 6.73 seconds. According to his trainers at PlexPerformance, he did even better at the NFL’s Regional Combine where he posted a 40 time of 4.28 seconds with a 3.8 shuttle time and a vertical of 41.5 inches. These are A++ measurable. He finished his college career with 1,543 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns on 359 carries, with 1,203 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns on 121 catches.

    Bottom Line: McGuffie is one of several prospects that exemplify one of the key traits I feel the Dolphins are missing in their pass catching unit. They need an electric short-area player that can catch passes and run with the football in his hands. Having A+ tangibles, an underrated career of college production, making a difficult position switch look easy, and being talented enough to give a guy like D.J. Hayden the run-around, all qualify him for the group of players I target as part of what I call a high conviction portfolio.

    Favorite Videos
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waedOtOnJEI
     
  2. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    Particularly the Sam McGuffie video is not something you'll find anywhere on the internet other than right here. It's an Unlisted video, and there are no other comprehensive videos of McGuffie's receiving on YouTube.
     
    Alex13 and Stitches like this.
  3. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Appreciate that write up..

    Imo you have Patterson..Goodwin..Harrison and Marquess Wilson overrated...and Robert Woods really underrated..
     
  4. skippysphins

    skippysphins Well-Known Member

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    ck thank you for the draft winds write ups . they full of good info as always.
     
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  5. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    I will bet anybody, any amount of imaginary money that Stedman Bailey will be one of the best WRs in the league by his 3rd year.
     
    Ducken likes this.
  6. Tar Phin

    Tar Phin Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Thanks! I remember watching all of those Sam McGuffie highlight tapes when I thought he might end up at UNC. An intriguing later round prospect for sure.
     
  7. BuckeyeKing

    BuckeyeKing Wolves DYNASTY!!!!

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    Bailey is going to be really good in a WCO.


    I seriously don't get the Rogers hate. His measurable's are some of the best of any WR in this years draft. He is a player that plays a lot like Boldin and Marshall. The true concern is with his character needs to go to a team that can handle him.
     
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  8. Da 'Fins

    Da 'Fins Season Ticket Holder Staff Member Club Member

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    Great stuff. I think your argument for getting another WR is dead on. I wonder whether Ireland will be that aggressive at WR if he thinks he needs a CB and a DE etc.

    I also wonder whether, given how high you have Bailey, other teams also have him that high and that he may well go late round 1 or not make it to round 2 (or to the Dolphins at 42).
     
  9. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    I wouldn't be shocked if Stedman gets into the 2nd round but I don't think the 1st round is in the cards for him.
     
  10. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    CK, what do you think of Charles Johnson (he isn't in your rankings)? He's from Grand Valley State, and if you went to the Shrine stuff like you usually do you probably got to see him some first hand (I think he was there).
     
  11. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    He wasn't there, to my knowledge.
     
  12. MrClean

    MrClean Inglourious Basterd Club Member

    I've seen a lot of rumors that Woods could sneak into the end of round 1. 17th seems way too low for him. JMO.
     
  13. BuckeyeKing

    BuckeyeKing Wolves DYNASTY!!!!

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    Can someone explain the hype for Woods? He just seems like a so-so athlete who looks as though he has already reached his ceiling.
     
    NUGap and ckparrothead like this.
  14. MrClean

    MrClean Inglourious Basterd Club Member

    My guess is because he is a polished route runner with good speed, and is considered more of a plug and play WR than most in the draft. NFLDraftScout.com now ranks him the 3rd WR and 25th overall player.
     
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  15. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    I'm comfortable with my rankings. The number seems low but the fact of the matter is, the players I put above him are good players.
     
  16. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Hype?, I don't see where that is the case anywhere actually, I think his ability to separate is being underrated, some players aren't that fast, but when they run routes, they can explode out of a break, I believe Woods has this trait, combine that with excellent technique, no red flags, good work ethic, I think it bodes well at the next level..
     
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  17. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    that is true, there are some with lots of potential.
     
  18. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I do agree with the respect you are giving to Chris Harper from K-state..
     
  19. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    I see an injury red flag. The guy has had an ankle injury for TWO YEARS that people swear has been the real reason he's not been able to fully utilize his potential.

    I don't think he explodes out of his breaks and I think his hands are a little overrated too. I think he's stiff in the upper body and not a particularly good RAC guy. He's not all that fast. Not explosive at all. I watch him play football and I'm not really sure why I'm supposed to love him. If you'd never heard of him before 2012 and you just watched his tape from that year, I don't think people would rate him that high.

    When he came to USC they were in a shambles. No real NFL talent in the skill positions to speak of. By the time he left he was the 3rd best wide receiver on his own team.

    I dunno. Maybe I'm too hard on him because he's an "is what he is" guy to me, rather than a guy with upside. Perhaps I should have him higher. But even so the highest I could conscience him is around where Keenan Allen is.
     
  20. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    My evaluation on his explosiveness out of his breaks mainly comes from believing that he was'nt 100 percent last year, and seeing some flashes from early in his career, and some offseason stuff that he was involved in..I think right now he's 100 percent, however I don't have him ahead of Allen on skillset..
     
  21. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    For you, D.J...I'll change the ranking. Though he's not going to be on my Targets Board no matter what, and that's really all that matters to me. I think he slides very naturally right into the spot below Keenan Allen and above two huge character concern guys in Da'Rick Rogers and Marquess Wilson.
     
  22. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    I'm also removing Terrance Williams from my targets board. It's not that I don't believe in him. I do. But my targets board does take into account Miami's needs, on some level, and Miami just doesn't need him. What tips it for me is, if Miami drafted any of the guys on my target board, I'm supposed to be happy. But if Miami drafted Terrance Williams, I think I'd really just be confused.
     
  23. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Lol, thanks bud, lol, I was actually looking back at your ranking and thought to myself did I jump the gun on my reaction, there is def 10 to 12 guys on there where I can see the reasoning to put them ahead of Woods on potential...which just tells me that this is a nice overall class of receivers.
     
  24. jim1

    jim1 New Member

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    Nice read, but I still think that you're being hard on Rogers. He might be the most physical and complete receiver in the draft and he ran a 4.52 at around 6-2.5 and 220 lbs. That's actually pretty good imo.

    Imagine an passing offense with:

    1. Wallace

    2. Austin or Goodwin

    3. Rogers

    That would be promising and well balanced imo.
     
  25. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    I don't want to come off like I'm staking an extreme position just to stake an extreme position, or to grab peoples' attention.

    Robert Woods probably deserves to be ranked above guys with such demonstrable character concerns as Da'Rick Rogers and Marquess Wilson. And when I really look at him play and look at Chris Harper play, yeah he deserves it over Harper. McGuffie...immense potential, but has only played the position one year. At some point you have to inject some realism.
     
  26. Ducken

    Ducken Luxury Box Luxury Box

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    Great write up CK! It is a good thing I am not the GM. I would probably trade up to Oaklands spot in the 1st just to staisfy my man crush on Bailey. I really hope he is in our plans.
     

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