Bailey - 5'10", 193 lbs, 32.68 inch arm length, 9.78 inch hands Austin - 5'8.5", 174 lbs, 30.08 inch arm length, 9.18 inch hands
I'd take the combination of Bailey and Stills to complete our WR corp anyday! We could land both those guys much later in the draft, and fill positions of true need with the earlier picks!
If I'm the Miami Dolphins and I'm looking at how I need to round out my receivers unit, there are two things I want: 1. Run after catch 2. Physicality That's what I'm missing from my current unit. I've got Mike Wallace who is fast as hell and because he's fast, he's a legit run after catch player. But he's not necessarily a gifted one. He gets yards after catch because of his pure speed but you can only count on it in certain situations. Brian Hartline and Brandon Gibson are TERRIBLE run after catch players. Not physical whatsoever, not fast, have not demonstrated competence at keeping their feet. Your run after catch "guy" is really Davone Bess. He's the guy that serves that function most consistently in the situations in which you count on run after catch. But he's really only mediocre at it. Rank him with the rest of the league, he's annually about 50th percentile. You want better than him. And you're not getting significant contributions from your tight ends unit in this regard, even with the addition of Dustin Keller. And like I said the other thing you want to add is just pure strength and physicality. This can be useful in the run after catch effort as it is what can create touchdowns out of field goals. But it's also about what a guy can do with the football in the air making physically contested catches. Mike Wallace doesn't fit this. Brian Hartline sure as hell doesn't. Davone Bess doesn't. Brandon Gibson doesn't. And you know what? Our tight ends don't, either. You're completely lacking in this area, unless Rishard Matthews ascends quickly. From there you just have to figure out how you want to add those things. Do you try and add both dimensions in a single player? That's usually the best way to do it but fittingly it's also the hardest to do. If you're not convinced that you're getting both dimensions out of any of those guys, you start to look at specialists. Tavon Austin, Cordarrelle Patterson, Quinton Patton and Stedman Bailey are clearly pass catching, run-after-catch specialists. So is tight end Vance McDonald. This is what these guys are. It's their identity, IMO. They do other things well too but they're the cream of the crop as far as run-after-catch is concerned. Once you get beyond them, to notch the same kind of ability in this area you've got to go for rolls of the dice like Denard Robinson and Sam McGuffie. On the other hand if you're looking for physicality and strength in your PASS CATCHING effort, along with perhaps the after catch effort, you're looking at a different set of players. You're looking at Tyler Eifert, Travis Kelce, Keenan Allen, Da'Rick Rogers, Chris Harper and Mark Harrison. Some of those guys give you some elements of both characteristics. Clearly Keenan Allen and Da'Rick Rogers can run after the catch. Mark Harrison and Chris Harper give you some good ability in that regard as well. Part of this is their physicality though. They don't necessarily possess great run after catch skills, but their size, strength and physicality give them good run after catch ability. On the other hand, Cordarrelle Patterson notches some physical abilities both in his catching and in his run after catch. And the only reason Vance McDonald wouldn't be a perfect combination of both is because his hands are a weakness.
I would probably want to personally include Zach Ertz in that second group. I watched that guy get down and dirty after having the ball. Often taking on linebackers, 2 at a time to get another yard. He also has very gifted hands. Reminds me much of Dallas Clark, cept more physical. I like the outline and reasoning you have given here Chris. Makes lots of sense and does follow the "Mantra" Philbin is probably looking at. Opens my eyes to guys they might go after and why. I am also very very high on Kennan Allen. I am of the opinion, that if he can stay healthy, he is the best WR in the draft, and will be a top in the league in short time....but that is JMHO. Where do you envision him going in the draft?
We're clearly going to disagree on Zach Ertz. I don't see that. I think Keenan Allen falls into the 2nd round. He's a decent player. I could just imagine him being sort of average at everything at the NFL level. If he had better balance or speed he'd clearly be an above average run after catch guy at the next level, but the balance and speed are what they are and so I could see it just being mediocre. If he had better size he might be a more physically dominating guy at the next level, but he doesn't. I have a feeling he has a tough time with adjusting to the NFL from a personality standpoint based on things I've heard that I'm not going to get into. I'm not interested in either player. Ertz or Allen.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2013/04/detroit_lions_to_host_wr_tavon.html Interesting that the Lions are looking at Austin and Patterson.
Not really. It's because whereas Omar and Armando have reputations for acting like complete a-holes to people, Volin is a nice guy and he's been around long enough for the fans to get to know him better.
I think Tavon Austin might go #11 to the Chargers to tell you the truth. They want a tackle but the three tackles could be long gone by the time they pick. They could be gone by the time the Cards pick too.
Volin also seems more knowledgable. The other two focus more on getting reactions and they say more stupid things.
Exactly, and he also does not appear to have some massive ego that must be stroked. He's a down to earth guy who to this point hasn't got too big for his britches. Hopefully he stays that way, similar to Jeff Darlington as his career has grown. Jeff comes across to me as a genuine nice guy. I can see Volin following a similar path.
I could see them going corner too. Why wouldn't they like Rhodes? Cason was replaced by Cox, but so far they have not replaced their other starter, Jammer.
Volin seems to stick to mainly reporting facts. He does give opinions when asked point blank though, such as on Path To The Draft. Mando is a columnist. As for Omar, I don't know what he is. I know he likes to quote too many bible verses on Twitter to make me want to ever follow him.
They may like Rhodes. Hard to say. With Derek Cox in the fold, and they like Marcus Gilchrist keep in mind, they may not feel the need to force the issue at the position.
Well that, and Volin is actually readable and accurate, at least some of the time, which is more often than either of the other two.
It would surprise me if they took Austin considering they have Mike Thomas who can play the slot quite well, and if Ryan Broyles comes back to 100% they have a 2nd quality slot receiver. On the perimeter, besides CJ, they have Burleson & Robiskie and that's it, so I could see Patterson as a possibility. I'm guessing a few teams will pretend to be interested in a couple of these hot players with the hopes a team behind them trades up so that the odds increase that they player they really want may slide to them.
