Wide Receivers and Tight Ends are two of my favorite
positions in football today, this second part of a three part series on do’s
and do not’s in football focuses on tight ends and wide receivers.
In my last post, part one of this series I said that taking
a wide receiver or tight end to early could be an issue, I should correct that,
taking one in the top 5 could be a problem, however that was a mistake I made
years ago. In today’s NFL the passing
game has exploded, it is now a pass happy league. I will focus on players that are worth your
while taking early in a draft in this post, and also players that should be
avoided in the draft.
Wide Receivers
Draft:
Calvin Johnson
Wes Welker
Larry Fitzgerald- I know I said do not trust the Cardinals
QBs but he will always put up great numbers (more a 3rd round kind
of pick if you are not sure of how his numbers will be).
Andre Johnson
Do not draft:
Justin Blackmon- Still unsigned, and had issues right away
when he was drafted (See his DUI arrest), also playing on a bad Jaguars team.
Chad Johnson- Even though last year was his one bad year, I
still don’t know how much he has left, and the Dolphins offense has not been
good as of late, avoid taking him.
Raiders WRs- Not sure how I feel about any of these guys,
not to mention how Carson will play this year, speed is not everything when it
comes to being able to catch and score points.
Michael Crabtree- With the additions of Randy Moss and Mario
Manningham to the team I really don’t see Crabtree being a go to guy, avoid him
as well. He may be a good pick up in
free agency.
The players I said that should be taken are worth a top
pick, if not the first round, then pick them up in the second, those four are
some of the game’s best. Welker is in
line for another high catch, high yards season, having two great tight ends on
the field and the addition of Brandon Lloyd will only help Welker’s stats.
As a side note a receiver worthy of picking up in the draft
(mid to late rounds) is Titus Young of the Detroit Lions. Calvin Johnson had a monster year last year,
and with a big contract just signed it would be worthy to note that he will be
receiving a lot of attention from defenses this upcoming season. Titus Young should be able to get his numbers
up because of the attention that Calvin will get. I like Titus Young a lot, and A.J. Green of
the Bengals is another WR worth taking in a mid to late round as well.
Tight Ends
Draft:
Rob Gronkowski
Aaron Hernandez
Jimmy Graham
Vernon Davis
Jermichael Finley
Those five tight ends are more then worthy of a high draft
pick, I know that is may seem odd that two players on the same team would be so
high on a list of tight ends to pick, but both of them were big last year
numbers wise, especially Gronkowski who caught a record 17 TDs for TE.
That is the most in NFL history for a TE to catch in one season. Hernandez is a basically a wide receiver, he
will make a lot of catches that can turn in to big time yardage, he is more the
open field type of TE, and Gronk is a red zone threat, but he is an all-around
threat as well. Both are scary when
running because of their size and also difficulty to cover. Jimmy Graham is a beast, as well as Vernon
Davis. Graham is on the Saints who love
to fling the ball around, so he will always have great numbers. For Vernon Davis, he is now on a team that is
loaded at the WR position, which means this team is looking to throw the ball
more, I would not be surprised to see him have a 10 touchdown and 1,000 yard
season. Finley catches passes from Aaron
Rodgers, and produces big time, I think I can just leave it at that.
Do not draft:
Coby Fleener- Drafted out of Stanford, he was a team mate of
Andrew Luck there, he like Luck is a rookie, and while they have chemistry, I
still do not trust the Colts offense. He
may be a good pick up at some point, but I am still unsure of how he could help
a team out.
Seahawks Tight Ends- Both Zach Miller and Kellen Winslow
play on this team, and while both can get some solid numbers (Miller more so than
Winslow), I again would want to stay away from this. Seattle has yet to make any decision on a
starting QB, and if the Seahawks chose Tavaris Jackson or Russell Wilson I am
not sure if they will be able to do as well as say if Matt Flynn was starting.
In short, be care when drafting a WR or TE so high, because
sometimes it could come back to haunt you.
If you have a top 5 pick is may be best to wait until the second round,
however the list of TEs and WRs are safe to take early.
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