I can see this kid has talent. He just seems to run away from everybody. Keeps getting wide open. Catches everything in sight. But man I just can’t get past how slender this kid’s frame is and wonder legitimately whether he’s going to be able to take the beating he’s going to get in press man and from safeties and linebackers. I’m open minded here. Someone explain to me why he’s going to be a major league difference maker, and not just another Sammy Watkins or Nelson Agholar? Is he a mini Jerry Rice? Is he going to run a 4.31?
I personally think he’ll be fine (or, no more injured than most receivers), but I guarantee some front offices will be too worried about that very thing to draft him with a top ten pick.
I wouldn’t take him top 10. Too small.
He’s fast like those 2(Watkins and Agholar), but he’s a much better route runner IMO.
One scouting report I read addressed this as well as any. The scout when talking with his peers who brought up this very concern said… I’ll accept that as a concern as soon as you can give me a single incident where it was a problem. And not one scout could. It never effected him once in college.
Now with that said he is bigger than a lot of WR’s in the NFL today. It’s a non factor if you ask me but if you don’t believe me let me prove it.
He was reportedly 6’1 and 175 lbs last year at the start of the season… but I’ll bet you he’s bulked up by at least 5-10 lbs by his pro day. Players always are. I’ll be shocked if he weighs in under 185lbs.
The NFL is littered with successful WR’s that fall into his weight range.
Steve Smith was 5’9” and 184lbs
Wes Welker was 5’9 and 185lbs.
DeSean Jackson was 5’9 175lbs
Tyreek Hill is 5’10 185lbs
Tavon Austin is 5’8 176lbs
Cole Beasley is 5’8 180 lbs
Brandin Cook is 5’10 180 lbs.
Travis Benjamin was 5’10 175lbs.
Will Fuller is 6’0 180lbs
Ted Ginn Is 5’10 180lbs
Tyler Lockett is 5’10 182lbs
Emmanuel Sanders is 5’10 180lbs
Antonio Brown is 5’10 181 lbs.
Randy Moss was lanky too. He was 6’4 194lbs coming out.
There’s plenty of other lanky guys like Stefan Diggs, Robert Woods, and Robby Anderson just to name a few.
I bet with a little thought I could come up with dozens more. But I think you get my point.
Smith is an incredible talent and I’d have zero reservations about taking him. He’s going to be a stud in the NFL.
8 Likes
This is just me, but when I see Davonta I kind of get flashbacks of watching Odell Beckham prior to the 2014 draft. Will he be as good? Don’t know, but that’s my comp for him.
I think the Antonio Brown comparison is right on. I don’t expect him to run 4.3 but should run in the 4.4 range. Also will likely have a great 10 yard split.
I don’t think you can go wrong with either of the top 3 WR (Chase, Smith or Waddle). I personally don’t think the value is there drafting a WR in the top 10 with so many holes on our defense.
Trading back in the 12-15 range would be great as Waddle SHOULD still be on the board unless he runs some crazy 4.2 in which case he likely is gone top 10.
1 Like
I would steer clear of Antonio Brown comparisons. Brown is kind of in his own special lane. Particularly when you hear people talk about his practice habits. One teammate said “Antonio shows up to every practice like its Super Bowl Sunday.”
I bet he is too, but there’s no way he plays at that weight. It was very telling that he refused to weigh in at the Senior Bowl; the only reason he would do something like that is if his weight was too low and he knew it, and he also knew he could get it up by his pro day. Also telling that he’s been in the most advanced, professional strength and conditioning program for 4 years and he still can’t get his weight up. He’s just one of those guys who’s always gonna be skinny, I bet he plays the bulk of his career at 175.
Now I still think he’s going to be very good, maybe even great. But he’s going to be doing it by bucking a lot of trends.
1 Like
Well done.
He seems pretty skinny but a good offseason of weight training and just getting older will put some weight on him. Im good with any of the top 3 receivers at 7.
Marvin Harrison is the comparison I see.
4 Likes
Yeah, he is Marvin Harrison. His frame hasn’t stopped him yet, and I doubt it will. He is truly a generational talent.
1 Like
As much as we need to fix the defense, it would be very tempting to have Swift, Hock and Smith all together for Goff. That would be a young and talented group of skill players.
Is it me or do these “generational talents” keep coming around once every 3 to 5 years or so?
6 Likes
Personally, I think in today’s NFL it’s ok to have a WR of Smith’s stature.
Back in the day, it was much harder for a guy like this to stay healthy. A few hits from LB’s and safeties and these dudes started to break. They are afforded a lot of protections now that allow them to stay relatively healthy.
I think I would have been a lot more apprehensive to take a smallish WR 10 years ago than I would today. Just look at that list…Tons of those guys are extremely productive and don’t really have a problem staying healthy. Some of them do, but most of them are just fine.
2 Likes
It is basically flag football these days, especially across the middle of the field. Safeties and linebackers used to make you pay for catching the ball in the middle of field. Now, they try to tickle you and punch the football out. Skinny WR’s can have long careers now with no real concern of getting lit up.
I respect the feedback. I get that there have been successful WRs who are in the 170’s and 180’s. But I can’t think of many who’s frame is as frail looking as Smith’s. I knew in my bones that Moss would be a superstar as soon as I saw him dominating at Marshall, even though he was on the lean side. Antonio Brown doesn’t strike me as skinny, nor does OBJ. This guy does:
Curious that he declined to have his height measured or be weighed at the Senior Bowl.
It will be interesting to see if he will weigh in at his pro day. We all know colleges add inches or lbs in their ht/wt listings (my college added 2” to my ht).
I’d not be at all surprised if he were really 161 and Bama rounded up to something more respectable. Granted, it hasn’t slowed him down and maybe he’s just one of those junkyard dawgs who can take unlimited punishment and keep getting up and performing at the highest level. I think it’s an interesting debate with some quality opinions on both sides, regardless.
You guys are reminding me of the game prospects used to play back in the day when the top talent didn’t always participate in the combine drills, and they’d save it for their pro day. So you’d have a receiver who played at like 6’-2" 205 lbs. He’d throw on extra weight to get weighed in at the combine at like 220, which included water weight he slapped on for the weigh in. Then he’d slim down to like 195 lbs to run at his pro day. Now when they slap together his measurements he looks like he’s a 6’-2" 220 lbs guy who runs a 4.40 when in reality if he would have ran at 220 lbs he would have been 4.52 and but plays at 205 where he’s more like a 4.46.
Sorry…I got off track. But its a good reminder to take some of these weight measurements with a grain of salt when you are trying to dial it in within 10 or so pounds. These kids can quickly gain or lose 10-20 lbs in an instant. Roy Williams showed up at the combine at 212 to kill his drills, but admitted he hadn’t played a game that light since his junior year in high school. His playing weight was more like 230-235 and 2007 was the year Mike Martz challenged him to get back down to 212 (and it became his best year).
Looking back at history, does anyone else think Tedd Ginn might match the slimness of Smith? Particularly since they wore bigger pads back then, and nutrition wasn’t the same so guys carried a little more water weight on them.
