Jump to content

5.176 - MIN: KJ Osborn WR/Miami


RpMc

Recommended Posts

Yeah I don’t see much on those limited highlights that looks like an NFL receiver. But maybe they want to keep an extra WR to be a returner, like Sherels was as a 6th CB.

It was underdiscussed at the time last year, but Beebe and Hughes were terrible as punt returners — poor ball security and no big returns. And then of course Sherels muffed 2 punts in the playoffs, including the final nail in the coffin vs SF.

Hughes is the only guy guaranteed to make the team right now with PR experience, and he’s going to be their CB1 (gulp), so they probably don’t want him back there taking hits.

I don’t like using a 5th round pick on a special teams player, but it’s no worse than Vedvik or Cutting or Locke or all the other times Spielman has used a late round pick to secure the guy his special teams coach wanted. There was a run on players with return ability in the 4th and 5th so maybe they wanted to make sure they got their guy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Krauser said:

I don’t like using a 5th round pick on a special teams player, but it’s no worse than Vedvik or Cutting or Locke or all the other times Spielman has used a late round pick to secure the guy his special teams coach wanted.

And it's better than using a 1st on one! (Patterson)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Klomp said:

And it's better than using a 1st on one! (Patterson)

Aw, Patterson was so much fun as a gadget player. Stupid Norv tried to turn him into Michael Irvin.

Imagine him in an Andy Reid scheme. Still probably only worth a 2nd rounder but...

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Krauser said:

Aw, Patterson was so much fun as a gadget player. Stupid Norv tried to turn him into Michael Irvin.

Imagine him in an Andy Reid scheme. Still probably only worth a 2nd rounder but...

Patterson could have been special if he had just wanted to put the work in as a receiver. Which always surprised me considering what Theilen, who’s great friends with CP, and Diggs we’re doing together. Even if CP didn’t have the motivation to do it by himself, you’d think that being around those other two would have had some trickledown effect. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Krauser said:

I don’t like using a 5th round pick on a special teams player,

My issue with the pick is that Donovan peoples Jones was still on the board. He is electric in the return game and has x receiver upside. Just second guessing there for me. They kinda made up for it with the Davis UDFA signing but can’t be help thinking they left value out there with this pick. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, SemperFeist said:

DPJ was one of my favorite mid-round receivers. I too would have rather had him.  Although, I’d be curious to hear the reason as to why he fell as far as he did. 

My guess is Osborn and his return abilities, not to mention his gunner potential on special teams is why they took him.  No way they have Hughes return punts like last year and Osborn might have the toughness and speed to do it.  Competitive kid, has some quickness to him.  DPJ oddly enough is a heck of a return man as well and I like his potential more no doubt about it.  But he does not have the toughness of strength Osborn does and not sure DPJ would be a gunner on special teams like Osborn would.

I agree though DPJ is a more talented player no doubt, and is arguably not as tough and lacks a little desire.  Proche was there also and he is a superior receiver to either one of them in terms of his hands, but is probably too similar to a lot of guys we already have.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, battle2heaven said:

My issue with the pick is that Donovan peoples Jones was still on the board. He is electric in the return game and has x receiver upside. Just second guessing there for me. They kinda made up for it with the Davis UDFA signing but can’t be help thinking they left value out there with this pick. 

DPJ’s best year returning punts had him average 10 yards a return. 10 yards/return was KJ’s lowest average and averaged 15 yards/return this past season. That’s a big difference. Edit: Osborn had the 4th best return average in college, behind Jaylen Waddle, Jalen Reagor and Brandon Aiyuk.

 

DPJ also had a ton of late-round hype for a guy who had such low production in college, KJ has him beat in that department as well.

Edited by whitehops
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, whitehops said:

DPJ’s best year returning punts had him average 10 yards a return. 10 yards/return was KJ’s lowest average and averaged 15 yards/return this past season. That’s a big difference.

 

DPJ also had a ton of late-round hype for a guy who had such low production in college, KJ has him beat in that department as well.

I wanted someone with x receiver upside that could double up as a returner; not someone who is strictly a returner first that is only a slot receiver 2nd

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He's got some traits, seems to have a pretty sticky set of hands.  His game reminds me a little bit of this guy:

I remember doing an UDFA profile on Reynaud  back on the old forum (both he and Erin Henderson actually), and I see I lot of similar characteristics. A receiver in a running backs body. Good balance through contact, but Osborn seems to attack the football very well in the air and is pretty fearless about it. 
 

he may never be a base package player, but he’s got good traits to be a sub package player and specialist. 

Edited by RpMc
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, RpMc said:

A receiver in a running backs body. Good balance through contact, but Osborn seems to attack the football very well in the air and is pretty fearless about it. 
 

he may never be a base package player, but he’s got good traits to be a sub package player and specialist. 

Yeah, his contact balance is impressive. He’s built like a running back and moves like one too.

Agree that his ball skills are good too (at least in highlights, but he is showing some traits there).

I was surprised to see he’d been lining up outside. He struggled to release off the line on the couple of occasions he had someone pressing him. I think he’d need to be used in the slot if he’s going to contribute as a receiver.

His punt returns were excellent. He changes direction quickly, sets up moves, and breaks tackles. Not quite as explosive as Patterson or lighting fast as Harvin, but that RB style of running really shows up there.

I guess he could use those skills on offense too — on screens and end arounds. Diggs did a lot of that kind of thing (mostly in 2018 under JDF but under Stefanski too). 

One of the mid rounds WRs I was hoping the Vikings would draft was Devin Duvernay, a similarly short RB-looking WR who was very productive as a deep threat.

Osborn doesn’t have Duvernay’s track speed but he’s more agile, and better with the ball in his hands. If Vikings can find a way to get him the ball in space, Osborn could find a niche as a rookie, playing WR4 snaps as a slot / gadget player.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Krauser said:

One of the mid rounds WRs I was hoping the Vikings would draft was Devin Duvernay, a similarly short RB-looking WR who was very productive as a deep threat.

I like Duvernay as well but he went earlier than I would have wanted to snag another receiver; towards the end of the 3rd round.

Those receivers taken in the 5th that the Vikings could have had (available before they traded down):

Tyler Johnson

Collin Johnson

Quintez Cephus

John Hightower

Isaiah Coulter

Darnell Mooney

 

If we wanted that vertical field stretcher, Mooney and Hightower fits that bill; Coulter a little bit. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, RpMc said:

He's got some traits, seems to have a pretty sticky set of hands.  His game reminds me a little bit of this guy:

I'm going to do a little write up later with some players, but doing research and watching what I can find on him at Buffalo and Miami, the most impressive trait about him are his hands. The football looks like it literally just sticks to them. They are so strong and ball just doesn't move as he catches it. It's really impressive. Here's a little video of him on the jugs machine:

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...