LawFitz said:
jurb26 said:
LawFitz said:
EBF said:
LawFitz said:
I think it's highly suspect to assume that a 22 year old is fully mature physically.
Okay, but wouldn't that also apply to all of the DL, LB, and DB in this draft class? If they're all going to keep growing and improving then it stands to reason that whatever gains a guy like Richardson will make will be offset by gains that the other players will make. Fact is, he is acutely undersized compared to the typical NFL WR prospect at the same stage of development. Maybe even more so considering that he's not a three year college player. I think it's more likely that he'll always be really skinny relative to his peers than that he's suddenly going to bulk up when he gets to the NFL. In all likelihood, he is who he is. Either you think that guy will be successful or you don't. But don't operate under the assumption that he's going to become a different guy altogether. Unlikely IMO.
Yes, but I think it's more critical for Richardson to gain 15 pounds than it is for any of his peers.
The notion that all players out of college will gain weight universally and within nearly the same rate is simply false. Not everyone has the body type to gain a lot of weight and some guys simply mature and fill out their bodies earlier in life.
Recall the conversation on Donald, a guy I and many others feel has a pretty fully developed frame already. Sure, they will all likely gain weight as they get older, train harder/better but the rate will not be linear across all players. Better yet, it doesn't need to be. I'm very confident that a guy like Richardson can operate every well in the NFL by adding anywhere from 5-10 lbs to his body. His skill set is not one that requires him to overpower defenders and he's more a finesse player who will rely on his quickness, speed and hopeful refined route running. At the end of the day, technique matters more than size or strength. Just ask AJ Green who we were also told was far too skinny. Of course size and strength help.
I never said the first bolded sentence is true. Just that
generally, 22 year old males are not fully developed physically. To what degree is obviously going to vary from person to person.
As for the 2nd bolded, I don't want to side track this Richardson thread, but with all due respect, I don't see how you or anyone else can take a hard stance that any player at this age is fully developed physically. Just makes zero sense to me. Many (most) of them are not, and your eye test of their butt size just doesn't sit well with me as a reliable barometer, sorry.
I never claimed you said the first bold, EBF did.I also never said Donald was not going to gain anything. I said he's pretty fully developed but will still gain something. You picked an odd place to stop reading or using the bold.
I'm not a sure what you're arguing exactly. I said the weight gain would not be linear across all players. In other words it will vary. You said it will vary. Every player will likely be given a weight by his team that they think should be his target playing weight. What matters isn't the weight they gain, it's if it's functional. I don't think Donald should gain much more than 5 lbs or so. Richardson could stand to gain more, 5-10 IMO. In reality it's apple to oranges though. Donald gaining 5 lbs is less than 1% of his current body. Richardson gaining 5 would be close to 3%. A guy like Donald would have to gain nearly 9 lbs to match the ratio of Richardson gaining 5. You don't have to like my eye test, other scouts and write ups have said these same things. It's right in the draft profile for Donald on NFL.com. Ignore me or whoever else you want. I don't care. We all have to make our own determinations at the end of the day and there is certainly room for disagreement.
C. Portis is a prime example of how much weight can alter a player. He was a different runner in Den than he was in Wash. Mainly because he shifted his style and body to fit a power running game in Wash. He gained about 10 lbs and it totally changed who he was. He went from a slasher with unreal burst and acceleration, ripping off long runs at will, to basically a power back churning out yards and moving the pile. He still had decent burst because he always had such great foot speed but the weight was enough to close off creases that were otherwise open to him at his smaller size. Which Portis was the better Portis? I guess that's open to interpretation. Wash probably like the version they got while Den like the version they got.
While I agree that Portis is a prime example of how weight can alter a player. I think it's clear and not open to any interpretation that Denver Portis was the better Portis. His first two seasons in Denver were record breaking for a new player. He had a rather massive drop off when leaving for Washington and never topped those first two seasons again in his entire career.
Then you have the flip side of it which would be Marshawn Lynch, who moved teams and dropped 10lbs instead of packing them on. And that propelled Lynch's game to a new level.
Hell, one could argue a lot of people are simply too big to be impactful.
As for Richardson, he's roughly the same size as DeSean Jackson, his BMI is about a point lower as he's two inches taller and the same weight. But he's so thin he could probably stand to add 10lbs and not loose a lot of his speed. That said, I've never agreed with size =/= durability in this league. Plenty of players who are the prototypical size are labeled with 'injury prone' and plenty who go against the mold are never injured. Richardson may be injury prone, he may not be, that remains to be seen. But his size has little bearing on it in my eyes.
A good example of this would be someone like McFadden who is built like a RB coaches wet dream but has never completely a full season in his career. Then on the flip side you have a guy like Jamaal Charles, who is built like a praying mantis but short of his ACL tear (which was a freak accident) he's been durable through most of his career. Same goes for CJ2K who is built in the same vein as Charles.
And these are RBs. A WR doesn't take nearly as much punishment. If you're good enough at the position as Richardson has potential to be you'll never take the big hits. See, Victor Cruz, who is able to consistently avoid the big hit and take the fall before getting his bell rung because he has good awareness.