NFC Players By Position - Wide Receiver. When you pair those two together with Slayton, Shepard and another former first-rounder in Ross, all of a sudden, this is a great receiving corps. This is one of those plays that shows even when Jeffery is covered, hes open. Despite not getting much separation, Reagors use of inside leverage keeps him open and he does a great job highpointing the ball, bodying the CB out of the play and catching it away from him, so theres no chance for the CB to make a play on the ball. Cooper working with Dalton and practice squad players has put up respectable numbers while McLaurin working with a revolving door of quarterbacks has emerged as a leader and playmaker in the culture Ron Rivera is trying to implement. Like Julio, Jeffery is tall, long-limbed, physical, fast, and a good route runner. At the bottom of the depth chart, Watkins, Hightower and J.J. Arcega-Whitesid might be in a battle. Running a sub-4.4 40 time himself, Slay isnt afraid of getting beat deep, and keeps his eyes moving between Cooper and Dak the entire time he runs with Cooper. But those wide receivers that have been most successful of late early in their career are the Route Runners. These are guys who are exceptional coming out of their breaks without losing too much speed, have repetitive and repeatable routes time after time so their quarterback knows where they are going to be and can create separation by setting up a cover man and making every route look the same from the beginning. Richardsons injury history served as prologue to his time in the NFL. He committed to Auburn and was a big play threat throughout his college career, but didnt get to show much versatility in a simple offense with poor QB play for much of his college career. He also doesnt use deception and fakes as aggressively as he could in his routes, possibly because he is accustomed to simply running past opponents. He makes the catch (though its a body catch, not a hands catch) and shows great strength and body control breaking the initial tackle to run for several more yards. Corey Coleman, Cody Lattimer and Russell Shepard all have a chance to make an impact, though 5th round draft pick Darius Slayton will possibly keep one of them off the roster this season. We are seeing more and more taller receivers that run well in a straight line, but arent great at changing directions, fall lower and lower in the draft. NFC North. He is also an ace gunner on special teams and the Skins reportedly had him ranked as the number 1 ranked special teams player in the draft. Richardson is a very smart WR, aware of the field and good at improvising to keep himself open as a viable option when the play breaks down (he made a similar TD off of improvisation against the Panthers last year). Its difficult to overthrow Alshon Jeffery, he can often jump over a DB to make the catch. Cooper again lines up opposite Hughes, this time at the bottom of the screen. That speed, paired with Mike McDaniels innovative play-calling, has led to Waddles success on downfield passes, where he ranks fourth in the NFL with 741 receiving yards (trailing Hill, Davante Adams and Justin Jefferson). That good deep speed, with elite agility and acceleration shows up on tape as well. Then he makes a tremendous leaping catch, using his long arms and sure hands to highpoint the ball and secure it away from the CB for a TD. Playing on a loaded Ohio State offense, McLaurin only caught 35 passes in 2018, but did a lot with his opportunities (20.0 YPR average). Cooper is the true No. He looks, to me, a lot like a poor mans Julio Jones. Here, well take a look at the top of the depth chart for each team the pool of players from which the ones on the final 53 seem likely to be chosen. He talked about position groups that Bills fans should look at here in In. Jeffery lines up on the outside in a bunch formation (3 WRs all bunched up on the same side), but at the last second moves inside as if hes moving to the slot. The Washington Football Team stands at 72.6 inches, or 6'1". By DJ Siddiqi. Cooper did a poor job on the few plays I saw him used as a blocker, and seemed to get pulled from the field by the coaching staff on many running plays. In addition, his strengths are still his strengths. He does an excellent job locating and tracking the ball in the air and adjusting his routes to match the balls trajectory (which was important, because he was often so fast that he got underthrown on deep routes). Although hes a big, physical WR who is good at contested catches, he is also fast enough to blow past some DBs when going vertical. This play highlights Coopers ability to sell the deep route as well as his short area quickness to stop and turn on a dime to get open. Golladay will finish his Giants career with 43 receptions for . [7:59] McLaurin lines up opposite Jalen Mills at the top of the screen. Hes matched up against Rasul Douglas 1-on-1 at the top of the screen. Not only did the Giants sign Golladay to a four-year, $72 million contract this offseason, but they also used their first-round pick on Toney, the explosive rookie wideout from Florida. This is an example of the trouble Cooper has when facing off against top CBs who are as athletically gifted as he is and arent afraid of getting beat deep. Watching Reagor play, I would describe him as explosive, sudden, fast, smart (good at recognizing coverages and exploiting soft spots in zones), and a good route runner. The 2014 Arizona Cardinals 4th rounder bounced around the league over the past 6 years but seems to have finally settled on his 6th team. You cant teach speed. NFL footage NFL Productions LLC. In the video I reviewed of Cooper (all after the trade to the Cowboys), he looked like a very good WR, just one step down from elite (not quite a Julio Jones or Antonio Brown). Basically everything about this matchup is tilted in McLaurins favor, and I think its the type of matchup he isnt likely to receive now that teams have had a look at him. This is almost a right of passage and wide receivers must show the ability to win at the line of scrimmage and make defensive coordinators pay for playing them in this manner. He committed to Stanford, and although red shirted in his freshman year, became an increasingly important part of the offense after that, catching 63 passes for 1,059 yards in 2018 (top 5 in the nation). I respectfully disagree with one aspect of this otherwise fine gallery Jeff Chadiha has put together of the NFL's top 10 wide receivers. Watching tape of McLaurins 2019 season, it became clear that other teams saw him as the number one threat in the Redskins passing game. Although Reagor is a deep threat, I think hes similar to Amari Cooper in that hes a bit more quick than fast; defenses have to respect his deep speed, but his suddenness in changing direction is actually more of a threat than his ability to take the top off a defense. Schoen may need to get creative in order to land a true No. 1 receiver. He grew in almost all of those areas as a WR in his first year, putting to bed my concerns about how he would translate to the NFL. It also shows how much teams have to respect his deep-threat ability and how that opens up opportunities for short passes. He finished the season with 48 receptions for 740 yards. And, sure, Reagor had a disappointing rookie season in 2020 but its way to early to write him off, especially with a new offensive scheme coming to town. But the NFC East likely has the next four best players, and has greater depth. NFC East . Fulgham is a huge question mark but we know hes talented. Terry McLaurin flashes elite traits, but has enough problems in his tape that I can see why he fell to the 3rd round. Instead of taking a step back, Hill has elevated an entire offense and been the key to third-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's breakout season. Once Reagor has passed the CB he shows great acceleration getting down the field quickly and showing good use of inside leverage, keeping himself between the CB and the QB so the QB has a clear path to throw to him inside. Richardsons negatives almost entirely have to do with his strength and injury history. However, he has a limited route tree and doesnt show much subtlety in terms of using fakes, counters, leverage, body-positioning, or physicality to get open. And Waddle -- who was named our most likely first-time Pro Bowler back in November -- has displayed plenty of it this season. But against NFL-caliber talent, it might not be enough. As an aside, I think this play also highlights problems with how the Eagles scheme up their secondary. This makes fitting the run more difficult for defenses, helping Josh Jacobs run away with the rushing title (so far) this season. Getty The Cowboys could be the perfect landing spot for Giants WR Richie James. Andre Dillard is a clear successor to Jason Peters. The score is calculated by scaling each metric to a percentile (from 0 to 100) relative to all wide receivers who have played at least 150 offensive snaps through Week 14 of the 2022 season. [0:32] Richardson runs a deep route, subtly faking outside to get inside leverage on the CB, then turning the route back inside to split the CB and S, get open, locate the ball in the air, and dive for the catch. I still think New York should target the position, even if the team has to reach a . Slayton doesnt fake inside before breaking outside, he doesnt fight for inside leverage while running down the sideline, he doesnt body out Gilmore when he jumps for the ball, he doesnt grip the ball strong enough that Gilmore cant knock it out of his hands. The Redskins probably have the least recognizable names in the division, even though the squad features former first round pick Josh Doctson and last years relatively high-profile free agent signing, Paul Richardson. It is well known in the scouting community that when watching tape of college wide receiver prospects, it is imperative to analyze every snap against press man coverage. The NFC East is STACKED at receiver. Although his deep speed is only good (not great), he has elite quickness/acceleration and change-of-direction ability. And Humphries comes over from Tennessee, where he was once a very productive player. Expect the QB play to dramatically improve next year as teams either move onto new starters or double down on weapons for their existing starters. He has a PhD in Experimental Particle Physics and has spent several years doing research with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, and now does R&D work as a US government contractor. In an unusual season that, due to global pandemic, may turn out to be unlike any other, the wide receiver position seems to offer an interesting and potentially exciting year to fans of the NFC East. Cooper can play every WR position: X, Z, and slot, and the Cowboys use him all over the field to exploit matchups and get him paired with slower DBs. All other NFL-related trademarks are trademarks of the National Football League. Although he suffered from poor QB play in 2019 (40.2% of passes thrown his way were uncatchable, 3rd worst in this years draft class), he also had a terrible 9.8% drop rate, one of the highest in this years draft class. Also, Im not sure how much this will translate to the NFL, but I literally saw Reagor yelling at his QB after some plays where he expected a different read or better ball placement. [1:32] This is an example of being open when covered. But forcing him to start so far off essentially gives Slayton a running start as he passes Darby. He was on a torrid pace yet again when healthy. He discussed areas where this year's draft class looks strong . Alshon Jeffery was taken by the Bears in the 2nd round of the 2012 draft. AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, (select parishes), MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY, CA-ONT only.Eligibility restrictions apply. McLaurin gets a poor angle on the block because of the DBs speed, but nevertheless uses his strength to hold his man in place and eventually follow him to the ground, forcing the defender to reach out for an attempted shoestring tackle. Speed is great without question and true speedsters that know how to use it terrify defensive coordinators. The QB play in particular has been cause for concern, with 3 of the 4 teams in the division entering the offseason with questions around the position. St. Brown has been a revelation for the Lions -- and his impact has played a big role in the teams opportunity to end its five-year playoff drought. Which game-wrecking unit reigns supreme right now? Note that Reagor got injured earlier in this game and looked to be in a lot of pain, but came back and played through it very effectively (as shown here). That top three of Cooper, Gallup and Lamb might be the best trio in the NFL. Hogs Haven looks at all four teams in the division in an effort to identify the best and the weakest of the NFC East. [2:32] Jeffery lines up outside with the CB giving him lots of cushion. Still, he forces teams to respect the deep game, and I often saw him get an easy completion on a crossing or out route because the DB gave him a lot of cushion in order to defend the deep routes. Former Jacksonville Jaguar Allen Hurns, who hasnt been able to break 500 yards in a season since 2015, when he put up 1,031 yards and 10 TDs, is probably the headliner of the bottom half of the depth chart. [3:05] This was the play that introduced McLaurin to a lot of us. Although he managed more than 1000 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons, most of those yards seemed to come in about 30% of his games. Staying close and allowing little separation early in the route also allows those DBs to keep Cooper covered when he breaks inside on a crossing or curl route. So far we have looked at: 1. In his rookie year in the NFL, he did an excellent job reaching out and catching the ball away from his body (hands-catching), which is critical to keep the ball safe from DBs that rarely allow as much separation as in college. Love was smart enough to avoid being fooled by the route, allowing little separation and having enough physicality to prevent getting boxed out. Many of the recent early-round busts at this position came from wide-open spread attacks that only asked the wide receivers to run a few routes and when these young receivers adjusted to the league, they were just not close to being well-rounded enough in all aspects of running an NFL route tree. Last years 3rd round pick, Michael Gallup adds a speed element to the teams receiving corps, which was further bolstered this off-season when the Cowboys signed former Green Bay Packer Randall Cobb during the veteran free agency period. Andrew is a self-taught film analyst with a pretty impressive resume. In fact, with four games remaining on the schedule, Brown already has set the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016) single-season record with four touchdowns on deep, tight-window passes. Drafted by the Seahawks in the 2nd round of the 2010 NFL draft, Tate signed with the Lions in FA in 2014, was traded to the Eagles in 2018, and signed with the Giants in free agency this offseason. Behind every great quarterback, there's an excellent wide receiver, or two, or three. If there were a vote for the most anonymous group in the division, I suspect that it would be won by the Giants, whose WR corps is headlined by Golden Tate and was not supplemented in the April draft, in which Dave Gettleman selected three offensive linemen and three linebackers, while every other team in the division drafted at least one new receiver. Click here to see all the Ranking the NFC East articles. Cooper is the true No. Although McLaurin isnt able to get much separation from Slay, he is able to body Slay out and break open just as the ball reaches him. He doesnt do it often enough to be a big issue, but maybe because his cuts are so sharp, he seems to trip himself up and miss out on extra yards now and again. Bo Wulf of The Athletic suggested this weekend that wide receiver Quez Watkins could find himself . McLaurin releases and expertly fakes outside, causing Douglas to flip his hips outside while Terry turns back inside and easily runs past Douglas in the 1-on-1 matchup and gets open to make a big catch. He does a great job turning on a dime to locate the ball in the air, then boxes out the deep safety Marcus Gilchrist to keep him out of the play (though Gilchrist isnt able to change direction in time anyway). The Next Gen Stats analytics team reveals its ranking of the 10 best edge rushers entering Week 14 of the 2022 NFL season, with the Browns' Myles Garrett leading a list of star defenders. This ends up being a running play for Adrian Peterson, who breaks his run to McLaurins side of the field. 1. The Philadelphia Eagles have been active in the trade market under general manager Howie Roseman. Get the comprehensive list of every Wide Receiver for each NFL pro football team. Washington Football Team Terry McLaurin has solidified himself as one of the best young receivers in the NFL. [3:34] Reagor again goes deep, this time going inside (maintaining early inside leverage against the boundary CB), then outside a little later (maintaining outside leverage against the deep safety). This year, were going to look at the division again, but were gonna try to ramp things up a bit by adding some film review to some of the position group reviews. Although big, long, and strong on tape, his 40 time was a surprise to many who saw him as lacking deep speed. If they want to plug him into the slot, theyre getting a sure-handed guy who can move the chains. Such questionable play at the QB spot led me to wonder how the dependent receivers are fairing under such unsteady conditions. However, Richardson is also a good route runner and is quick and nuanced enough to operate well on all routes in the route tree. Jeffery plays with more speed than JJ, but JJ plays with more strength and has less of an injury history. Despite the emergence of Isaiah Hodgins, who re-signed with Big Blue last week, the Giants are likely to. 1 receiver out of the gate. McLaurin keeps track of the play, and when he sees Peterson coming to his side of the field, does a great job blocking Mills out of the play. In 2018 tape I thought he was severely lacking as a run blocker, sometimes just phoning it in or getting brushed aside by a DB, but in 2019 he looked much improved in both effort and technique. Dez Bryant, Pierre Garcon, Odell Beckham Jr., and Victor Cruz all added luster to the divisions marketability. This year, were going to do it again. Good luck. Cooper and McLaurin must receive extra praise for overcoming below average QB play, the Cowboys and Football Team's QB play has been down right terrible this year. Last off-season, Hogs Haven published articles that focused on ranking position groups and head coaches in an effort to identify what the division would look like in 2018. Alshon Jeffery doesnt have elite quickness, but uses his physicality to get open on short routes like this instead of relying on quickness and change-of-direction ability. The season with 48 receptions for 740 yards divisions marketability, who re-signed with Big Blue last week the. 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