I think the push back against over valuing speed has many people under valuing it. His speed makes him a + route runner. The comments upstream about him not being a good route runner are wrong. Very wrong. The point of route running is getting open, getting separation. I've said this a few times, but watching Texas was different because the 2 wrs got open so easily. EASILY. McConkey runs more technical routes than Worthy, but there's many examples of him doing so and being smothered by top corners. Not so much with Worthy. One video I watched recently the analyst keeps noting the dbs are "paranoid" of the speed. Worthy's best route is probably a hook. He presses the corner with speed selling the go, stops on a dime, hooks, and has 5 yards of separation. It's probably the most difficult route to stop of any route any wr in this class runs. He has a complete route tree too. Sideline awareness is another one of his strengths. He runs a crisp out and makes difficult catches look easy, often slamming the breaks and heading upfield where 90% of wrs just take it out of bounds. His ball tracking is high level. He's got that corndog route that ended the Super Bowl down pat too. It's not all speed and cuts either, he drifts casually into zones and flashes into the opening seamlessly. Little man has a stiff arm and good contact balance too so RAC is better than just the jets. He's good high pointing the ball and not body catching it, but he has too many concentration drops likely stemming from
running before the catch.
All this praise aside, he's no DeSean Jackson. He's probably not a great fantasy option. I guess this depends on team. He'll miss snaps where run blocking wrs are needed. He will be a valuable asset to your favorite team working out of the common 3x1 sets, and that value is the attention he'll get making the other receivers better. Cooks did this for CeeDee last season. Worthy did it for Mitchell last season.
The latest mock at 33rd team has him going 18th to Cincy as WR5 in the class. That's a reach. Even if he goes nearly that high, I love what he'll do for his new team, but not our fantasy teams.
The Mock Draft Guy does a mostly reasonable take and the vid highlights his route running.
Mostly reasonable because he summarizes by doing the DeSean Jackson thing.
I agree with much of this, but I will disagree that Worthy doesn't get smothered by CBs, I think its much more of an issue for Worthy than McConkey to be honest. If Worthy gets off the line clean he's super dangerous, and I totally agree with his tracking skills, but he gets stood up a lot, and not just by top CBs. I don't see any answers to it in his game either. Like its a 50-50 bet he'll either get jammed or he won't. He's a guy I think is gonna need to be in motion or stacked frequently, unless he either A) gets a lot bigger/stronger, or B) greatly improves his hand fighting.
I also will agree that his NFL role will likely be that of dangerous decoy. Much like what I'm expecting of Hollywood Brown in KC. 1-2 deep shots a game, and a quick hitter here and there, but mostly clearing out for other guys. I will disagree that Worthy's hitch route is the most difficult route to stop in this class. That is Harrison's slant route, where he's basically mastered the Michael Thomas esq subtle push, where suddenly he's created 3-4 yards at the catch point.
I love his speed and his stop and go ability, and I will agree his RAC is sneaky good, as he has good balance for such a small dude.
But I think his route running is one dimensional, and he's basically erased in the middle of the field. For me, he's a late 2nd, early 3rd round pick. I think so highly of this class. I made a similar point in the Rice thread. This isn't a bad draft for a WR needy team to take 2 guys in the top-3 rounds. There's like 20 guys in this class who look like NFL starters.