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Intertesting article from ESPN with professional insight from Buffalo's very own Mike Mularkey. The article gives me hope that Josh Reed can still break into a major contributor to the Bills passing game, but it also leaves me a little weary of drafting a WR in the first round of this season's draft.
Wideouts are slow to make adjustments
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
Query league personnel chiefs or college scouting directors and the vast majority will acknowledge that the wide receiver class for next month's draft is the deepest collection of prospects ever in a single lottery. Ask the same men to suggest which of the talented receivers will have the biggest impact as a rookie, however, and the body language that ensues is not unlike that of a person who has just swallowed a spoonful of dirt.
And with good reason.
It is one thing, history indicates, to reach a consensus on the top receiver prospects in virtually any draft. Heck, there are casual observers of the 2004 draft, semi-interested parties who have yet to reach official draftnik level, who know Larry Fitzgerald of Pittsburgh, can separate the three first-round hopefuls who all share the Williams surname, and are pretty sure that Lee Evans of Wisconsin has satisfied the doubts about his twice-surgically repaired left knee.
But just knowing the first-round wide receivers -- and the consensus is there will be a half-dozen pass-catchers off the board by the end of the first stanza -- doesn't mean anyone knows if the talented youngsters will succeed in their debut seasons. Fact is, there is a body of empirical evidence which suggests just the opposite, documented numbers that indicate first-round wide receivers typically are anything but first-year contributors.
"For whatever reason," allowed Buffalo Bills rookie coach Mike Mularkey at the recent combine sessions in Indianapolis, "(wide receiver) is a more difficult position to project than most people might think. I mean, it's a skill position, one where you think guys are going to come in and be ready to play quickly. But it's tough. It often takes those guys two or three years to get over the hump. Just look at the first-year numbers, even for the (wide receivers) taken in the first round, and they're pretty interesting."
Wideouts are slow to make adjustments
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
Query league personnel chiefs or college scouting directors and the vast majority will acknowledge that the wide receiver class for next month's draft is the deepest collection of prospects ever in a single lottery. Ask the same men to suggest which of the talented receivers will have the biggest impact as a rookie, however, and the body language that ensues is not unlike that of a person who has just swallowed a spoonful of dirt.
And with good reason.
It is one thing, history indicates, to reach a consensus on the top receiver prospects in virtually any draft. Heck, there are casual observers of the 2004 draft, semi-interested parties who have yet to reach official draftnik level, who know Larry Fitzgerald of Pittsburgh, can separate the three first-round hopefuls who all share the Williams surname, and are pretty sure that Lee Evans of Wisconsin has satisfied the doubts about his twice-surgically repaired left knee.
But just knowing the first-round wide receivers -- and the consensus is there will be a half-dozen pass-catchers off the board by the end of the first stanza -- doesn't mean anyone knows if the talented youngsters will succeed in their debut seasons. Fact is, there is a body of empirical evidence which suggests just the opposite, documented numbers that indicate first-round wide receivers typically are anything but first-year contributors.
"For whatever reason," allowed Buffalo Bills rookie coach Mike Mularkey at the recent combine sessions in Indianapolis, "(wide receiver) is a more difficult position to project than most people might think. I mean, it's a skill position, one where you think guys are going to come in and be ready to play quickly. But it's tough. It often takes those guys two or three years to get over the hump. Just look at the first-year numbers, even for the (wide receivers) taken in the first round, and they're pretty interesting."
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