What could have been...David Wilson?

Nobody can answer this. He may be best known for mooning the cameras from his hotel room. Haha.

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He was a terrific return man and showed flashes at RB. He wasn't going to be Saquon Barkley, but he might have turned into Tiki Barber

But without the hands?

In the end zone after scoring against the Panthers in Carolina.

The play was flagged and called back though.

having a guy like him paired with Beckham would have been something to see. We just didn’t catch any breaks after that 2nd title.

In comment 14939531 Ben in Tampa said:

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In the end zone after scoring against the Panthers in Carolina. The play was flagged and called back though.

That was cool.

With the Giants, I don't think he would have flourished. Not due to his skills, but our line continued to stink in the subsequent years after his injury. I don't think his injury affected how we drafted so he would have had to make do with Hart, Flowers, Pugh, Richburg, etc... While he had all world speed, I don't think he had the vision to find what little holes the line opened.

hit an open hole but didn’t get the nuances of how to make guys miss and create yards. Also couldn’t pass block and his early fumbles lost the confidence of his coaches.

A first round talent but sadly only as as a Kick Returner.

He might have been a great one but it is all speculation now

I thought he was going to be for us what LeSean McCoy was for Philly. McCoy was a guy who took a few years before things clicked so I guess there was a chance Wilson was a late bloomer. Athletically he had everything you want and at VT he did it all and showed great vision and instincts. He was almost too full speed for the NFL and didn't have that ability to be patient waiting for the holes to open. Also didn't help he got here when our OL was going to shit.

In comment 14939554 LBH15 said:

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hit an open hole but didn’t get the nuances of how to make guys miss and create yards. Also couldn’t pass block and his early fumbles lost the confidence of his coaches. A first round talent but sadly only as as a Kick Returner.

He had 115 carries and for 2/3 of them he average 5 ypc. There simply isn’t enough of a sample size to make any determination one way or another about how good a runner he was but he definitely busted some big runs which was more than anyone else did until Barkley arrived.

Maybe he never would have been a 20 carry per game back but there no reason to think he couldn’t have been a 20 touch back with devastating speed. Good NFL coaching, something we didn’t have, would have been huge for a guy like him.

And like I said earlier, having him and 2014/15 Odell would have been nuts to watch.

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In comment 14939567 Route 9 said:

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No, that's Daniel Jones.

David Wilson had exactly one fumble is rookie year and two in his second year. One of them happened on national TV and he got labeled a fumbler, despite not actually, you know, fumbling very much.
David Wilson career stats - ( New Window )

He may not have accumulated a ton of fumbles but he also didn't have a lot of touches either. When he finally got his opportunity he blew it. I think I remember saying at the time to just let him work through it but he was essentially benched due to it. There were reasons he didn't play as much as he should have.

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Link - ( New Window )

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Ball security was a concern with Wilson when he declared for the NFL Draft as a junior out of Virginia Tech, where he fumbled the ball seven times and lost four last season.

Link - ( New Window )

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At the time of his third fumble he was averaging a fumble every 26 attempts. That's not good at all. You can say it is a small sample size but that was what his career was. Between his last year in college and his year and a half in the pros he had 10 fumbles.
Link - ( New Window )

That 3rd year he really started to show winning player talent. I remember more than a few catches out of the backfield that showed serious playmaker chops. I think he had over 60 catches that season and there was a quality to those receptions that said watch out. Tiki’s rookie year was ok, second year struggles (some Injury if memory serves) but year 3 he truly became an nfl caliber rb. Wilson never got that 3rd year. I never loved Wilson but man it would have been nice to see him with a few seasoning years under his belt.

In comment 14939576 81_Great_Dane said:

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In comment 14939567 Route 9 said: Quote: ... No, that's Daniel Jones. David Wilson had exactly one fumble is rookie year and two in his second year. One of them happened on national TV and he got labeled a fumbler, despite not actually, you know, fumbling very much. David Wilson career stats - ( New Window )

I'll label him as such because he fumbled twice in Dallas when I went. He can kiss my rear end for that. Other than that, what did he do?

He had one good game vs the worst defense ever (Saints 2012) and did a bunch of back flips. Cool.

Yeah it sucks his career was cut short but I wasn't all too excited about him like some.

sucked as an NFL player. So, nothing could have been.

is the one we should regret losing to injury.

In comment 14939563 UConn4523 said:

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In comment 14939554 LBH15 said: Quote: hit an open hole but didn’t get the nuances of how to make guys miss and create yards. Also couldn’t pass block and his early fumbles lost the confidence of his coaches. A first round talent but sadly only as as a Kick Returner. He had 115 carries and for 2/3 of them he average 5 ypc. There simply isn’t enough of a sample size to make any determination one way or another about how good a runner he was but he definitely busted some big runs which was more than anyone else did until Barkley arrived. Maybe he never would have been a 20 carry per game back but there no reason to think he couldn’t have been a 20 touch back with devastating speed. Good NFL coaching, something we didn’t have, would have been huge for a guy like him. And like I said earlier, having him and 2014/15 Odell would have been nuts to watch.

Well I am sure he is average is good over that sample size. But these bad NYG coaches must have thought differently.

He lacked good RB and really overall player instincts. He had speed talent and it wasn’t enough.

vs. the Saints in 2012 when he went off. I always thought he might have been a bigger/faster Meggett if he was given the chance and didn't get hurt. He was closer to Tiki's size, but he didn't strike me as someone who could be as productive as Tiki.

you add that in and I just can’t take it seriously. It was enough to have some degree of success in addition to the returns. He had a lot of work to do and no time to do it - that’s the reality of it. His career was cut way too short and we have no idea what he’d become. I tend to think he would have worked his ass off to get better like so many other players in his position have done.

but didn’t seem to show much vision as a runner. He was obviously a young player but didn’t seem like he was going to be that great in the RB role, not a first round talent anyway. And at that time taking a RB in the first round at all was not all that common.

And Glenn. So even if he was a good to great RB he whiffed As usual.

Same way he passed on guys for Engram. And I don’t think Wilson was a a pick. He was a bad pick for the Giants.

Here is Youtube latest video.
David Wilson NY Giants Highlights - ( New Window )

In comment 14939595 SomeFan said:

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sucked as an NFL player. So, nothing could have been.

Link - ( New Window )

In comment 14939610 UConn4523 said:

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you add that in and I just can’t take it seriously. It was enough to have some degree of success in addition to the returns. He had a lot of work to do and no time to do it - that’s the reality of it. His career was cut way too short and we have no idea what he’d become. I tend to think he would have worked his ass off to get better like so many other players in his position have done.

Maybe. RBs tend to be able to able to acclimate quicker in the NFL than many other positions. And as we know their life cycle isn't typically that long. I tend to think he would only be an above avg KR and a far less successful non-featured RB.

Jerrold Ingram said so when asked why he didn't play more.

The Giants reached for him BADLY and it turned out he did not have the instincts of a top RB. Field vision & anticipation were lacking. He was a 3rd round prospect at best (IMO).

Still can't believe they passed on Cordy Glenn knowing how the OLine was falling apart.

earlier.

Brutal draft for RBs. I think Alfred Morris was one of the few guys that made it and he was a late round by Washington.

In comment 14939685 mittenedman said:

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The Giants reached for him BADLY and it turned out he did not have the instincts of a top RB. Field vision & anticipation were lacking. He was a 3rd round prospect at best (IMO). Still can't believe they passed on Cordy Glenn knowing how the OLine was falling apart.

They passed on football players for athlete combine # types for 11 years. It was the Reese Ross MO. They hit on 2 or 3 but missed a lot more. He did the exact the same w Engram over Ramzyck or Robinson.

He was a gadget back and might have been a good pick in round 3. Along with the fumbles he was just too small and couldn't execute his blitz protections. He was never going to be "the guy" at RB and taking a part time player in round 1 was a huge mistake. Perfect Reese pick. Flash over substance.

In comment 14939562 Eric on Li said:

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I thought he was going to be for us what LeSean McCoy was for Philly. McCoy was a guy who took a few years before things clicked so I guess there was a chance Wilson was a late bloomer. Athletically he had everything you want and at VT he did it all and showed great vision and instincts. He was almost too full speed for the NFL and didn't have that ability to be patient waiting for the holes to open. Also didn't help he got here when our OL was going to shit.

Good points, particularly the one abou him being too full speed for the NFL. He lacked the patience that Tiki had in spades. He was also a shitty pass blocker and a fumbler. God was Tiki good from 05 to 07.

In comment 14939554 LBH15 said:

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hit an open hole but didn’t get the nuances of how to make guys miss and create yards. Also couldn’t pass block and his early fumbles lost the confidence of his coaches. A first round talent but sadly only as as a Kick Returner.

Spot on.

instructions. He was never going to be a 3 down RB. Very good return man, and a creative OC might have been able to create opportunities for him to get the ball in open space and take advantage of his speed.

I was really upset when the Giants passed on Cordy Glenn for him, and that feeling only deepened as time passed.

electrifying in it

You act as if LB or OL was a need for the Giants at that time.

Glenn bypass was supposed to be over an alleged "work ethic" issue, correct?

that was definitely the single biggest factor keeping him off the field early - he was very poor compared to the guys he was replacing like Bradshaw and Jacobs, who were both excellent.

Under Coughlin pass blocking and ball security were paramount, and he had issues with both which removed the ability for him to get time adjusting to the NFL game.

In different circumstances I think he could have been a late developing solid running back in the way Melvin Gordon did. I don't think he would have ever been elite the way the Zeke/Barkley are on another level, but I think he had the talent to be on the next level and put up some big stat years with a good team around him. Just didn't work out. Reese had a knack for finding talented guys who just didn't work out as well as they should have for whatever reason. Some that better evaluations should have revealed (like Hankins being lazy and Pugh being soft) and others that were just unlucky with injuries (like Phillips/Nicks/JPP).

He showed issues typical of young player : struggled to see the whole field and the unfolding of blocking in front of him in run sets, fumbled, struggled to grasp the playbook, and he was very, very hard on himself to the point where you could see it render him useless mentally in game.

Some young players work past it and the repetition slows down the game for them, and they settle in and become patient. Then they can see and feel the blocks set and then begin to run and perform on instinct, etc. Don't think we saw enough of DW to proclaim success or failure was imminent. He only played in 21 NFL games.

in a different scheme (i.e., Reid, Payton)?

In comment 14939765 Greg from LI said:

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instructions. He was never going to be a 3 down RB. Very good return man, and a creative OC might have been able to create opportunities for him to get the ball in open space and take advantage of his speed. I was really upset when the Giants passed on Cordy Glenn for him, and that feeling only deepened as time passed.

Agree completely. And unlike Meggett, he couldn't block for shit. Meggett could stay in on 3rd and long and help out blocking effectively.

he made the pro bowl as a returner

he definitely could have been a very good RB

but the thing people forget is .. when a player like that retires that creates a void at RB that must be filled by Free Agent signing or high draft choice - -that means one other hole in the team won't be filled ..

In comment 14939685 mittenedman said:

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The Giants reached for him BADLY and it turned out he did not have the instincts of a top RB. Field vision & anticipation were lacking. He was a 3rd round prospect at best (IMO). Still can't believe they passed on Cordy Glenn knowing how the OLine was falling apart.

Yes - terrible pick in rd 1. Thought it then. Think it now.

tends to be pretty consistent on BBI with players like Wilson.

Since most posters wanted a different players selected, him getting injured resulted in the lasting impression of him being not very good and a bad pick, even with evidence to the contrary.

He's been Bunch'd.

In comment 14939857 averagejoe said:

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In comment 14939685 mittenedman said: Quote: The Giants reached for him BADLY and it turned out he did not have the instincts of a top RB. Field vision & anticipation were lacking. He was a 3rd round prospect at best (IMO). Still can't believe they passed on Cordy Glenn knowing how the OLine was falling apart. Yes - terrible pick in rd 1. Thought it then. Think it now.

Let’s see. Doug Martin went before him and he was the last pick in round 1, effectively a second-rounder. How many picks at 32 are “terrible” picks given how late the pick is?

described as a 2nd rounder?

Yet interestingly, a very early second round pick is also mentioned as basically a 1st rounder.

:-)

have always underrated him because of his early struggles as a pass blocker.

That Saints game he had was ridiculous. I know the Saints D was weak, but this was a team we really struggled to beat during these years. And Wilson went out and just wrecked them. That was a really satisfying win. He flashed his explosiveness on that day.

I know he struggled in pass pro, fumbled a few times, and didn't seem to have the best vision as a runner. But man was he explosive and hit the hole hard. I don't think he would've ever been an All Pro or anything like that, but he could've been a really nice weapon for years if he stayed healthy and improved his pass blocking.

In comment 14939921 LBH15 said:

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described as a 2nd rounder? Yet interestingly, a very early second round pick is also mentioned as basically a 1st rounder. :-)

Either way, it’s not a top pick. A SB team can afford to venture anywhere tgey care to

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be described as "ventures".

was he couldn't get himself on the field enough to get reps at what he did best. Football coaches tend to want to see you demonstrate grasp of certain basics (run plays, pass plays, pass pro, etc) before they start you on more advanced stuff, or sometimes even the stuff you do best.

DW needed to run off tackle, catch passes off the end, and hit the edge with his speed. He was very good in the open field, they just couldn't get him out there consistently, and then it was over.

That entire draft was horrific.

With the Giants winning another Superbowl,you probably couldn't Reese and Ross anything.They came into the War Room like this

it seemed clear to me they had Lesean McCoy weapon envy, despite the OL obviously breaking down.

Since most of BBI wants to be lazy, I'll do the work.

Let's set aside the fact that Wilson was worth retaining on his kickoff return merits alone... Here's his career as a RB.

Year 1

As a rookie RB, he had more than 2 carries in just 7 games his rookie season. He fumbled ONE TIME 8 minutes into Week 1 vs. Dallas, and served as the team's backup in all but one game after that. Bradshaw hurt his knee vs. NO, and Wilson started the next game on fire with 6 carries for 46 yards vs. ATL, but was quickly neutered as the game got out of hand. Bradshaw returned the next week.

Game 6 vs. SF - 7/35yds (as Bradshaw's #2, every rush in 4th quarter of a NYG blowout)
Game 11 vs. GB - 6/13yds (as Bradshaw & Brown's #3, every rush in the 4th quarter of a NYG blowout)
Game 12 vs. WAS - 4/9yds (as Bradshaw's #2, 4 carries spread across 3 quarters)
Game 13 vs. NO - 13/109yds, 3 TDs (1 KOR) (as Bradshaw's #2 before Bradshaw got hurt in the 4Q)
Game 14 vs. ATL - 12/55yds (as #1, going 6/47 in the 1st quarter (!) before Atlanta really started blowing us out in a 34-0 loss)
Game 15 vs. BAL - 3/17yds, 1 TD (as Bradshaws #2, all rushes in 1st half)
Game 16 vs. PHI - 15/75yds, 1 rec TD (as Bradshaw's #2)

Year 2

2013, if you recall, was a dumpster fire - not just for Wilson, but for the franchise as a whole. Extremely hyped as the team's new starter, Wilson led his sophomore campaign off with probably the only truly horrible game of his career. But even Eric admitted in his game preview for the following week that Wilson "wasn't careless on either of his fumbles." In his second start ever, the first of the new season, he was targeted with strips and got caught flat-footed.

Game 1(17) - 7/19yds, 2 fumbles lost

After Week 1, the Giants brought back old-ass Brandon Jacobs off the street, and Coughlin relegated Wilson to a pathetic committee with Jacobs and Da'rel Scott.

Wilson didn't fumble again after Week 1, but the Giants never had much of a chance to establish the run as the team started off 0-5 that year, losing 23-48, 0-38, 7-31 and 21-36 in weeks 2 through 5 respectively. As soon as Wilson started to retake his role as the team's lead back, he lost his career in Week 5.

Game 2(18) vs. DEN - 7/17yds (Jacobs & Scott combined for 12/6yds)
Game 3(19) @ CAR - 11/39yds (Jacobs & Scott combined for 4/7yds)
Game 4(20) @ KC - 13/55yds, 2/8yds receiving (Jacobs & Scott combined for 6/31yds)
Game 5 (21) vs. PHI - 6/16yds, 1 TD (Jacobs finished game 11/37yds)

At pass protection as a rookie (that even 'the mouse that roared" [Eli} yelled at him). Bradshaw turned out pretty good.
The biggest issue with Wilson was he was already damaged goods, (neck injury) out of Virginia Tech, when the Giants picked him.

I blame that on the scouts, medical team and the Front Office.

As far as talent; the Shady McCoy comparison is a good one.