CalBear
Footballguy
TO had plenty of injuries. He'd missed at least two games in three of the previous four years before he turned 30. Moss missed 3 games at 27 and 3 games at 29.I wouldnt say the odds are against Watkins or Evans to EVER have a top 5 finish.The thing is, the vast majority of promising young players will never put up the kinds of seasons Calvin Johnson has. A solid majority will never get to the top tier. It is likely that the rest of Johnson's career will look something like the after-age-29 careers of other recent Hall of Fame-level receivers (Rice, Moss, Owens, Harrison), all of which include multiple top-5 fantasy finishes. You're not going to be able to move Johnson for young guys who've already had top-5 finishes like OBJ or Green. You could probably get Watkins or Evans for him, but will they ever have a top-5 WR finish? The odds are against them, while the odds are pretty good that Johnson manages it again.A lott of people like to look at players in the past, but I prefer to spend my time and energy on the here and now and how confident I am about certain players to score at a high level for years to come. Horn, Holt, Johnson, and others do nothing to tell me how well OBJ, Green, Watkins, or Evens will do.
Calvin is a super star like we have never seen before, but he is still human, and dealing with more injuries than we ever saw out of the other guys like Owens and Moss.
Also, just because Calvin is a super stud and the best in the game doesnt mean his longevity will be that of Rice and Owens. It doesnt work that way.
I'm pretty confident in saying that as long as Johnson can lace 'em up, he'll be a very strong receiver. He doesn't need to have 4.3 speed or a 40" vertical to be among the best in the game. Maybe he blows out both knees and never is the same, but that can happen to anyone in the league.
So here's the question: what percentage of WRs who have a finish between WR10 and WR25 in their rookie seasons go on to have at least one top-5 season in their later careers?
Rookie WRs between WR10 and WR30, 1990-2010
Fred Barnett (none)
Darnay Scott (none)
Joey Galloway (one #5 finish)
Chris Sanders (none)
Terry Glenn (none)
Marvin Harrison (many)
Keyshawn Johnson (one #5 finish)
Eddie Kennison (none)
Kevin Johnson (none)
Chris Chambers (none)
Andre Johnson (one #1 one #2)
Michael Clayton (none)
Lee Evans (none)
Larry Fitzgerald (many)
Roy Williams (none)
Marques Colston (none)
Dwayne Bowe (none)
Eddie Royal (none)
Percy Harvin (none yet)
Mike Williams (none yet)
So of these 20, three wound up being major successes. Two others had exactly one season at #5 and clearly would have been a downgrade from an established stud. Maybe Percy Harvin will manage a top 5 season at some point.
So yes, I'd say the odds are against both Sammy Watkins and Mike Evans. I'd give Watkins better odds than Evans, but I think they're both under 50% for managing a top 5 finish considering the competition (even in their own class).
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