Looks a little ugly to me, especially at the break. Cooper doing it too doesn't mean anything since he hasn't accomplished anything in the NFL.
For a really egregious example,
look at former Texas WR Roy Williams. I used to call him Clown Shoes because of his huge feet and how ugly his footwork was. His feet were often pointed out towards the sides, even when he was facing straight ahead. I like to think that if he came through the pipeline again, I would've recognized right away what a fraud he was. He had so many red flags for a guy with alleged elite talent. Skinny and really really sloppy feet. That tangent aside...
Adams isn't anywhere close to that bad. He just isn't on par with the very best. Demaryius Thomas is probably the best YAC receiver in the league right now and one of the very best of all the big receivers in terms of his precise movement.
Watch his highlights and pay close attention to how crisp his cuts are and how his feet aren't all over the place and messy. This is the type of movement you want to see. Combine that with his monster frame and you have the recipe for a Pro Bowler.
This year I think Odell Beckham has flawless movement. If he was 6'3" 225 then he would be a top 5 lock Pro Bowler, but it's hard to find all of the ideal traits in one package. That's why guys like Fitz and Demaryius might only come along once per draft or once every couple years.
Demaryius was not the same route runner today as he was in college. I have pointed this out before.
Maybe we've been over that before, but IMO he was always that good. People just underrated him. Like I've probably said before, route running and athleticism are the same thing to me. The former is just a reflection of how sudden/explosive/fast a receiver is and how easily he changes directions without losing momentum, which are all determined by innate athletic qualities. And Thomas was always a great athlete. People who underrated him back then just look for excuses now to give themselves a pass on whiffing their evaluation.
Route running = Athleticism, is about as lazy as it gets. Being able to change directions well separate from running a route is not the same as actually being able to run a specific route. You're going to find it hard to reconcile the two.
How does Jeff Janis look in his routes compared to Davante Adams? He must be better right? Since he is the better athlete and can change direction better and has more wiggle as evidenced by his 3.98 shuttle and 6.64 3-cone.
This guy right here that you've never heard of must be a great athlete since he is a great route runner right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdqP7v7e7fw
Timed and measured athleticism to me is what I call unconscious ability. Route running is conscious ability. Certain aspects of pure athleticism cannot be "taught". Route running can be taught.
Yea, I don't really agree with that perspective. Not going to get into a long and pointless argument about it.
I'll just say that my personal approach isn't to treat route running like a separate branch of overall movement skills. To me if you're a great mover like Harvin or Thomas then it's going to translate to your routes. Likewise, any deficits that an athlete has in terms of speed/explosiveness/change of direction are going to factor into his route running. When I evaluate a WR prospect, I look at the overall movement skills a lot more than the specific techniques of his route running. A lot of the folks who missed the boat on Harvin and Demaryius were guys who obsessed over the technical stuff without seeing the bigger picture. I take the opposite approach of emphasizing the athletic qualities and knowing that it's going to bleed over into the route running/separation. If you've got a guy with insane movement skills, you don't need to see him run a particular route to know that he can do it. It's a safe projection based on what you know about him as an athlete. That's why the "Demaryius wasn't a great route runner" reasoning falls on deaf ears. I would argue that if you were paying attention to the right things then there never should've been a big reason to question his route running.
If you have a different approach, so be it. I'm not going to do a long back-and-forth about it. It doesn't matter to me. I'm just explaining my own thought process.
The flaw in your process is thinking that "being able to change directions well enough to run a specific route to a specific level" is the same as "being a good route runner".
Our processes differ because we probably have a different idea of what "a good route runner" is. How about you show me what good or even great routes look like?
The moves that Adams makes in the two videos I posted can be and have to be taught. The level of quickness and level of ankle flexibility needed to perform the same moves may not likely be able to be taught.
Harvin and Demaryius could "change directions well while running a route", but neither were actually "good route runners". Running in a straight line for 10 yards and then cutting sharply in one direction is different from running in a straight line for 10 yards, then planting the outside foot to make a hard pushoff while dragging the inside foot to help aid in stopping and then changing direction of momentum to cut sharply in one direction.
With Demaryius being his size, I would imagine he would have been pretty good without being a great route runner. It's just that playing with Peyton Manning, he doesn't have a choice.
Technique can mask a lot of deficiencies in overall level of athleticism. See: Keenan Allen, Antonio Brown, Jarvis Landry, Chad Johnson, etc.
Is this player duck-footed?
https://lifesyourcupfb.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/mystery-player-foot-drag-closeup-reverse.gif
Would you still say he's duck-footed if you knew who he was? I doubt it.
Look Chad Johnson is
duck-footed (the first play). He's only like one of the best route runners of the last 10 years.
