With Lee and Cooks, the Pac-12 has the last two Biletnikoff winners in 2012 and 2013. After taking a closer look at Cooks, very impressive WR. He had a lot of receptions, but many examples below where they were downfield and contested. He is feisty and has very sticky hands (might be the best of the three?). His elite suddenness and electric burst were on display at the Combine. Check out the play at the :49 second mark below. He is behind the DB as the ball approaches, at the last second leaps in front of the DB and one hands the ball and bats it to himself. One scout talked about how he doesn't telegraph the incoming pass by getting his hands up late, an advanced WR skill. I think in the 2014 Dynasty (or Combine or both) thread Xue used Antonio Brown/TY Hilton as a combo comp. Mac32 prompted me to think of Steve Smith, and maybe that is another comp?
Lee (running away with the poll) was about a tenth of a second slower than expected, but showed explosiveness with the 38" VJ. I think he is a 25' long jumper?. Maybe it spoke to lesser coverage, but he was getting separation below. He seemed to have the ability to mix up speeds, and have an extra gear when he was going after the ball I like to see. Some players just have superior competitive, game speed when they are being chased that doesn't always show up in these kinds of drills. Jerry Rice was "slow" by conventional drill metrics, but he was always running away from DBs and rarely caught from behind in games. I asked a reserve DB for the 49ers once who was on the team when Rice was there how he explained it, and he said Rice had incredible short area explosion. EBF came up with a Greg Jennings/Santonio Holmes/Randall Cobb mashup, but they might have tested a little faster. Lee had the second best long jump in the nation (24'8") as a prep and a 10.74 100 m. Cobb had a similar best 100 m. time (4.46 40 at the Combine). Holmes may have run about a 4.45 at the Combine, and was on two Florida state champion 4 X 400 relay teams. Jennings seemed to have more deceptive, sneaky speed, but I thought he was very smooth ascending up the gear train. I think Jennings ran a 4.42 at the Combine.
I liked the below article on Beckham on his flawless running technique.
Excerpt -
"Overall, the thing that impressed me most about Beckham in these drills was that he’s very comfortable with his speed. Not only is he track and field-fast, he also glides through routes and catches the ball with confidence. On the gauntlet drill, he ran through and caught everything, keeping his feet on the line all the way through. A lot of receivers weave through (Mike Evans had an issue with this), but Beckham stayed with his speed. He’s compact in his movements and doesn’t shoot out of line. This matches up with his game tape — even when he’s creating explosive plays, he’s consistent with his movements.
Beckham looked pretty good on the six-yard slant, making a quick in-cut to catch the ball. But on the 10-yard out to the left, he rounded his cut a bit, though he caught the ball. The 17-yard in-and-up was a bit more of an adventure — Beckham was a bit slow in his break off the line, and he rolled through the second pylon. And if there’s one thing I’d say he needs to work on, it’s the consistent ability to cut and keep with a quarterback’s timing. On deep routes with fewer angles, Beckham was in his element – fluid off the snap and great acceleration up the field. Moreover, that speed is consistent, meaning that quarterbacks can time him with confidence. And I believe that’s one of the more underrated attributes a receiver can have. He adjusted to his right and left on deeper routes to grab passes that were a bit off, and you love to see a player who can bail his quarterback out. Again, that’s consistent with his LSU tape.
Beckham was slightly choppy on the 12-yard curl, but he was clearly trying to be better with his cuts there, and he was okay. He ran through nicely and sank his hips into the breaks. The final route was a deep post corner, where the receiver starts at the 15-yard line, cuts in at the 26, out at the 34, and bends the route to about the 50-yard line. He sat in his breaks (adjusted to cut momentum) very well here and made another nice adjustment to catch the ball.
I had Beckham 19th on my
pre-combine Big Board, but with the benefit of more game tape, and the ability to see him up close, I wouldn’t have any problem with a team taking him in the top 15. He’s a special talent with room at the top of his game for improvement at the NFL level."
http://nfl.si.com/2014/02/23/odell-beckham-lsu-nfl-combine-wide-receivers/
I think Beckham's mother was an All American sprinter at LSU and current collegiate track coach, his father an LSU RB and his stepfather Gold Medalist Derek Mills from the '96 Olympics 400 meter relay team. You could almost say he was destined to be a speed merchant.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/232213211.html
HIGHLIGHTS
Marqise Lee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIjzTV0r1po
Odell Beckham, Jr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jZbGUMevcI
Brandin Cooks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfnYcEOHqCk
