I finished looking at the WR’s in this upcoming draft and I always find this position very interesting and I will get to that in just a second, but I would like to clear up a few things with the RB list established earlier.

After watching all the tape and just going by that the best RB in this years class is Donald Brown for Connecticut, he is the most complete in all areas, quickness, power running skills hands blocking and so on. What confirmed it for me (and I unfortunately do not always get this information) is while I was at ESPN the University of Connecticut is only a few miles away so the exposure to Donald was widespread. He is a class act and has his priorities in place, what I’m trying to say is a team can trust him. You know what was interesting if you go back and read what I had written about him, the one thing that stood out more than anything is how hard he played with out the football. That speaks to character and he has it and he is my number one back. I still like Greene over Wells and it is like splitting hairs because when you have academic problems and flunk out that speaks to work ethic. I know Greene came back and he just might have learned his lesson and if so he will become a very powerful back, but if money is his goal he could be a bust. And Wells has moments that he looks like an absolute stud and then there are times he looks like he is just not into it and I watched tape when he was healthy because I know he had a foot injury, but when I see a player that never plays as hard as he can all the time that is a big red flag for me. If Wells comes into the NFL with the playing attitude he had at Ohio State he will always frustrate coaches and fans. Moreno and McCoy are not future backs in this league neither play with the power necessary to be consistent in this league, both have quickness and catching abilities along with running and blocking skills that will make them a great weapon for some coach, but they will need complement in the backfield to survive in the NFL.

WR - this position is so hard to evaluate because in college seldom do you see anyone run a route any more, in fact if you went on just route running ability you would pick Ohio State’s Brian Robiskie. He is the most polished and has played in a system that has a WR run more than a 6 yard hitch or a crossing route like they have Florida’s Percy Harvin who is fast and explosive but shows very few WR skills.

That leads us to what I look for, first I want to see how quick a WR is how does he get in and out of breaks, what kind of route runner is he. The best I’ve ever seen coming out of college was Tory Holt. Second, where does he make his catches? Will he go in the middle and make catches? A great example is when Charles Rogers, the WR from Michigan State was coming out and so was Andre Johnson the WR from Miami. Now most people loved Charles Rogers, but when you put on the tape one thing stood out right away Rogers was not going to play in the middle of the field EVER! Johnson was the superior WR with no questions, now Detroit drafted Rogers because he was from the area, how stupid is that!

I also look for a WR ability to run after the catch and I study to see if he understands man or zone coverage’s and how quickly can he identify them. Also, how does he run routes against man coverage does he climb the defender and threaten him, or how does he work the DB to get open? And against zone does he know how to uncover or get to the void of the zone? All of these attributes are crucial if you are going to make it in the NFL. You know longer can run a crossing route have the QB dump you the ball and run for a TD. The players you are about to line up against are just as fast as you are and if you’re a rookie the guy that is covering you is smarter than you are. These rookies will see more defensive coverage’s in their first mini camp then they saw their entire career in College, so that is why I look to see if a WR is able to identify coverage quickly in college because it gets even harder to do it in the NFL.

Here is the WR’s I have looked at and the strengths and weaknesses.

Brain Robiskie WR from Ohio State, you can tell his dad (Terry Robiskie) an NFL coach has worked with him on route running. I can see Brian transition nicely to the NFL. He does a great job of identifying coverage’s and does a nice job of attacking defenders and getting them to make mistakes and in the process gets open. He also makes tough catches. He gets in and out of breaks nicely had good speed. Brian is not explosive and he is not exceptional quick but he is fast and quick enough. I see him developing into a solid number 2 WR.

Michael Crabtree WR Texas Tech, my man is quick and I mean quick. He gets in and out of breaks so fast he will be very hard to cover, his quickness reminds me of Chad Johnson and that is what has made Chad such a successful WR in the NFL. The way Texas Tech runs their offense you can get caught up in Michael’s numbers and lose sight of studying his skill set to see how he will transition to the NFL. He does not run a lot of different routes so that concerns me, because he will not just run a bubble screen or a go route or curl route in the NFL, but what I did see that I loved is when he runs routes he separates and he wins at the line of scrimmage. He also does a great job of coming back to the ball and catches with his hands and he will hit you as a blocker. I could see Michael developing into a 1 WR because of his quickness and his ability to separate from defenders.

Percy Harvin WR Florida, this guy is down right explosive and that is what everyone is so excited about and if that explosiveness alone was enough to be successful in the NFL I would take him number one over all, but speed alone does not make a football player. Of all the tape I watched on Percy his main route was a crossing route. Florida recruits kids with speed for a reason, they are just going to out run you to a national title and boy does it work, but in the NFL you can’t win like that, because the guys covering Percy will be as fast and when he runs those crossing routes and enters Ray Lewis’s area he will get his block knocked off and be lucky to play another down. Now here is the challenge with Percy, he was only asked to run three routes. He would run a crossing route, corner and option route along with lining up in the backfield and running the ball. He will have to learn how to run routes along with reading coverage as he does it. Not an easy task for a kid that is raw and green. In fact it will be overwhelming and all that thinking will neutralize his speed and people will be very disappointed in him because they will expect him to do what he did at Florida and that will just not happen early. The key for Percy is that whoever drafts him uses packages like the wildcat or something to that nature to get him the ball, so that he can learn the NFL game. If they ask him to line up as a WR they will be very disappointed.

Hakeem Hicks WR North Carolina, his greatest strength is when the ball is in his hands. He breaks tackles with the best of them. He also does a great job when the ball is in the air going up and getting it from the defender. I call that the moment of truth and when that ball is in his area he makes the catch most of the time. Hakeem does not have great quickness and does not run great routes. This is his biggest problem because he is not down right explosive. He will have to work hard at running routes because when he gets to the NFL he will not beat many people in man coverage and the NFL is playing more and more man. He is big and strong and that can help him as he learns how to run routes but at some point his route running skill must improve drastically. He also has a good feel for coverage’s but this will be challenges at the next level like it will for all of them.

Jeremy Maclin WR Missouri, good quickness not like Crabtree but close. He has good explosiveness and runs ok routes but not great. He also is not asked to run a lot of different routes in college but the more I watch college the WR’s are not required to win, but in the NFL running good routes separates the average from the great. He played most of the time in the slot so projecting him to play to the strong side or week side of a formation is very hard and that concerns me a little. When you play in the slot you usually get a teams 2nd or 3rd best cover guy and you have a lot of room to run routes. When you line up to the strong or weak side of the formation you’re more restricted and therefore have to learn how to run routes accordingly. So can he do that? Not sure because he was not asked to do that in college. Now if I go by what I have seen and as I look at his skill set he should be able to but it’s a very different transition and if he is going to be a number 1 WR for a team he will have to do it. Now teams will get him in the slot at times but he will have to be good at lining up all over to be considered a dominate number 1.

Kenny Britt WR Rutgers, here is a guy that shows he can run routes has quickness and speed and looks like an NFL WR. As I study Kenny I see a guy that understand what coverage’s are being run and he gets out of breaks really well. He is physical and will play in the middle for a team and can be explosive and is very deceptive. I like his ability to transition to the NFL. What I like about him is I will not have to teach him to run routes as a coach I can use my time with him to work on reading coverage’s and polishing his route running skills. I would take a guy like Kenny or Brian Robiskie over a guy like Percy Harvin any day and all day long.