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Kendall Wright vs the 2013 rookie WR class (1 Viewer)

Wright is doing exactly what teams want a rookie WR to do and is impressive. Again, 64 catches as a rook is nothing to shake a stick at. Everything people say about him thus far this offseason is almost scripted it's so perfect.

I do not think he's an elite talent. I do think the Titans might have their #2 WR for the next 8 years though.

That list of rookie WRs for this year and the list for them from last year....rookie WRs struggle to adjust to the NFL, have trouble getting on the field, when they do their play is often sporadic and not dependable. Wright might stink in comparison to Randy Moss as a rookie or some gold standard people are daydreaming of, but a very large amount of 1st and 2nd year WRs don't pan out OR offer up 100 questions as to whether they will. Wright has shown he belongs and put the work in and even shown some reliability which is uncommon among young WRs.

He's too small even to be a star WR like some of these daydreams. Calvin and Moss and Owens...they are all big sort of athletic freaks. Wright is probably the same height as 50% of the people that frequent this board. He's not 6 inches taller than the CB covering him and he's not Randall Cobb seeming to jump twice his height. He's a good WR though and good is going to be better than most young WRs on those lists.

He seems to be that guy that people are going to say "soandso has more potential" as he catches 4-5 balls each week while the potential sits on the sideline for some other team. Wright needs to be looked at in the right light here. I never read anyone predicting he was the 2nd coming of Jerry Rice.

 
Making the Leap, No. 26: Titans WR Kendall Wright

By Chris Wesseling

Around the League Writer

(click on the linked article to see the related video clips)

Around The League will profile the top 40 players we see Making the Leap in 2013. No. 26 on the list: Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kendall Wright.

Why Wright is on the listWright drew loose comparisons to Steve Smith and Santonio Holmes coming out of Baylor, exhibiting the "tremendous speed, burst and explosion" to make plays after the catch and burn defensive backs down the field. The question for NFL evaluators was how much stock to put in Wright's disappointing 2012 NFL Scouting Combine performance versus the impressive game film.

The Titans had no intentions of spoon-feeding Wright after selecting him at No. 20 overall. He learned both outside positions as well as the slot, finished second only to Nate Washington in pass routes run and tied Jacksonville Jaguars No. 5 overall pick Justin Blackmon for most receptions among NFL rookies.

After shedding 14 pounds, Wright looked faster and quicker in offseason practices while catching everything that came his way. He's expected to be featured more in new coordinator Dowell Loggains' offense than he was under Chris Palmer last year.

ObstaclesChalk one up for the combine concerns, which included a report that Wright managed a mere four bench-press reps and showed 16 percent body fat. Much like Blackmon, Wright's first season is a cautionary tale for out-of-shape rookies. It didn't take long for the Smith and Holmes comparisons to turn into a joke.

Upon drafting Wright, general manager Ruston Webster immediately cited his "ability to catch a short ball and turn it into a long run." Wright must have left that big-play ability at the buffet table. He finished 22nd in Pro Football Focus' Yards After Catch metric, but that was artificially inflated by the high number of slants and bubble screens run close to the line of scrimmage. A more telling statistic is Wright's inability to reach 10.0 yards per reception.

The two videos below illustrate the discrepancy between the player Wright was drafted to become and the player Wright was as a rookie. Wright and T.Y. Hilton of the Indianapolis Colts essentially run the same slant/screen route. Wright gained just six yards to Hilton's 17. This scenario played out over and over on short routes, with Hilton gaining more yards than expected and Wright consistently stuck in the five to 10 yard range.

To be fair to Wright, he got little help from his inaccurate quarterback and beleaguered, unimaginative play-caller whereas Hilton had the benefit of Andrew Luck and Bruce Arians.

2013 ExpectationsWright has already helped himself in dropping weight, which will allow him to separate from coverage on intermediate and deep routes while regaining post-catch explosiveness on those slants and screens. Although he's not in Smith's league in terms of physicality, he does have that advantage on Hilton.

Loggains can further aid the Titans' first-round investment by utilizing him more creatively as a souped-up slot receiver in the mold of Percy Harvin or Randall Cobb. With rookie Justin Hunter joining Kenny Britt and Nate Washington, it's time to ditch Wright's reps at flanker and split end.

There's little question that Wright has the potential for 75 receptions and 900 yards if he arrives to camp in peak football shape. Whether he reaches those marks depends on Jake Locker's ability to consistently place the ball in a spot that will allow Wright to keep running or make an immediate move after the catch.

Follow Chris Wesseling on Twitter @ChrisWesseling.
 
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Rotoworld:

The Nashville Tennessean calls sophomore WR Kendall Wright a standout of Titans camp.
Per beat writer Jim Wyatt, it's been "difficult to recall" Wright dropping a pass. Wyatt believes he "looks faster" than he did as a rookie, and has made "one acrobatic catch after another." Wright shed 14 pounds after playing near 201 last season. For what it's worth, Wright did muff a pass in Thursday's preseason opener, but we're not surprised he's having an impressive camp. He's a top-flight talent. Only Jake Locker can hold him back.

Source: Nashville Tennessean
I would think that all 3 of Austin, Patterson, and Hopkins would be ranked ahead of Wright for most dynasty league players and possibly a few others.

 
Granted things are in hindsight now, but I think Tavon and Deandre are the only WRs i would take ahead of wright at this time.

 
Faust said:
Rotoworld:

The Nashville Tennessean calls sophomore WR Kendall Wright a standout of Titans camp.
Per beat writer Jim Wyatt, it's been "difficult to recall" Wright dropping a pass. Wyatt believes he "looks faster" than he did as a rookie, and has made "one acrobatic catch after another." Wright shed 14 pounds after playing near 201 last season. For what it's worth, Wright did muff a pass in Thursday's preseason opener, but we're not surprised he's having an impressive camp. He's a top-flight talent. Only Jake Locker can hold him back.

Source: Nashville Tennessean
That's really a pretty awesome quote write there. well respected long time sports writer for the team saying it's difficult to remember when he dropped a pass. Even Locker fans/detractors need to notice that too.

 
Rotoworld:

A Sunday MRI revealed Kendall Wright has avoided a ligament tear and only has a sprained right knee.
He's done for the preseason, but should be healthy by or at least close to Week 1. Wright can breathe a sigh of relief after admitting to reporters late Saturday he was "pretty worried" about the injury's extent. Through two preseason games, Wright has been playing behind Kenny Britt and Nate Washington. The 2012 first-rounder has four exhibition-game catches for 44 yards.

Source: Adam Schefter on Twitter
 
Wright is doing exactly what teams want a rookie WR to do and is impressive. Again, 64 catches as a rook is nothing to shake a stick at. Everything people say about him thus far this offseason is almost scripted it's so perfect.

I do not think he's an elite talent. I do think the Titans might have their #2 WR for the next 8 years though.

That list of rookie WRs for this year and the list for them from last year....rookie WRs struggle to adjust to the NFL, have trouble getting on the field, when they do their play is often sporadic and not dependable. Wright might stink in comparison to Randy Moss as a rookie or some gold standard people are daydreaming of, but a very large amount of 1st and 2nd year WRs don't pan out OR offer up 100 questions as to whether they will. Wright has shown he belongs and put the work in and even shown some reliability which is uncommon among young WRs.

He's too small even to be a star WR like some of these daydreams. Calvin and Moss and Owens...they are all big sort of athletic freaks. Wright is probably the same height as 50% of the people that frequent this board. He's not 6 inches taller than the CB covering him and he's not Randall Cobb seeming to jump twice his height. He's a good WR though and good is going to be better than most young WRs on those lists.

He seems to be that guy that people are going to say "soandso has more potential" as he catches 4-5 balls each week while the potential sits on the sideline for some other team. Wright needs to be looked at in the right light here. I never read anyone predicting he was the 2nd coming of Jerry Rice.
I just want to point out that when comparing pro day metrics, Wright was better than Dez Bryant in every metric except broad jump and 20 yard dash.

 
Wright's not the biggest guy though. Good weight for his height, but not a tall guy. Dez offers more from that standpoint.

I liked Wright last year and drafted him on a bunch of my teams. I think he's going to be a solid contributor, but maybe never a star. He might end up being more of an Antonio Brown/Andre Roberts type of guy than a real dominator. That's my only regret about investing in him. At the very least he looks like he belongs though. That's more than can be said for some of the rooks from that draft.

 
The thought of not having him, showed his high value to the Titans, to the fans. It's very difficult to quantify a guy's value that gets it done when there's two prototype WRs on the roster.

 
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I don't get to see the Titans play often. What's the deal with Wright's very low YPC? Are all of his routes short? Is it just a Jake Locker issue?

 
I think I read a stat that he was among the lowest in the NFL in terms of averag depth per target. I don't have a link and maybe I'm mistaken, but I seem to recall something to that effect. I don't know if he's ever going to be a dynamic big play threat, but it definitely seems like Tennessee's usage is partially to blame.

 
I think I read a stat that he was among the lowest in the NFL in terms of averag depth per target. I don't have a link and maybe I'm mistaken, but I seem to recall something to that effect. I don't know if he's ever going to be a dynamic big play threat, but it definitely seems like Tennessee's usage is partially to blame.
What ever the reason, he's not making big plays and doesn't have a catch over 14 yards this year.

I wrote this in April:

Dead last in YPC among the 13 rookie WR's with 20 or more catches.

Among rookie WR's from 2005-2012 who caught 20 passes he ranked #87 out of 91 in YPC.
 
I think Locker just sucks. He's not accurate, or at least, every time I flip over to their games that seems to be the case. I can't fathom their fans having to watch an entire game. Offense just looks blehhhh

 
I think I read a stat that he was among the lowest in the NFL in terms of averag depth per target. I don't have a link and maybe I'm mistaken, but I seem to recall something to that effect. I don't know if he's ever going to be a dynamic big play threat, but it definitely seems like Tennessee's usage is partially to blame.
I was whining in the Titans thread that Locker either needs to throw the ball on medium routes, especially over the middle, or sit down.

The entire day was short left, short right, with an occasional deep left or deep right. Three times he threw "short middle" and that's it.

Wright looks good, real good. In fact Britt didn't look good but Nate did. Zero worry of Wright with a decent QB. They'll still need a running game and deep WR and big WRs and...said it earlier in this thread, he's not some stud WR type, but for what he does, he is very good. I want Fitz and don't think he's going in though.

 
Wright becoming more and more prominent. He's a buy for me in dynasty considering his cost.

They won't get anything in return but the Titans ought to look to deal Britt as he won't be back next year.

 
Not knowing situation and based on pure talent, It's not a good thing. Wright was a product of Griffin in college and he's a product of QBs who can't throw downfield. He's a glorified slot receiver. I'm evaluating his skill not his fantasy value.

If you want to draft a glorified slot receiver, you might as well go with the better and more explosive "small" WRs in Cooks and Beckham.
Xue, I don't get what you're saying. Griffin was a downfield passer in college. So Wright can be used downfield and underneath? What is he not doing or unable to do that is so troubling for you? I was not a fan of his coming out of Baylor, but after watching all his games I've come around and view him as a better real player than fantasy player. I usually come away impressed with your posts, but I disagree with you on Wright. I'm wondering how much you've seen of him in the NFL, especially last season. His body changed last year. Stats aside, just watching him in the NFL he seems to be a tough cover that positively impacted games. It gives me some pause to see you so low on him, if you can have time to expand some more on him please do. It might be best to post in this KW thread: http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=680517. Keep up the strong posts. Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
I was referring to Tennessee's QBs Locker and Fitzpatrick. Wright has been used on a lot of short routes so far in the NFL. I don't think he is as skilled on deeper routes as his own teammates in Justin Hunter and Nate Washington. When he gets a QB who is much better in the intermediate and deep parts of the field then his efficiency (YPR) will go up.

Yes, Griffin was a downfield passer and a threat to run. If Wright had a Griffin-type QB on Tennessee, then I can imagine Wright being able to do the same things as he did in college. But he can't because he is QB-dependent.

 
Do you have any issues with Kendall Wright's hands? Any technical flaws that lead you to marginalize him? I'm not really seeing how he's not going to be able to get open.

 
Wright becoming more and more prominent. He's a buy for me in dynasty considering his cost.

They won't get anything in return but the Titans ought to look to deal Britt as he won't be back next year.
If Justin Hunter becomes the player people think he can be then there's going to be a much smaller piece of the pie for Wright.

 

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