Targeting: WR

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There is a fine article that appears in the Athlon 2022 Draft Guide called "Rise of the Route Runners" that discusses some of the skills that make an NFL prospect successful.

The one that sticks out to me was described by Texas Longhorns Passing Coordinator Brennan Marion who states that so much of receiving prowess comes down to a single step. He credits "Guys who have that violence of movement-- who can be violent at the top of the cut" and also the he looks for the ability to "jab and separate-- same way you can in basketball"

The piece goes on to detail how hard and sharp Cooper Kupp plants his cut foot "like he is trying to crack the foundation of the stadium" and while everybody knows he's getting the ball nobody can stop him.

All I could think about reading the article was Edelman and how he had that violent jab step and exploded out of his cut with incredible lateral agility to get open against anybody and that is
what we could, and should, be looking for in this draft. Whether it is an X,Y, or slot the important thing is the ability to shake a defender quickly and give Mac a consistently open target. Separation matters. An outside the numbers guy would be ideal, imo, but I'm not sure how many there truly are in this draft. It seems even the top guys all have a few question marks and I'm trying to lowball my expectations into a lower-round developmental guy rather than an instant contributor as initially seemed logical prior to the acquisition of Devante Parker. It'll be very interesting to see how we address the position to see whether or not there may be a change in philosophy in the wind.

Jakobi Meyers can get open because he has the ability to string moves together and eventually get a defender off balance, but it takes a while for his routes to develop and sometimes causes a QB to skip him in the progression only to have Meyers come open but too late to get a target. He's a valuable player, but you couldn't run an effective offense if all the receivers ran their routes the way Jakobi does, I don't believe.
 
Hawg73 said:
There is a fine article that appears in the Athlon 2022 Draft Guide called "Rise of the Route Runners" that discusses some of the skills that make an NFL prospect successful.

The one that sticks out to me was described by Texas Longhorns Passing Coordinator Brennan Marion who states that so much of receiving prowess comes down to a single step. He credits "Guys who have that violence of movement-- who can be violent at the top of the cut" and also the he looks for the ability to "jab and separate-- same way you can in basketball"

The piece goes on to detail how hard and sharp Cooper Kupp plants his cut foot "like he is trying to crack the foundation of the stadium" and while everybody knows he's getting the ball nobody can stop him.

All I could think about reading the article was Edelman and how he had that violent jab step and exploded out of his cut with incredible lateral agility to get open against anybody and that is
what we could, and should, be looking for in this draft. Whether it is an X,Y, or slot the important thing is the ability to shake a defender quickly and give Mac a consistently open target. Separation matters. An outside the numbers guy would be ideal, imo, but I'm not sure how many there truly are in this draft. It seems even the top guys all have a few question marks and I'm trying to lowball my expectations into a lower-round developmental guy rather than an instant contributor as initially seemed logical prior to the acquisition of Devante Parker. It'll be very interesting to see how we address the position to see whether or not there may be a change in philosophy in the wind.

Jakobi Meyers can get open because he has the ability to string moves together and eventually get a defender off balance, but it takes a while for his routes to develop and sometimes causes a QB to skip him in the progression only to have Meyers come open but too late to get a target. He's a valuable player, but you couldn't run an effective offense if all the receivers ran their routes the way Jakobi does, I don't believe.
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Marion has become a legend in the science of running routes. His "Go-Go" offense is built on disciplined WRs. Speed helps but route running perfection is what gets WRs open whether they have superior speed or only average speed. That's why I place so much emphasis on route running. It's a heavily nuanced skill that takes mental and physical work to attain.

Marion's 31.9 yards per catch for a season & 28.7 career at Tulsa are both current ncaa FBS records.

The best route runner in this draft is Chris Olave and 2nd best is his team mate Garrett Wilson. Olave is smooth and disciplined; Wilson is sudden and quick. Either one would work just fine. Jameson Williams has great long speed as does London. They're all a little different but for the intermediate throws the Pats have used for years, Jameson Williams would almost be a waste, imho. Earlier in this thread I posted the WRs I like for the Pats by round. A number would do well as Slot or Y-Z receivers.
 
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chevss454 said:
Marion has become a legend in the science of running routes. His "Go-Go" offense is built on disciplined WRs. Speed helps but route running perfection is what gets WRs open whether they have superior speed or only average speed. That's why I place so much emphasis on route running. It's a heavily nuanced skill that takes mental and physical work to attain.

Marion's 31.9 yards per catch for a season & 28.7 career at Tulsa are both current ncaa FBS records.
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Interesting stuff. Thanks.
chevss454 said:
The best route runner in this draft is Chris Olave and 2nd best is his team mate Garrett Wilson. Olave is smooth and disciplined; Wilson is sudden and quick. Either one would work just fine. Jameson Williams has great long speed as does London. They're all a little different but for the intermediate throws the Pats have used for years, Jameson Williams would almost be a waste, imho. Earlier in this thread I posted the WRs I like for the Pats by round. A number would do well as Slot or Y-Z receivers.
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I've cooled off on him since the beginning, although I still consider him a slim possibility at 21, but here is hoping that maybe Bill is going to incorporate more deep routes as Mac develops physically. It looked to me that Mac threw a pretty sweet deep ball at Alabama showing his trademark accuracy, but maybe some patience will be required. Maybe the short/intermediate offense was designed around Brady's skillset more than as a stubborn preference of the HC that everybody has to fit what he is used to doing. I believe Jones can and will throw the deep ball more the question being when and certainly part of that equation is to have wideouts who can do some of the same things the guys he had in College could.
 
Hawg73 said:
Interesting stuff. Thanks.


I've cooled off on him since the beginning, although I still consider him a slim possibility at 21, but here is hoping that maybe Bill is going to incorporate more deep routes as Mac develops physically. It looked to me that Mac threw a pretty sweet deep ball at Alabama showing his trademark accuracy, but maybe some patience will be required. Maybe the short/intermediate offense was designed around Brady's skillset more than as a stubborn preference of the HC that everybody has to fit what he is used to doing. I believe Jones can and will throw the deep ball more the question being when and certainly part of that equation is to have wideouts who can do some of the same things the guys he had in College could.
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My definition of an intermediate route is 15-25 yds. All our guys now can do that. Agholor has the speed to run go routes and win some of the time. Parker, Meyers and Bourne can be successful on deeper routes if aided by the play action game to delay the pass rush to give them more time to get where they need to be. I think we will see more downfield throws this year, but mostly off PA passes.

21 for a WR is definitely a slim possibility in my mind. If BB does draft a WR this year I think he'll look for one early on the 3rd day. A Slot guy seems most likely. There are some who will be there who could help us later in this season but that's not BB's way unless he's forced to play them.

Front 7, CB or OL seem most likely to me unless he's able to trade back, don't you think?
 
chevss454 said:
Front 7, CB or OL seem most likely to me unless he's able to trade back, don't you think?
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Logic would say so, but what is logic to me isn't always the path that Bill follows.

I think Corner is the most likely position to be addressed if we use 21 or another 1st round pick through a trade. Key in that is whether Bill thinks a top prospect has
slipped down to us. For instance, many people think Derek Stingley is the best CB in this draft, but he is coming off foot surgery, has only played 10 games total the
past two seasons and hasn't been able to match his outstanding play as a Freshman. It is possible that foot might spook people off him, despite running a nice
40 at LSU's pro day. He could be excellent, but there's some risk involved.

The same phenomena that dropped Vince Wilfork into our laps could occur with two other guys that would fit your categories. The consensus best ILB is Christian Harris
and the best Guard is Kenyan Green. Both of those guys could be there should we go best player available and both could shore up a big need as a likely rookie starter.

Corner is the bigger need, but the whole football world can see we need to develop a fast ILB. Mike Onwenu is presently listed as both the starting right and left guard on
the official website and his backups are James Ferentz and Drew Desjarlais. Call them needs 1A,B and C.

Could our top pick be other than Front 7, CB or OL? Sure it could, but it'd be a bit of a surprise, which probably means we'll take Daxton Hill and have 8 Safeties on the roster.

:oops:
 
Hawg73 said:
Logic would say so, but what is logic to me isn't always the path that Bill follows.

I think Corner is the most likely position to be addressed if we use 21 or another 1st round pick through a trade. Key in that is whether Bill thinks a top prospect has
slipped down to us. For instance, many people think Derek Stingley is the best CB in this draft, but he is coming off foot surgery, has only played 10 games total the
past two seasons and hasn't been able to match his outstanding play as a Freshman. It is possible that foot might spook people off him, despite running a nice
40 at LSU's pro day. He could be excellent, but there's some risk involved.

The same phenomena that dropped Vince Wilfork into our laps could occur with two other guys that would fit your categories. The consensus best ILB is Christian Harris
and the best Guard is Kenyan Green. Both of those guys could be there should we go best player available and both could shore up a big need as a likely rookie starter.

Corner is the bigger need, but the whole football world can see we need to develop a fast ILB. Mike Onwenu is presently listed as both the starting right and left guard on
the official website and his backups are James Ferentz and Drew Desjarlais. Call them needs 1A,B and C.

Could our top pick be other than Front 7, CB or OL? Sure it could, but it'd be a bit of a surprise, which probably means we'll take Daxton Hill and have 8 Safeties on the roster.

:oops:
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Thinking out loud...
I also think CB is the most obvious need. That position has leaped up in the last 10 years in terms of importance for the NFL. BB knows he's good at drafting an IOL guy in the middle
rounds. That's a plug and play position with less to learn than, say, CB or LB or WR. So let's put IOL on hold for the 1st and 2nd rounds which puts us back at choosing between a CB or Front 7 guy with the first 2 picks. Caveat: Unless an OT, say Penning or Cross or Neal, drops to us. BB loves those 10-12 year stalwarts.

This CB draft has some great 1st round picks and some serviceable 2nd round picks. Any pick farther along in the mid to late rounds for CB probably won't see the field in a game for 2 yrs at a minimum, or forever, so, for me, it's CB early in the draft or grab a more expensive one in FA/Cutdowns or by trade. The draft is more economical. Stingley, McDuffie, Gardner, Booth.

LB is another position where the cupboard empties quickly in mocks for the highly touted sideline to sideline guys. Take 1 early or fuhgetaboutit. Besides, I have no idea what BB wants in a LB. Everyone keeps saying speed at LB but we said it when Von Miller and Bobby Wagner were drafted, too. BB chose 250 lb Hightower. With all the S/LB & S/CB hybrids he's collected the last 2 years, does BB still look at LB and think "speed"? I don't think so. BB stays old school with LB for the 1st 2 plays then brings in the hybrids for passing downs. That's his solution to LB speed and, besides, a thumper (Leo Chenal?) can be found long after the Bobby Wagners are gone. And Hightower's price keeps going down with every passing day. Just sayin'.

DL is less of a need and there's an immovable guy named McCall later down the draft anyway...unless one of the premier DTs fall to 21. It could happen, especially if a couple of QB needy teams draft QBs early to begin a run no one expected. Jordan Davis might be there...360 lbs of sure run stopping power for at least 4 yrs and maybe for 10-12 years. Or Wyatt.

Bottom line: BB will let the draft come to him with a guy at each position (CB, OL, DL) in mind to draft if they fall to him at 21. WR isn't on his list.
If they don't fall, he's already lined up a few potential trading partners to trade back to pick up an extra pick or 2 later on.
 
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Dr. Jessica Flynn, Sports Medicine and Sx Specialist, has written about the 1st round picks who have had Sx and what to expect.

www.docflynn.com

2022 NFL Draft: Injury Considerations — Dr. Jess Flynn

In the calendar that never sleeps, April means it’s time to get ready for the 2022 NFL Draft. I’ll be touching on some of the major injury considerations that teams are discussing with their medical staffs right now. The commentary below is driven by NFL data (ie how often and when do NFL athletes
www.docflynn.com www.docflynn.com
 
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