Quote:
Originally Posted by HPF Bob
Nice idea. I went back to the 2013 draft thread and looked to see what my reactions were.
Before the pick, I said I wanted defense in the first round.
When the pick came in, I was neither thumbs up or thumbs down.
After everyone gave opinions (and a few others expressed dislike) I said I thought they could have traded down and still found a quality WR but said Hopkins was clearly the one the Texans wanted so it's not surprising the Texans took him.
I think the difference between 2013 and 2016 is that 1) I feel we have larger needs than WR that are being ignored and 2) Fuller strikes me as a guy who will run right by the defender and then probably drop the pass. As a comparison, the Vikings looked silly, dealing a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th to the Patriots for Cordarrelle Patterson who, like Fuller, is really fast and made some big plays but has been largely a bust.
In 2013, it was clear AJ was nearing the end and we had no other receivers who were stepping forward. It was a need you could justify a first-round pick for. In 2016, you could argue we don't have a receiver besides D-Hop but I would say Shorts and Strong can still fill that void and we just need to add another piece.
Let's put it this way. If you replace Fuller on our draft with anyone taken between 27-31 (Kenny Clark, Joshua Garnett, Robert Nkemdiche, Vernon Butler, Germain Ifedi) and then taken Miller in Round 3 as we did, that now looks like a better draft to me. Perhaps we get a TE (Jerell Adams) instead of Reader with our last pick and now it looks a lot better.
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I don't think Patterson is a very good comparison. They are both fast but that's about it. Patterson is WAY bigger. Patterson was a super raw JUCO guy who played one season of major college football at Tennessee and had his biggest impact on special teams. He was a project as a WR.
Fuller had 29 TDs as a WR the last two years in major college football. He and Patterson may both be combine fast with less than reliable hands, but Fuller has tons of game tape and production to show that his speed is just as impressive on the field as it is in shorts. He is not a project, and if he is a bust it will not be because he doesn't know how to play WR like Patterson. I'd say he's way more like Tedd Ginn than Patterson (though he had way more production in college than Ginn).
And I'm still not advocating Fuller. I have no idea how he'll turn out because I lack your gift of prophecy. I just think you dismissing WR as a need is totally wrong. Any GM who says, I don't need a #2 WR because I have Cecil Shorts deserves to be fired.