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A Prayer for Sammy Watkins
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NFL Closeup: Kenny Stills and 50/50 Ball Technique
An essential part of studying college stars is projecting them to the NFL game. You can’t do that well unless you’re well-versed in the NFL game. Therefore I watch a ton of pro football. One of the terms I dislike that describes an aspect of playing the wide receiver position is “50/50 balls.” The term…
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Keenan Allen RSP Sample
The following excerpt and attachment at the end of this post are samples from the 2013 Rookie Scouting Portfolio on Chargers’ wide receiver Keenan Allen. The Cal prospect was my No.2 receiver in both the pre-draft and post-draft versions of the RSP despite the fact he ran poor 40-times due to a lingering knee injury.…
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Blocking: Alabama WR Kevin Norwood
To the casual college football viewer, wide receivers and blocking go together like orange slices with pepper or french fries dipped in a Frosty. Both seem odd, but they work. A receiver who does his best to make the position and the task fit together Alabama’s Kevin Norwood. I can think of dozens of receivers…
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WR Mike Evans: Shades of Boston
Before David Boston was making headlines for substance abuse, he was a fine wide receiver. I’m not talking about the rocked-up Chargers’ incarnation. When Boston was an Arizona Cardinal and Ohio State Buckeye he had the makings of a perennial Pro Bowl performer. Even before he became a weight room fanatic, Boston was big, strong,…
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Futures: Clemson WR Sammy Watkins
It seems ridiculous to label a wide receiver with an 82-catch, 1219-yard, 12-touchdown debut as “unsung,” but consider the company Sammy Watkins kept his freshman year. The Clemson wide receiver is one of only four players in the history of college football to earn First Team All-America honors as a true freshman. The other three…
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On Scouting Wide Receivers
I believe analytics have value, but the grading of wide receivers based heavily on speed, vertical skill, and production is an ambitious, but misguided idea. Further the application is the torturing of data to fit it into a preconceived idea and making it sound objective and scientific due to the use of quantitative data. Unless…
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Flashes: WR Allen Hurns, Miami
Long-time college and NFL coach Dave Wannestedt told an ESPN crew that he awarded Dion Lewis a full ride to Pitt after watching just one play of the Browns running back’s high school tape. Sounds foolish, but I won’t lie: There are some plays impressive enough that you realize you’ve seen much of what you…
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Futures at Football Outsiders: Venric Mark, Offensive Weapon?
Venric Mark: Offensive Weapon? by Matt Waldman A couple of months ago, an employee from an NFL player-personnel department asked for preliminary input on a project he’s undertaking. He asked me to relay things I watch when I study offensive skill players that he could quantify. One of the things I shared pertains to running backs. What…
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RSP Flashback: Cardinals WR Andre Roberts
The 2010 rookie class of wide receivers was a minefield for draft analysts. The strength of the class lay in its collective athleticism. For every Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas who have developed into play-makers there are the likes of Arrelious Benn, Carlton Mitchell, David Gettis, and Marcus Easley – eye-catching athletes who have struggled…