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Miles Austin is a good one. I'm pretty sure most people thought TO would be good in his rookie year, Jerry Rice was a little before my time, but wasn't he a great college player also?
Yeah, you're right
but he still friggin went to Miss. Valley State. Rod Smith is another one.TO should be the poster boy for this section of WRs. I'm not sure Jerry Rice was a project guy, he was awesome at any time in his career i'm sure. I think the OP's question should have been clarified to mean physical studs but not born to be receiver studs. Like DHB is physically incredible, size, speed, strength, etc. But he is not meant to be a WR. Someone like Crabtree is destined to be a WR. He just has "it" whatever that is. Even though he has laid some eggs this year, you can just tell that the kid oozes talent at the WR spot.All in all i think guys like DHB never make it because they are sprinters or track and field athletes over WRs. A guy like Crabtree or Fitzgerald has it all, incredible athletes but also born to be WRs.
Having your wife throw you a football in your back yard is different than Peyton Manning launching one at 100mph as you run at full speed.
Not my wife
But, ya. It is totally different, especially when you are running routes and concentrating on a ton of other factors, and as soon as you turn your head the football is 5ft from your hands traveling like a freakin' space ship.
Sidney rice was definitely not a "raw" receiver. The complete opposite, in fact. Rice dominated in college because his ball skills were so incredibly good. He would routinely come down with balls that he was perfectly covered on just because he was so good at adjusting to the ball in the air and attacking it at its highest point.
Really? Interesting. I always remembered people referring to Rice as raw and needing some time to develop a bit more. I know he was solid at SC, but still thought most believe he had a long way to go in order to develop his game to succeed at the next level.
Often the "raw" WR may have physical skills, including hands and ball skills, but is a poor route runner. Perhaps that was the knock on Rice coming out?FWIW, any raw prospect who's main deficiency is bad hands... stay away. I can't recall any that have turned that corner. DHB, I'm looking at you!
Agreed. I think bad route running can be overcome, but there are lots and lots of projects that couldn't catch the football (troy williamson, ginn, jett just to name a few) that never panned out.
Terrell Owens was one of the last picks of the 3rd round, and he played his college ball at Tennessee-Chattanooga. Why on earth would anyone have expected him to be good his rookie year?
Definitely.
Because he was picked in the third round?
Last years third round had 3 impact players (Mike Wallace, Shonn Greene, Jerraud Powers - although I don't know how he is playing this season), a few guys who might have a chance this season (brandon Tate, Asher Allen - who is bad, Deon Butler, etc...) but for the most part everyone else is either drafted for depth (as bit players) or projects. Being a third round pick is not a guarantee of anything at all.
The WRs drafted in the 3rd round this year were Damien Williams, Brandon Lafell, Emmanuel Sanders, Jordan Shipley, Eric Decker, Andre Roberts, Armanti Edwards, and Taylor Price. How many of those WRs did people expect to be good this season? And a lot of those guys were coming from big-time college football factories like USC, LSU, or Texas, not from Tennessee-Chattanooga.
this is one that came to mind for me.
Hines Ward was going to be mine as was Antwan Randle El (ARE).Ward was a very good all purpose offensive weapon when he played for the Georgia Bulldogs in the mid 90's.While he was a 3rd rd. pick of the Steelers, it was not a foregone conclusion that he would excel as a full-time NFL WR.ARE was a QB at Indiana. The fact that he is still in the NFL as a WR, albeit not a superstar, is impressive.
This is a good one. College QB. Same with Antwaan Randel-El to a lesser extent.I'm also surprised nobody has mentioned Antonio Gates. Sure, he's a TE, but he may break Gonzo's records one day and he played basketball in college. That's as raw as it gets. He was a total project.
