It's day 2 of on-field stuff, and again I'm watching through the NFL network. Today's drills are important from a Patriots fan's perspective, as WR could be a huge need. Relax though; while the 40s of WRs and their catching abilities are important, they will not be all I"m going to write about today. With no further ado, let's get started.
1) Damn, they're fast...: With a WR, speed is important when running the deeper routes, whether it be the go route (aka the 9 route), the post, or the corner (aka the 7 route). While it may not be everything, speed is a factor. And this year's group of receivers have it in spades. The two guys that stood out especially went early on today, in Tavon Austin (who I'll focus more on later) and Marquise Goodwin, both of which ran a 4.25 UNOFFICIAL 40. And again, while there may not be as much emphasis on the speed of a WR in the NE offense (the team more emphasizes quickness and route running), guys with that type of speed are of great importance in ANY offense.
2) ...but they'd better catch it: Of course, a receiver's hands are EXTREMELY important. It's one thing to be a speed guy, but if you can't catch the ball or run precise routes, a WR is missing 2/3 of the equation. From the looks of things, the WRs in group 4 were running the routes so sharply that it didn't look natural, but they did seem to do a really good job with catching the ball. And again, it was said yesterday, but the combine is only a part of the puzzle. The Game tape can really help to show you the route running abilities, although from the looks of it, one of the speed guys (Goodwin) could use a bit more work on knowing where to look for the ball.
3) The QBs need work: All the draft experts are of the opinion that this year's class of QBs is not even remotely close to last year's level. From what was seen today, I don't think that their minds were changed. Mayock and Kurt Warner were mentioning multiple times that the QBs were throwing late or behind, trying too hard to hit the receiver instead of leading the receivers. This is a problem: it's been shown multiple times in the NFL that if you're late or behind, it could easily be a pick or a concussion for the WR. I also agree with how Mayock said that there are some consistency issues with some of the bigger prospects, which is a bit of a worry. Gotta wonder about some of the decision making under pressure.
4) Quicker than Fast: It's a saying that was heard a pretty decent amount today from Mike Mayock, and it proved to be true with most of the RBs. There were some outliers (Knile Davis and his 4.30 unofficial 40, for one), but for the most part, you saw more quickness with RBs than there was pure top speed. This is not a bad thing; most runs aren't of the 80-yard variety, but it does help to have good long speed.
All in all, there were quite a few good performances today. Among the WRs, I saw about 4 or 5 that I liked more than others, none of which were your typical Height-Weight-Speed guys. I'll prob. reveal those later on, after the combine. Like mentioned, you should see a post from Alberto after the Combine. And of course, the Jets are the court Jesters.
-TheRealZBD
No comments:
Post a Comment