He stated "he's the best since" Green and Julio...which is true. He may not have their size but he has a chance to be every bit as good. There are things those guys can do from an athletic standpoint that Watkins can't, however there are thing that Watkins can do with the ball in his hands that they can't either. So talent wise, he's right with those guys. Giants never had a shot at Watkins at #12.
Julio Jones and AJ Green are more prototypical star WRs because of their size. Julio is built from that TO/Andre Johnson mold of elite size/strength/quickness, while AJ Green is like a slower Randy Moss.
Sammy Watkins' height limits the kind of comparisons we can make for him. But his full package of skills are so complete and impressive that I feel like he is a better WR prospect than Julio or AJ were coming into the NFL. He is the type of player who could be a monster in the slot and on the outside. He can be a threat in the red-zone despite his height, and he is a threat to score every time he is on the field no matter the distance from the endzone. Imagine a best of both worlds Nicks/Cruz hybrid that also ran in the high 4.3s or low 4.4s... that's basically Watkins.
I really think he is the best player in this class outside of Clowney.
but he definitely gets to top speed much much faster and is probably a better route runner too. When Moss runs those underneath routes, it looks like hes running in slow motion, even on breaking routes hes never been all that great. But that deceptive stride and build up speed is part of what made him so dominant in his hey day.
Like every young WR entering in the NFL, he is far from a finished product. Theres going to be a little bit of a learning curve of figuring out how to get by press coverage consistently. He has the explosiveness obviously but its harder to run by corners on the sidelines, its more compressed in the pros. As long as he works on his splits off the line and how to use his hands etc, he'll be unstoppable. Watkins also didn't run a large variety of routes either but that's irrelevant to me because the guy is so athletic he should easily be able to beat man to man coverage with just his skill alone. If the Giants didn't have so many needs, I think hes worth a 2nd round trade up if they lose Nicks. We'll see how free agency goes.
Watkins is absolutely legit. The kid is going to be a star. If I was going with my heart, I'd really want to make a play for him because I think he's that good.. but my head knows that the Giants need OL help desperately and need help much worse in a lot of other spots. This isn't the year to trade up and there's no way we'll even sniff Watkins if we don't.
All I can do is hope he goes to a neutral team so I can keep rooting for him in the pros.
We were all jerking each other off about the prospect of trading up for Spiller a few years because he was a -can't miss.
A quality WR for sure but he simply doesn't have the size to offset the taller, stronger CB's/S's in the NFL to warrant trading up and losing an early #2 or #3 when- hate to say it- we need help everywhere.
Speaking of a skill position, I would rather fall back a bit and draft a play making/ excellent TE ( assuming one of the top 2 are available) while using the extra pic for - whatever.
This O needs a play-making TE more than a Cruz clone and it will come cheaper.
Jones is 6'3" 220 and ran a 4.39
Green is 6' 4" 205 and ran around a 4.5
Watkins hasn't been officially combine measured, but he's 6' 1", 205 and hasn't run yet.
So i'm not saying he was comparing Watkins to them, but without that size/speed combo maybe this WR class just isn't close to the Green/Jones draft.
I think Mike Evans has a better chance of becoming Vincent Jackson than Watkins does of becoming Green/Jones.
Julio Jones and AJ Green are more prototypical star WRs because of their size. Julio is built from that TO/Andre Johnson mold of elite size/strength/quickness, while AJ Green is like a slower Randy Moss.
Sammy Watkins' height limits the kind of comparisons we can make for him. But his full package of skills are so complete and impressive that I feel like he is a better WR prospect than Julio or AJ were coming into the NFL. He is the type of player who could be a monster in the slot and on the outside. He can be a threat in the red-zone despite his height, and he is a threat to score every time he is on the field no matter the distance from the endzone. Imagine a best of both worlds Nicks/Cruz hybrid that also ran in the high 4.3s or low 4.4s... that's basically Watkins.
I really think he is the best player in this class outside of Clowney.
That said, I live Watkins. I think he's going to be like Steve Smith +3-4 inches. That's an amazing player.
Like every young WR entering in the NFL, he is far from a finished product. Theres going to be a little bit of a learning curve of figuring out how to get by press coverage consistently. He has the explosiveness obviously but its harder to run by corners on the sidelines, its more compressed in the pros. As long as he works on his splits off the line and how to use his hands etc, he'll be unstoppable. Watkins also didn't run a large variety of routes either but that's irrelevant to me because the guy is so athletic he should easily be able to beat man to man coverage with just his skill alone. If the Giants didn't have so many needs, I think hes worth a 2nd round trade up if they lose Nicks. We'll see how free agency goes.
I think we traded up for Barden.
Watkins is absolutely legit. The kid is going to be a star. If I was going with my heart, I'd really want to make a play for him because I think he's that good.. but my head knows that the Giants need OL help desperately and need help much worse in a lot of other spots. This isn't the year to trade up and there's no way we'll even sniff Watkins if we don't.
All I can do is hope he goes to a neutral team so I can keep rooting for him in the pros.
I think he's a bit overrated coming off the bowl game, and the NFL's a different level of bigger athlete he'll need to contend with.
Evans looks more like an NYG wideout, but I believe we can still get a better player at #12.
A quality WR for sure but he simply doesn't have the size to offset the taller, stronger CB's/S's in the NFL to warrant trading up and losing an early #2 or #3 when- hate to say it- we need help everywhere.
Speaking of a skill position, I would rather fall back a bit and draft a play making/ excellent TE ( assuming one of the top 2 are available) while using the extra pic for - whatever.
This O needs a play-making TE more than a Cruz clone and it will come cheaper.