Another reason I like him is because he’s pretty much the only athlete I’ve ever seen who can be known as XL
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I don’t think Xavier is nearly as good with starting and stoping. He won’t ever be the right runner Ayiuk has become IMO.
I think AJ Brown is the best comp I’ve seen. Not predicting that level of success for him but I do see overlap in their games.
Moulds isn’t bad. Like Moulds, Legette has that KR background.
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Yeah the Brown comp is the most common and certainly from the standpoint of play style, it’s hard to get much closer. They look the same when you’re watching them.
Like I said I think Legette’s faster but that certainly hasn’t stopped Brown from being a deep threat, and while Brown seems to have a preternatural gift for separating at the top of his route, I don’t think Legette is as bad at it as some of the scouting reports would have you believe. I wouldn’t call it a strength, for him, but he got open against a few Georgia CBs (including Lassiter) with a quick throttle-down. He can do it.
And Brown has that centerfield background so he’s as good as it gets with back to the ball efforts on vertical routes. Xavier is fine but he’s not the virtuoso that Brown is.
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If we’re going WR in the first round at #29, I think we need to be mindful of Jared’s needs and preferences. To be comfortable to pull the trigger, he needs to see the WR either open or about to get open. So I’d take Ladd over Xavier.
Though I like the name Xavier almost as much as Jer’Zhan, so there’s that…
I’m a huge Ladd fan, so I’d be pretty excited about adding him, but the way I see it is this: adding him, or Pearsall, or Roman Wilson (or any of that type) is gonna muddy up the short areas of the field even more than it is now (where ARSB, LaPorta and Gibbs will be operating, for the most part).
Getting open quickly in and of itself implies shorter, quicker passing, and I just don’t think that is an area we need to upgrade nearly as much as our overall spacing. In fact it would probably work against us.
Now I don’t doubt Ben could make it work, especially with Ladd who can be used in the deeper parts of the field now and then to keep a defense honest. But I don’t think a receiver like that presents the sort of impossible, pick-your-poison scenarios that will leave defenses utterly out of sorts.
But with a guy like XL (or Thomas or Franklin, etc…), teams will be forced to stay in two high, which to me will create even more space for ARSB, LaPorta and Gibbs to operate.
That is the best counter to the adjustments I expect defenses to make against us, where they try and take away the short and especially middle areas of the field. For virtually every team, this will require the deployment of safeties. But Jamo and a new X will force the safeties to keep one eye on them, which should eliminate them from helping before our other guys have done their damage.
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If you want that but in an X WR body just wait and grab Jalen Coker later. There is level of competition risk of course but only two drops last year and 12 on his career. Steve Smith thinks he’s the best route runner in the draft and he posted the 18th fasted acceleration and 8 fasted deceleration marks during Shrine Game week. He also had the 12th fasted MPH clocking despite speed concerns. He’ll block. He’ll play special teams.
Wouldn’t be a sexy add but if the goal is to (in time) cheaply replace Reynolds you could do worse. Plus you’d get the help on Specials in the meanwhile.
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Another post illustrating late breakout concerns for WRs.
https://x.com/joegoodberry/status/1775895389516038388?s=46&t=LFKEGZaCKPSswf-uVGH04A
I’m also really starting to like the value that Jalen McMillan is presenting. He’s not an X (though I think he could function as a Z) but he went into the year as Co #1 with Rome. He was a top 40 recruit and a draftable MLB prospect out of HS. So pretty good athlete and not really small as you’d think. Pretty good value at 73 if he’s there.
You make a lot of good points.
I was envisioning Ladd as a threat a little deeper and later and more frequently than now and then–around the 20-25 yard areas where Goff is still comfortable. The even deeper threats would be real too and have to be defended of course. So say the voices in my head…
For sure he runs those routes plenty on tape for Georgia, but to me in the amount of time it takes him to come open over that distance, Legette would be open too. Maybe only by a yard instead of three, but he is also much more likely to do damage once the ball is in his hands, whereas McConkey is more apt to get tackled.
And while I agree Goff really doesn’t throw to guys who are covered, there’s a difference between throwing it up and giving his guy a chance (which he does not do, especially along the sideline), and hitting a guy in a tight window. Goff will do the latter, his accuracy is his best trait. There are a lot of throws to LaPorta where he’s only got a yard of space. If he hits Legette on something like that, we’ll see a lot of house calls.
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That’s gonna be put to the test this year by some good players imo.
In my mind, logically, there should be more success stories from guys who break out late, because I think there are a plethora of reasons guys might not get a chance earlier. Especially in today’s climate with the transfer window. It just seems illogical to me that this is so much of a thing.
I get where breaking out early is a sign of future success. That should definitely be a check in the pros column. I just think it’s odd that a lack of an early breakout is a check in the cons. Context should matter more imo, and I think this year it will start to.
I really like Coker but I figured he would be gone before our pick in round 5. He doesn’t have great long speed but he had a good 10 yd split. I think his physical makeup is off the charts for a WR. Long arms and big hands but wasn’t really tested and always came down with the ball against the competition he was facing. At that level you would like to see a little more after the catch from a guy who is so superior athletically. Then again Reynolds offered nothing at all after the catch. What round do you project for Coker?
Mid day 3 would be my guess
Yeah, the 10/40 disparity spins my mind sometimes. Coker’s is 1.52/4.57 and Troy Franklin’s is 1.61/4.41.
I suppose it shouldn’t surprise after Usain Bolt would regularly be behind other elite sprinters at 40 and then way ahead at 100.
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DJs latest top 50
Yowza:
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Is he any good at football?
Whoa, he is amazingly fluid for a 352 lbs dude at 6’7" based on that one run…
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No idea. More than half the league went to his pro day though. Like, actually attended. (I don’t think we were one).