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My question about Boyce is specifically what about his physical ability is supposed to be preventing him from playing outside (like Shorts)? I feel that guys get pigeon-holed by some scout and it sticks, despite the fact that other WR's have played well outside and his height/weight/strength/speed.
I don't know if any one is really limiting him to the slot position in this thread. Maybe I'm missing something? EBF's OP mentions that he can play slot and outside.
Harper played on a very poor passing offense and still had more receiving yards last season. He accounted for 33.6% of his team's passing game whereas Dobson accounted for just 15.5%.
As of now, I think you have to put him above, simply based on draft position. He's a first round pick, and that means, statistically speaking, he is far more likely to pan out than any of these 3. That said, all players should be judged individually, and if preseason rolls around, and Patton has passed Jenkins on the depth chart, changes should be made to your rankings, and NFL draft position can be more easily discarded.
Jenkins status as a first round pick stopped mattering very much at all when he couldn't get on the field over Chad Hall. If we were having this discussion last summer, sure, Jenkins status as a first-round pick held some weight. Now that we have a year of his trajectory in the NFL to look at, it's time to give how that year went much, much more weight than what the 49ers thought of him at the time he was drafted.
I agree Sig. Just look at this list of first round busts.
I am very aware of the fact that the majority of first round picks will bust. However, a much higher percentage of 4th round WRs will bust.
Plenty of rookie WRs do little to nothing in their first year. While I agree that his rookie season devastated his value, he is still just one year removed from being a 1st round pick. That means the 49ers think he has a very high ceiling. Will he ever reach that ceiling? Probably not. But because that upside is still there, I think he is worth more than any 4th round pick from this year's draft as of now.
Not very big. Okay speed, but not a burner. An overachiever type with marginal tools. Stats were pumped up by a friendly spread offense.
Below Boyce and Harper. Maybe ahead of Patton.
It seems like people want it both ways when it comes to rookies - some will say that it doesn't matter when a guy was drafted once he's on the team and has to fight for playing time like anyone else, but then they'll turn around and label a guy a bust because he was drafted early and didn't play much.
Re: your first paragraph - those two positions are totally consistent. Once you walk into camp, you have to fight for playing time no matter when you were drafted. If street free agents are getting playing time over you at the end of your rookie year, it means you are still a ways away from being able to contribute, and if you were drafted in the first round, you were expected to contribute something early in your career, so yeah, it is likely that Jenkins is a bust. The difference between Jenkins and guys like Austin/Vjax/Shorts/Smith is that they weren't expected to contribute early in their careers - in fact Austin, VJax and Shorts all came from lower levels of college football, so it was probably expected that they wouldn't contribute early in the careers.
You can talk about expectations from high draft picks but that's all it is - expectations. What his non-existent rookie year shows is that the 49ers were wrong to use a 1st on him and he should have been a 2nd or 3rd rounder instead.
All I can say is we'll see. If he has another bad training camp I'll change my mind on him, but I'm not ready to give up on his obvious talent just yet.
I think this speaks to the impatience of most FF owners. The lure of the unknown with a clean slate, trumps anyone that has not become a star within the first year or two.
I'm split between Patton and Jenkins. Patton is more like a faster Crabtree, Jenkins is a home-run hitter. I guess it delends where Jenkins head is after all the negative press. Boyce has hills to climb before he's relevant, but he's talented. I'd put Harper last. There's a little hope, but I don't think he will pan out.
Harper has only really just picked it up though after a pretty poor start to camp. Would think Kearse would get first dibs as a veteran, though I think Harper is the much better long term option. Stephen Williams of 'Zona hype has looked pretty all right as well though apparently.
Reports are that Jermaine Kearse is the guy who has been running with the ones, not Harper. And Kearse also seems to be getting more praise from Bevell:
A lot can change in the next month, but there's a good chance that will include the return of Rice & Miller, which will drop Kearse, Harper, or whoever down to 4th or 5th in the pecking order.
Yep - I have liked Tate since being drafted, but it's time to shine when the opportunity arises. Hot hand on the other side IF Rice isn't good to go right now.
Tate and Rice play on the outside, Baldwin plays the slot. I think eventually you see Rice get cut next year or take a pay cut. If he is cut then you will see Harper (ideally in Rice's position). If an injury happened today then I think Kearse would be playing Rice's spot in the offense.
This treatment isn't a huge deal. Its just to get him ready for the season and its a non-FDA approved procedure so he has to go to Europe.
Eh. That's hard to quantify. I wouldn't say there's a clear hierarchy among Dobson/Boyce/Thompkins yet. Almost all of the reports on Boyce have been positive after the first day or two. As for Harper, I've been reading all the Seahawks stuff I can find. There isn't a giant buzz there, but he's been noted as making some nice catches the last few days. A bit unfair to compare him to Kearse, who's been in the system for a year. Some quotes from practice observers:
At the end of the day, it's just their first training camp. You always hope that a player will come in and light it up right away, but that's not necessarily how it works. I remember when Andre Roberts was a rookie reading how awful he looked and how much better Stephen Williams was doing. Fast forward a few years and Roberts is a key player for the Cardinals passing game while Williams is trying to make Seattle's roster as a camp body. Players develop at different rates.
Someone posted a really interesting article about that. Something about an athleticism/explosion metric that Pete Carrol put together with Nike while coaching college ball.
I did lol
