I also think teams are crazy committing multiple high picks to trade up to go and grab a wide reciever. We are talking about guys who are nice pieces, and in good situations can tip you over the edge, but in terms of overall impact, they are not going to change the direction of a franchise. I am trying to think of wide receivers who teams traded up for and committed a lot of high resources to, and how those situations worked out in the short term. Julio Jones ? He has been great, but did that hamstring their ability to build for several years ? A lot of people think so.
I also started to do a little study a few weeks ago which I couldn't be bothered finishing, where I was looking at the top 25 leaders in receptions over the last 20 years at 3 year intervals, and the results were showing that guys drafted into the mid first round, through to the third round, had more impact than those top tier guys drafted in the top 15. Look at the last 10 years of guys taken in the top 15 alone. Corey Coleman, Corey Davis, Mike Williams, John Ross, Amari Cooper, Kevin White, DeVante Parker, Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans, Odell Beckham, Tavon Austin, Justin Blackmon, AJ Green, Julio Jones, Darrius Heywerd-Bey, and Michael Crabtree.
A pretty low hit rate in terms of guys living up to their status and being that legitimate number one guy. If you extend that out to guys drafted in that 16-50 range you see that is where a large percentage of top 25 leading receivers are drafted. Have a look at the list of guys who feature on that list.
http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/ful...on&position=WR
I also started to do a little study a few weeks ago which I couldn't be bothered finishing, where I was looking at the top 25 leaders in receptions over the last 20 years at 3 year intervals, and the results were showing that guys drafted into the mid first round, through to the third round, had more impact than those top tier guys drafted in the top 15. Look at the last 10 years of guys taken in the top 15 alone. Corey Coleman, Corey Davis, Mike Williams, John Ross, Amari Cooper, Kevin White, DeVante Parker, Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans, Odell Beckham, Tavon Austin, Justin Blackmon, AJ Green, Julio Jones, Darrius Heywerd-Bey, and Michael Crabtree.
A pretty low hit rate in terms of guys living up to their status and being that legitimate number one guy. If you extend that out to guys drafted in that 16-50 range you see that is where a large percentage of top 25 leading receivers are drafted. Have a look at the list of guys who feature on that list.
http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/ful...on&position=WR
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