The Rookie Scouting Portfolio (RSP)

Category: Wide Receiver

  • No-Huddle Series: Iowa State WR Darius Reynolds

    As Jon Gruden said during his QB Camp episode with Brandon Weeden, Iowa State is “a pretty good football team. Quietly, they’ve become formidable.” You don’t become that quietly formidable without some quietly formidable players. I think that pair of words fits wide receiver Darius Reynolds. The Cyclones receiver ran a 4.54-40, bench pressed 225…

  • NY Times Fifth Down Top-Five Series: No.1 WR Michael Floyd

    1. Michael Floyd, Notre Dame (6-2, 220) From the standpoint of on-field performance, I believe Floyd has the best all-around skills and talents among the receivers in this draft class. This is a talent-rich group, but none of the prospects in this class have all of the qualities that Floyd brings to the game. When…

  • NY Times Fifth Down Top-Five Series: No.3 WR Kendall Wright

    3. Kendall Wright, Baylor (5-10, 196) (Video above different from video at NY Times) There was a time that I considered Wright the best receiver in this draft class. He’s not big, but he is physical and that is what you need from an N.F.L. player with his speed and quickness. He has no problem…

  • No-Huddle Series: Ohio WR Lavon Brazill

    No-Huddle Series: Ohio WR Lavon Brazill

    If you haven’t seen the announcement about my No-Huddle Series, read here. Since most of you don’t click links when you read (neither do I – at least not all of them), I’ll emphasize what’s important: this series is one-play displays of certain things I like about a player. They are not meant to generate…

  • Rankings Insight for This Year’s WR Class

    When it comes to this series, I usually just provide a teaser of the post to the Fifth Down and link you to the rest. But with today’s receivers,  No.5 WR Greg Childs and No. 4 WR Marvin Jones, I want to discuss the thought process behind their unusually high ranking – and a few…

  • Cal WR Keenan Allen: Creating Separation With His Hands

    I’ll still be writing about 2012 NFL Draft prospects in the coming months, but with the 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio in the books – and available for download – I’m also beginning my work for next year’s draft. See below. If you’ve been reading my blog for at least a couple of months then you…

  • Arkansas WR Greg Childs: Career Resurrection?

    The Career Near-Death Experience. This is one of my favorite Bloomisms of football writing. A Bloomism is what I call the slang that Footballguys and Bleacher Report Draft Analyst Sigmund Bloom (who is also a medalist in some Writer-Olympiad) creates to encompass various football experiences, states of mind, or rights of passage in the sport.…

  • Juron Criner: “Trust Me”

    Whether it was in a stadium, the park, the street, or your friend’s back yard, I know you’ve been in a situation where you knew you could take the man assigned to you. All you had to do was convince your quarterback. The fewer the words, the better. “Trust me.”

  • Lloydesque Sleeper: ECU WR Lance Lewis

    (Warning, soundtrack not safe for work): Brandon Lloyd was the subject of the second football-related article I ever wrote. This was two years before I launched the Rookie Scouting Portfolio. Lloyd was a fourth-round pick in his second year with the 49ers and he was beginning to make plays like the ones above. I have…

  • Vertical Goodness: Stephen Hill

    Because I’m tired of picking on Stephen Hill… I’ve been critical of the Georgia Tech receiver all week, but I’ve also been saying that the star of the Combine is more than just a gold medal winner 2012’s Underwear Olympics at Lucas Oil Stadium. Hill is a legit prospect with NFL starter upside. Although I’ve…