Tyron Mathieu got demolished by a lot of SEC receivers that aren't going to make it in the NFL. Most look at Mathieu and see the big plays he made, but they don't see all the times he got beat in coverage. Mathieu is a below average cover corner, so that's not a very good example. See, when Austin was beating Mathieu, Stedman Bailey was beating Jim Thorpe Award winner Morris Claiborne.
This is a little dated, but this is Matt Waldman's view on Tavon Austin during the season: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/futures/2012/futures-west-virginia-wr-tavon-austin Just a few points from the article:
you talk about reservations about Austin playing outside in the NFL.... so what about a 5'9 1/2, 193 pound, 4.51 receiver who plays at a similar speed? What is it about an extremely twitchy 4.28 receiver with amazing balance & body control, incredible lateral agility, elite start-stop ability, can explode out of breaks, can catch & track balls, and can go up or down to make the tough catch tells you "can't be a perimeter receiver"?
All in all, looking up and down the wide receiver times...this is a FAST group this year. Unofficially, at least. I mean, just take the whole group in.
I'm watching the runs now. So far I might have to question some of these hand times. But I'll sweep it all up when I re-time everything.
King looked pretty good in the gauntlet drills I thought, and the routes they are doing now he looks pretty smooth.
I don't see any instances where he is being physical against tight coverage and making a play on the ball, and when he runs with the ball, he doesn't run as physical as Percy Harvin and Randall Cobb ran with. Like Matt Waldman said in his article, Andrew Hawkins has similar size, start stop ability, twitchiness, and speed to Tavon Austin, and he's nothing more than a slot receiver in the NFL.
I feel like you're thinking too inside the box with Austin. .... and any notion that Bess is as dynamic with the ball in his hands as Austin automatically discredits that person's opinion. That's just absurd WADR to Matt Waldman. McCluster and Austin are nothing alike. McCluster is a running back trying to play receiver b/c he's too small to play running back in the NFL. Austin is a receiver through and through who can line up at tail back.
Then show me some instances where he is going up against a physical cornerback, out physicals said cornerback, and makes a play on the ball.
Just saw Patton do his vertical. Didn't look like he was happy with his 1st attempt, but he improved by two or three rungs on his 2nd try.
Goodwin is fast for sure, but he just doesn't look good at these drills, especially next to a lot if these other WRs. Wish Keenan Allen could've worked out.
Playing on the outside versus the inside isn't about size dimensions. And it's not about speed dimensions. It's about skill. Stedman Bailey showed the skill to play on the outside. In my opinion, Tavon Austin did not.
This re-affirms my belief that these forty times are overrated. I'm more interested in seeing an explosive burst from the receiver, and straight line speed means very little to me in the long run as no football play runs everything in a straight line. DeAndre Hopkins runs a 4.5 forty, but from a statistical standpoint, he's one of the better deep threats in the draft. Tavon Austin runs a 4.25, but only 7% of his pass attempts came further than 20 yards down the field.
College statistics are not necessarily predictive of NFL success IMO. Especially at that position. Nuk Hopkins may have caught a lot of deep balls at that level but that doesn't mean he'll do it at the next level.
In my opinion Nuk Hopkins is limited. Really great route runner and really good with the ball in the air. But physically, in terms of strength, or speed, or run after catch ability...it's not there, IMO. In the NFL you can run routes exactly as they're drawn and play the ball in the air really well, and still just be a mediocre football player.
Tavon Austin looked to have a better start, but Goodwin would have smoked him in 60 or 100 yds based on the simulcast.
Tannehill getting interviewed live on NFL.com, pretty vanilla stuff mainly, but says he's hoping for a 4.30 from Swope. Anything near that would push him up some boards.
show me instances where Tavon hasn't b/c I haven't seen any; however I have seen him make plays on the ball vs tougher coverage even though the opportunities were few and far between. It seems like you're penalizing him for being such a fast and difficult player to cover who rarely sees tight coverage b/c of it. I'd think it's a good thing that he's amazing at creating good separation. Here's a handful of examples you asked for (timestamped): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0AAWC5t0trY#t=401s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Vkag11ynHws#t=377s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vjtFdbiGyfM#t=205s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xyqaiYE9BhE#t=108s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rtMnEHUlljw#t=94s How's Austin look on the perimeter on this play 1:20 mark (as a sophomore no less)? [video=youtube;uICLaJ93rpU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uICLaJ93rpU#t=80 s[/video] I've showed you mine; now you show me yours.
I agree Bailey showed skill to play on the outside; however an NFL GM or HC might look at him and say, "This kid looks great on the outside in college but in the NFL he'll probably make a better impact for us in the slot" similarly to how Ryan Broyles looked great on the outside at Oklahoma but was moved inside in Detroit. IMO Tavon had too much on his plate as it was to add perimeter receiver to it, but I don't think that means he can't develop into a quality perimeter receiver. In fact, his ability to learn and play such a vast role leads me to believe he'll be able to assimilate an outside role in time, too. I totally agree with you however that Austin has yet to show the skill on the outside that Bailey has, but I don't think that means he can't develop the skill set.
The biggest problem I would have with Tavon Austin as a WIDE RECEIVER is the simple fact that he didn't catch his balls in college against corners. He caught them against safeties and linebackers, or against nobody at all, because he was a slot guy, a backfield guy. So really, that's all you know he can do at the next level. You don't know he can go against NFL corners, run the route, get open and finish the catch. You can guess, and that's what the Draft is all about is guessing, but there's a lot more unknown there. I can isolate Stedman Bailey going against NFL caliber corners and witness him running routes, getting open and making catches. I can isolate Cordarrelle Patterson going against NFL caliber corners and witness him running routes, getting open and making catches. Can you do that with Tavon Austin?
So? He was a slot receiver. Of course a smaller percentage resulted downfield. It's the nature of the position, but he catches a heck of a lot more balls downfield than any slot receiver around and is a serious vertical threat. When removing the 28 sweep-screens that skew his stats, that 7% jumps to roughly 10%. 10% from the slot is outstanding! That's what Quinton Patton averaged on the outside. Don't you like Quinton Patton? Shouldn't he have had an inherently greater opportunity for more 20+ yarders than a slot receiver? That's not a slap against Patton; it's a pat on the back for Austin b/c how often do we see a slot receiver who can make as many plays downfield as an outside guy?
You might be pegging Broyles before his time. He was a rookie and they already had two established guys on the outside. Plus he hardly played because he was coming back from the one injury and then quickly got hurt again.
I agree. IMO his ceiling (if he reaches it, which I hope he does) = really good #2 possession receiver.
Second group of WRs coming up now. Going to see Cordarrelle Patterson run right away. Lots of pressure on Patterson to keep up with this group!
but when he did play he was mostly in the slot IIRC, and I believe I recall it being mentioned that Detroit's reasoning for drafting Broyles was specifically for the slot. Like Bailey, he obviously possesses the ability to play outside and be moved around but I'm not sure he's quite as good there as he is in the slot. I thought he looked damn good in the slot.
Great times coming in. Cordarrelle Patterson looked like he stumbled out of the blocks and still got a 4.37. Quinton Patton runs the perfect time for him at 4.46. Denard Robinson blazes a 4.34 in the 40. Da'Rick Rogers looked slow to me on tape. I saw him outrun by some 4.5 guys and even some 4.6 guys at times. He ran a 4.56 and that's currently the slowest of any wide receiver this year.
