Hakeem Nicks is absolutely dominating West Virginia in this bowl game. He is a Junior who is around 6'1' 215lbs. He may not be the fastest but he runs good routes and makes plays. I would love having him in a Phins uniform. All reports have him going pro.
Nicks just had a ridiculous day against the Tar Heels and made one of the most impressive catches I have ever seen. That guy will be a #1 WR for some team in the NFL IMO.
Absolutely, you see the pass he had behind his back and almost brought it through his legs like a crossover dribble? Just an absolutely ridiculous catch. Pat White was very impressive as well and what a good kid.
Yeah, that was nice. I thought White threw very well that game but he needs to learn to look off defenders. Every touchdown, but the last one, he stared down his receiver. Only one was an interception though.
I noticed the same with him tracking his receivers too often, but he does throw a nice pass and is difficult to catch when he takes off with the ball. I would have no problem with Ireland snagging him with a 3rd and after todays game would have no issues taking Nicks with our 1st pick or our top 2nd rounder if he makes it that far.
Great route runner. Pair him with a big decently quick possession WR and the receiving corps are done.
Still high on Britt, Nicks I'm good, Ok with Bess, Ginn, and Camarillo, not high on Coles. Again, I think the FO was in the right direction in terms of the Ernest Wilford signing going after a big target guy, just they picked the wrong one.
The difference is that Nicks is a team captain whereas Kenny can be something of a diva. I'm a long way from ranking anyone, but with Mike Crabtree at the top of the WR list, I'd have a hard job not to put Nicks in at second or third as we stand today. What's most impressive about him is that he's gotten BETTER after Tate got hurt, despite the fact that defensive co-ordinators can key on him even more.
SSSSHHHhhhhhh........don't mention that Tate guy. I'm hoping he slips down to where people forget all about the name Brandon Tate.
So much for him being there in the 3rd round like i had him in my mock................. funk! Still hope we get him.
Honestly, if he comes out - and I think he will - I could see him going off the board somewhere between 15 and 25. Team captain, true junior but a three year starter, with great route running ability, hands and strength after the catch. He has something of the Michael Irvin about him.
Where is CK when you need him. I think he can recite everything down to his shoe size if needed. Nicks is Chris's guy - plain and simple.
I wonder with a guy like him if that will even matter that much. The film says it all man, really. And, as Boomer said after Tate (the all purpose yardage leader at the time) went down he actually got better. Says a lot about his route running right there.
Nicks' route running is flawless. Very fluid and he makes the defenders bite hard on his first move. His hands are freakin' great. He always catches the ball away from his body and with such ease. I'd love to see this guy in a Dolphins uni next year.
It shouldn't matter bro..... but all you have to do is look at our starting WR's to know how much teams in the nfl Value speed over every thing else.
We always here about guys with great 40 times that lack route running ability and guys who cant get open. Thats why a guy like Nicks gets me hyped when I watch him. He may not have elite top end speed but he runs crisp beautiful routes. He will be able to adapt quickly to a qb who can rely on him being in the right spot running the correct route.
Yeah, I know. Funny how some of the best receivers can't break a 4.6, yet have the ability to change direction quickly and reach their top speed quickly. Funny how that is never mentioned, but the 40 yard straight line route running speed is. Still don't get it. Some guys look good when they chase a ball with pads on, some guys look good beating stop watches.
Give me a guy who runs a crisp, clean route and uses all the gifts he has to gain separation; feet, body lean, eyes, head, shoulders, hips. See I never mentioned speed once. He can get in and out of his breaks in a hurry but he does so because he's frozen the corner with a head fake or a shoulder turn that's given the corner the impression he's going one way when he's actually going another. But you simply can't ignore what he does after the catch. He has a rare ability to make yards after contact again and again and again. In a way I want to say that he's akin to Anquan Boldin, but he's also got something of the Larry Fitzgerald about his game.
Boomer I wanted to compare him to Boldin so bad but I held back. The Eddie Moore pick still stings. Boldin brings back bad Wanny Memories
It's a natural thing to do mate. Any bigger wideout without track speed is instantly Boldin. Just as any white guy with hands who used to be Joe Jurevicious or the guy at Denver is now Wes Welker. It's always good to have a comparison. I wonder if the announcement of no rookie wage cap next year will have any impact on Hakeem? I would think that 8 for 2 bills plus and 3 scores is a pretty nice exclamation point on a college career.
Well some agents are trying to scare underclassmen into coming out by telling them that there will be a rookie scale in place in 2010 but Goddell is assuring that they know that no such thing will be in place until 2011 at the earliest so players dont factor that into their decision.
But when it comes to the vertical game, speed kills. 4.6+ guys w. concrete in their shoes down the field [Bess, Camarillo, etc.] can move the chains with horizontal catches and limited quickness but they'll never pressure a defense like the elite teams. There's a reason the Cheatriots can spread us out and beat us like a rented mule w. a backup QB. Look at the downfield skills of their starting WRs vs. ours. Ginn is the ONLY starting Phin WR even close to that class. Teams need big and/or quick WRs w. good hands for the underneath stuff but they need speed even more. Even one WR like Ginn opens up a lot of underneath junk for other, slower WRs and TEs. That said, Nicks is right now more WR than Bess or Camarillo ever will be. LD
Having a guy like Nicks (physical and strong) would do wonders for Ginn IMO. Though his deep balls may still be limited those 25 yard square ins and deep crossing routes would be a lot more dangerous for him (dangerous in the sense of what he will be able to do, not that he'd be in more danger).
I agree. It would be like adding a Michael Irvin to this offense -- in other words, pick your poison w. single coverage. Right now, it's nothing to cover Bess or Cammy single and pay no real price for it -- 99 percent underneath stuff w. no threat to take it to the house, etc. Best case scenario: drafting Nicks, rotating him slot and outside, and having another good speed/hands guy outside [London could be this guy, imo], w. Cammy and Bess getting four and five wide looks. There not a lot not to like about Nicks! He'd look good in a Phin uniform, imo. And change the face of the O in a hurry. LD
We can thank Paul Brown for the 40 yard dash invention. He says he did it because you cover approximately 40 yards on a punt? Well, how much ground do you cover after the catch? I think this may be the first guy that I think we have completely agreed on, Boom, even the comparisons. I compared him to Anquan Boldin at another place when I was watching him today. I said that I wasn't sure if he was the blocker Boldin is but he has Boldin-ish in his game. I thought about the comparison to Irvin but I have been watching football for only so long and had only seen classic games of Irvin on ESPN and could not compare Nicks to him. And like earlier, in which you said you could put him with the Crabtree's, I said the nearly the same. I said he should be mentioned with the top tier wide receiver prospects. I don't know how believable that sounds to you right about now but its true, all of it. Makes me happy that we're seeing the same on this to be honest because I feel like I'm doing something right and that makes me happy because I second guess myself quite often.
Agreed, and there was a lot going on there. He got off the line, slanted over the middle fearlessly, caught a lousy pass that was behind him low and away. Then while moving horizontally he grabbed the ball by the nose and tried at first to secure it through his legs from back to front- realized in a nanosecond that that wasn't going to work and wrapped it around his back to his stomach. Then he used his strength and determination to fend off a couple of guys and get the first down. It all happened so fast that you needed to see the replay to show what he was doing and thinking- his reaction time and thought process were kind of amazing- maybe better to call it instincts. Hopefully he makes it to the second round so we can have a shot at him- I guess the 1st rd isn't out of the question at this point.
I don't think that it should be if the right guy was there- Ginn, Bess and Camarillo all bring something to the table, but they are what they are. We need a true #1. In terms of improving the receiver position and the Dallas connection, both the Fasano trade and the Todd Lowber signing made sense to me a while back before they happened and I mentioned them either on FH or here. The next one that makes sense is John Beck traded straight up for Miles Austin. We need another WR and the Cowboys backups are Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger.
I had the pleasure of viewing the UNC-WVU game in person yesterday. Wow. Nicks put on a show like I have never seen before. Unfortunately the heels lost, but that was such a special game for Nicks in his hometown no less. It was obvious that Nicks would be the best receiver to ever come out of Carolina during his freshman year in school. I sure will miss him playing for the heels but nothing would make me happier than him getting drafted by the phins. Edited to add: there is a rumor in Chapel Hill that Nicks will announce his departure to the NFL on Thursday.
The guy hasn't played a down of football in the pros, so quite how he's better than 2 NFL players with 109 catches between them this season is beyond me. Greg Camarillo is a better NFL player than Michael Crabtree TODAY. And Michael Crabtree is a better player than Hakeem Nicks. The "short bus" comment is lost on me as I left the playground years ago, suffice to say it's likely to be as dumb as your observation.
Carlos Rogers and Mike Williams may have been considered more than Camarillo or Bess while still in college. Some players have trouble adjusting to the NFL, others dont. Nicks looks solid, but he tore apart WVU's defense. How do you fancy he'd do against the Pittsburgh Steelers or Baltimore Ravens D's right now? (hope I used "fancy" right in that sentence Boom, my British slang is a lil rusty )
Football is football- if I said last year that Jake Long would be a better pro than Joe Toledo, I wouldn't consider that a stupid statement or going out on a limb. Of course you want to see a guy actually play at the pro level and produce, but I think it's safe to say that Nicks will be a better pro than Ernest Wilford for example. Speaking of projections, an unsolved mystery is how the Dolphins drafted Scott Schwedes in the 2nd round years ago. A baffling choice.
Was it safe to say that Turk Schonert would be a better pro than Rich Gannon or that KiJana Carter would be a better pro than Terrell Davis? Nicks' potential is that he might be better than Wilford but he might also be worse than Charles Rogers. Potential doesn't wear cleats, doesn't wear shoulder pads and doesn't play on Sundays. The notion that a college player is better than a seasoned NFL vet or even than a rookie like Davone Bess is rot.
So hypothetically, if you were an NFL team and you could choose to add to your roster, right now, either Ernest Wilford or an NFL untested Hakim Nicks, who would you take? I sure know who I would take. Charles Rogers was lazy, somewhat of a head case, and injury prone. There are no sure things, only best guesses.
