I've said I'm all for drafting OL and CB/S help as we need it. But the more I watch of this kid the more I just think he could add so much to the offense not to mention the overall speed would be insane. Watkins, Givens and Austin. Damn. And it's not like Quick is slow. Plus if he really gets going this year he is a physical beast.
If there was anyway we can get Watkins and a top OL or CB/S in round 1 I'd be pretty happy.
What say you?
I was discussing at another board someone who preferred Marquis Lee to Sammy Watkins. They were concerned with so many bubble screens about his route running, thought he wasn't as agile and won't be able to get open as well at the next level. Hope this isn't too out of context to be useful for the purposes of the thread. Included is some tape breakdown.
"The ability to run a full route tree also has to do with other things than acceleration and agility (which no doubt, all things being equal, are assets), and at a root level, also with things like precision, attention to detail, diligence, hard work, knowing exactly how many steps to take, where to be at the right time, etc. This is why close to zero rookies are master technicians, and even many vets never are. I think we are talking about different things when I used the Keith Jackson example, and you drew a different conclusion. Scouts will have to use their imagination when it comes to projecting whether he will be able to run a full route tree or not. If South Carolina ran a pro style offense, we would already have the answer, and it wouldn't be in doubt, as it is with you.
Sammy Watkins (few sets of highlights below). Some are seeing him as fast but not necessarily quick, I guess I'm seeing it different. He ran like a 10.4 or 10.5 100 m. IMO, that is hard to do without being quick and having some serious get off and acceleration, too. We don't usually refer to players with 10.4 track backgrounds as having "build up" speed and getting faster as they get downfield. He isn't Barry Sanders in the open field, but not many WRs are. The way he is described, it is as if he has a rocket strapped to him, is on ice skates and you just point him towards the end zone. He isn't QUITE that linear. One thing that hasn't been discussed is hands. Watkins appears to have outstanding hands. I haven't followed Lee as closely, but reportedly he had a lot of drops this season, so that could be worth watching.
Jerry Rice was the greatest for a lot of reasons (short area burst and quickness had a lot to do with hit, he was very strong for his size, supreme concentration, cartoonishly good hands, iron will and competitive determination, Walter Payton-like conditioning, stamina and endurance, having one of the greatest 1-2 punches in history at QB, along with Waterfield/Van Brocklin, in Montana/Young didn't hurt. etc.). But one of the biggest, and possibly most neglected, was his tendency to get north/south ASAP. He got a lot of extra yards by being decisive in this way. On a lot of the bubble screens, this is what Watkins seems to be doing. It may look like he doesn't have a lot of wiggle, I take it more as he is A) Getting what he can, and B) Sometimes he is so fast he doesn't need to string together a half dozen cuts and moves because his open field speed is destroying the angles of defenders, so why horse around and do a combo mambo/breakdance behind the LOS.
If Bruce Feldman (see below - puts out the annual Freak List) thinks Evans is going to run a 4.4, than just looking at them comparitively, Watkins is significantly faster, and that would make me think he cracks into the sub-4.4 threshold, which will make him a pretty hot property come May, and would be doubtful to get past CLE or OAK, so STL may not want to drop past 1.4 if they want him (though maybe they want Robinson or Matthews, and could possibly drop to 1.6 or even 1.8?).
:05 - Breaks a tackle, looks pretty quick to me getting up to speed, doesn't need to make a lot of moves but outraces the defense to the end zone.
:42 - Leaping catch, shows good awareness to immediately chage the angle and avoid a converging defender for a score.
1:23 - Shows impressive quickness defeating the press coverage of the first CB and once he had the ball beating the safety for a TD.
1:33 - Kick return, once he sticks his foot in the ground he is gone, looks like serious acceleration to me.
1:53 - Handoff, 60 yard score, ho hum, I guess he didn't make a lot of moves, but it should be pointed out that he didn't need to because of his speed, where a slower player probably would have had to and wouldn't have scored. He makes a subtle cut to the corner and his speed destroys the pursuit of two trailing defenders that should have had the angle.
2:21 - Shows some good feet and short area quickness in avoiding multiple defenders before sprinting to the house.
2:50 - Again, gets up to speed pretty quickly on the screen, most impressive is how he trucks the defender, and he only gets tackled after two or three defenders drag him down.
3:09 - Kirk Herbstreit talks about his hands.
Some stuff on intangibles, but also maybe my favorite highlight.
2:16 - Catches the ball between two defenders, breaks a tackle, up to full speed in 2-3 strides, jukes the closer third defender who has the sideline to the middle of the field, nearly simultaneously sees with his peripheral vision a trailing fourth defender working inside out and quickly cuts back to the sideline to avoid him, avoids running into his teammate with some traffic congestion, at this point he completely turned around the third defender, he turns on the jets while barely avoiding the sideline in the contrained space and beats both defenders to the corner of the end zone for a TD.
Marquis Lee
2:28 - Nice back-to-back-to-back plays. First shows ability to go up and get a contested ball for a score that was maybe an intended back shoulder throw that inadvertantly went straight ahead. Second (2:33) shows some of the leg strength EBF referred to as he takes a quick hitter and powers though 3-4-5 defenders, with an assist from a USC OL or two
. Third (2:41) does highlight probably the best feet, quickness and elusiveness of all the Watkins/Lee highlights I looked at above. But in a lot of plays, like the Watkins highlights, he is so dominant at this level he is just running away from defenders so not an ideal showcase for the full range and scope of his skill set.
* Mailbag: Sorting out the (2014) WR class In the NFL draft by Bruce "Freak List" Feldman. To possibly add to the confusion, he doesn't really address Watkins, accepting the premise of the question that Watkins is off the board. But he does say he likes Evans best in the class, which was interesting. It sounds like he has some access to both Evans and Manziel in So Cal. He thinks he is going to run a 4.4, the first person I heard say that (personally I'm sceptical, my guess would be closer to a 4.55). He also reminded me that Evans was primarily a basketball player until his senior year in high school, so he could have substantial upside once he learns the ropes of the position (currently training with James Lofton on route running). He is only 20, which is appealing in dynasty leagues. Also interestingly, he likes "bend it like" Beckham more than Lee (I don't agree, just passing it along) and points out he is also a sensational athlete, and likes Matthews (and Benjamin) more than Robinson. He notes that Benjamin may be even more of a monster than Evans size-wise, but thinks he is even more raw, and is in his estimation more of a project and boom/bust-type."
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...bag-sorting-out-the-wr-class-in-the-nfl-draft
