2024 WR Talk

[nicfre2011]

30 minutes ago, Daniel said:

I’ve kind of resigned myself to getting Ladd McConkey at 39.

Thoughts on Ja'Lynn Polk, Jovan Baker, or Dez Walker in round 2. They are definitely different types of receivers than McConkey, but even round 2 has some quality prospects for sure.

[Daniel]

42 minutes ago, nicfre2011 said:

Thoughts on Ja'Lynn Polk, Jovan Baker, or Dez Walker in round 2. They are definitely different types of receivers than McConkey, but even round 2 has some quality prospects for sure.

Baker I still haven’t scouted. Dez I am bearish on. Quality tape is hard to find, but what I have been able to see has him looking like a poor man’s Jalin Hyatt. And then there’s his Senior Bowl week.

Ja’Lynn Polk I like, but less than McMillan. He brings a lot of what Odunze does, including a lot of contested catches, which can be troubling. Like, it’s good when guys can do it, but you don’t want them to need to, you know?

Assuming the big three and Mitchell, Thomas, Franklin, and Coleman are gone, then I think the choice is between Legette and McConkey, depending on what you’re after.

That said, a good week in Indy could put Worthy, Burton, Polk, or McMillan in that conversation too.

[Tugboat]

2 hours ago, grizmo78 said:

@Tugboat I agree with what you're seeing with Odunze but disagree with what you're seeing with Polk. I would actually say it sounds more like Jalen McMillan. I think Polk just lacks that 2nd gear speed/suddenness to make him a high upside prospect but I can see him settling in as a solid #2/#3 WR. 

 

 

I don't even really disagree with what you're suggesting on Polk overall.  That's more or less how i view him.  I just think there's less upside and more "risk" with the way Polk plays and the contested catch thing, relative to Odunze, who i'm super high on.  To me, Polk is definitely a Day2 flyer solidly in that cluster, who stands a really solid chance of becoming a quality #2/3WR with size and some good chain moving possession utility to offer.

 

McMillan, i'm a little more iffy on.  I don't think the all of the criticisms levelled there really match up with my impression of him though.  He's got other issues.  I'd specifically agree with you on the notion that he benefits even more than Polk from the talent ahead of him and the matchups and releases that often affords him.  Half the time, his catches are almost like the defense halfway forgot about him among the other weapons.  He's just constantly running wide open with a completely untouched release on those slants/posts/corners.   When he doesn't, he does struggle.  But that's where i don't see him as so much of a "contested catch" merchant as the other two.  I find he's a lot more "feast or famine". 

But i'm really curious to see what he tests out as at the combine.  There are things to like there, but it's hard to tell when he gets so many advantageous matchups.  He also doesn't look particularly athletic or explosive to me.  And i do think the "maxed out athlete" critique might be fair.  But he's got some YAC skills and ability to turn the ball upfield and go off those sort of routes.  Whether he's got enough juice to carry that over against bigger, faster Pros is still a ??? for me though.

 

This whole conundrum with all these Washington guys though, also just fuels some of my real skepticism with Penix.  He played with ridiculous skill position and OLine talent for the collegiate level.  He also seems to throw a high number of "contested catches"...interspersed with those "wide open" schemed up reads in between.  It works in college, but being a beat slow in processing, and getting the ball delivered lacking anticipation won't fly at the next level.

 

2 hours ago, Daniel said:

I’ve kind of resigned myself to getting Ladd McConkey at 39.

McConkey seems like a kind of odd fit for the Chiefs to me.  I can see him with a lot of teams, but i'm not sure the Chiefs offense is really built to take most advantage of his skillset.

 

43 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Baker I still haven’t scouted. Dez I am bearish on. Quality tape is hard to find, but what I have been able to see has him looking like a poor man’s Jalin Hyatt. And then there’s his Senior Bowl week.

Ja’Lynn Polk I like, but less than McMillan. He brings a lot of what Odunze does, including a lot of contested catches, which can be troubling. Like, it’s good when guys can do it, but you don’t want them to need to, you know?

Assuming the big three and Mitchell, Thomas, Franklin, and Coleman are gone, then I think the choice is between Legette and McConkey, depending on what you’re after.

That said, a good week in Indy could put Worthy, Burton, Polk, or McMillan in that conversation too.

 

Tez Walker is a weird one for me.  Initial impressions were actually pretty decent.  But that Senior Bowl week definitely cast some aspersions on things.  Not that i was super worried about having trouble getting his hands on a few passes in drills with QBs he's never worked with...that tends to get really exaggerated on a few unfortunate reps.  But it raised enough of a question to make me go back and watch some more of him.  Which left me...still okay on him and he's got intriguing tools for the job, but less sold than early impressions for sure. 

He's a lot more of a "project" than i initially thought.  Especially as any kind of more versatile, detailed route runner.  I also ended up noting that teams who really like "blocking" WRs are probably going to see some things to like there.  As a field-stretcher/blocking out wide sort of role, he's got upside.  He's a lot more "situation/scheme specific" though...which will probably be really polarizing from team to team.

[goldfishwars]

5 hours ago, nicfre2011 said:

Thoughts on Ja'Lynn Polk, Jovan Baker, or Dez Walker in round 2. They are definitely different types of receivers than McConkey, but even round 2 has some quality prospects for sure.

I don’t think Tez ends up in round 2 unless a team needs a dude to do one very specific thing that they can’t currently get. He’s not a rounded receiver right now, may never be.

[Tugboat]

54 minutes ago, goldfishwars said:

I don’t think Tez ends up in round 2 unless a team needs a dude to do one very specific thing that they can’t currently get. He’s not a rounded receiver right now, may never be.

 

I think this is honestly a lot of what's going to potentially transpire though.  I think there's gonna be a huge amount of volatility amongst that whole huge "Day2 WR" crowd.  Depending on which teams are looking for what, and in what order.  Regardless of my own personal preferences or leanings...i could genuinely see easily 12-20 guys who might go almost anywhere on Day2.  And that 2nd round isn't going to be like half comprised of WRs.  😆

 

It's just a weird, rich WR draft with so many flavours of imperfect but with upside sort of prospects available in that range.  I'm still very much sorting out my own preferences, but realizing there's a pretty huge scope of them across the board.

[DoleINGout]

12 hours ago, Tugboat said:

But to each their own.  This is why discussions are interesting instead of dropping twitter hot takes or just following the consensus/popular rankings.  It's also why we have the "Roster of your misses" thread and bragging about the "Big wins", because we've all got lots of both.  😆

exactly where my mind went. in Odunze’s case I see nothing exceptional besides the name. Sounds like a latin R&b artist name

Edited February 29 by DoleINGout

[Tugboat]

17 minutes ago, DoleINGout said:

exactly where my mind went. in Odunze’s case I see nothing exceptional besides the name. Sounds like a latin R&b artist name

I choose to look at it as a misspelling of "Odin".  So...our opinions diverge.

 

But 😆  I do like that your opinion challenges mine.  It'll make me go back and watch again and think about what you've said.  If what you've said is dumb though, i'll be annoyed.

[goldfishwars]

3 hours ago, Tugboat said:

 

I think this is honestly a lot of what's going to potentially transpire though.  I think there's gonna be a huge amount of volatility amongst that whole huge "Day2 WR" crowd.  Depending on which teams are looking for what, and in what order.  Regardless of my own personal preferences or leanings...i could genuinely see easily 12-20 guys who might go almost anywhere on Day2.  And that 2nd round isn't going to be like half comprised of WRs.  😆

 

It's just a weird, rich WR draft with so many flavours of imperfect but with upside sort of prospects available in that range.  I'm still very much sorting out my own preferences, but realizing there's a pretty huge scope of them across the board.

I think that’s fair to say there’s something for all tastes and needs. I just think there will be day two guys who have some of that elite acceleration PLUS either/or better hands, a fuller route tree, can make contested catches. Walker just looks a long way off for me.

[goldfishwars]

I think it’s round three + for Tez in a deep receiver class

[Tugboat]

2 minutes ago, goldfishwars said:

I think that’s fair to say there’s something for all tastes and needs. I just think there will be day two guys who have some of that elite acceleration PLUS either/or better hands, a fuller route tree, can make contested catches. Walker just looks a long way off for me.

 

Yeah.  Absolutely.  Do you want a guy with that short quicks and route precision?  Do you want a dynamic dude with mittens for hands?  Do you want a weird rocked up dude who might just be a college bully?  Do you want a guy like Tez who specializes in just...running past people?

Mystery to me how teams will even organize these guys.  And there's basically everything in between.

[Rich7sena]

11 hours ago, nicfre2011 said:

Thoughts on Ja'Lynn Polk, Jovan Baker, or Dez Walker in round 2. They are definitely different types of receivers than McConkey, but even round 2 has some quality prospects for sure.

I have been watching Polk lately, and I think he has a lot of potential that was not realized in Washington's offense. I'd certainly be more interested in Polk in the second than Odunze in the top 10. I don't want to overreact to my first impressions, but Polk has some Justin Jefferson in his game (i.e. twitchiness, hand strength, route savviness).

[Tugboat]

41 minutes ago, Rich7sena said:

I have been watching Polk lately, and I think he has a lot of potential that was not realized in Washington's offense. I'd certainly be more interested in Polk in the second than Odunze in the top 10. I don't want to overreact to my first impressions, but Polk has some Justin Jefferson in his game (i.e. twitchiness, hand strength, route savviness).

lmao.  I think i'm in bizarro world sometimes.

 

Do you mean McMillan?  He's the one who strikes me as a "very poor man's" Jefferson.

 

I feel like these Washington receivers are going to ultimately kill us all.

[Daniel]

4 minutes ago, Tugboat said:

I feel like these Washington receivers are going to ultimately kill us all.

It's hard to use tape to sort out that many quality receivers on the same offense.

Combine will actually go a long way toward sorting them out.

[goldfishwars]

14 minutes ago, Daniel said:

It's hard to use tape to sort out that many quality receivers on the same offense.

Combine will actually go a long way toward sorting them out.

If it's to break ties then sure, Puka scored 5.17.  Give me a skilled receiver over a raw athlete anytime. 

[jebrick]

10 minutes ago, goldfishwars said:

If it's to break ties then sure, Puka scored 5.17.  Give me a skilled receiver over a raw athlete anytime. 

for me

1) Can they run routes? Read as getting separation .  Being able to run good routes is a premium skill.  College players that have learned good routes have immediate impact in the NFL.  Good route runners can have long careers.

2) Can they catch the ball. Duh!  Still amazing on how many WR have trouble catching the ball.

That is it.  Everything else is gravy.  Sure you can debate size and speed but unless they have #1 and/or 2, not worth it.

Looking at someone like George Pickens.  Did not have #1 but had #2 at a high level.  Now adding in his size and speed and it could be a 1st round pick but maturity issues push to a 2nd.