Originally posted by Rascal:
Originally posted by WRATHman44:
The point, which I thought was fairly clear, is that your enthusiasm for Hunter is based on his college career, and that AJJ had a more impressive college career, IMO. Both Matts stated before last season that it seemed evident from discussions with Baalke that 2012 was intended to be a developmental year for AJ, as he needed time to bulk up to NFL shape, but that his quickness, speed, and hands were uncommon NFL skills that couldn't be tought to a less gifted prospect. Now everyone is upset that the team used 2012 as a developmental year for the guy. That seems asinine. Compare the two college players, and I believe AJ comes out ahead. This year, we will see though. If he hasn't bulked up appreciably to withstand the NFL pounding, he might not have a body type that will allow for that weight gain, and he could be gone. Hunter would have the same issue here, again, IMO, in fact, he already suffered froma significant injury, too.
You make AJ Jenkins sound like some college ball stud. The fact was noone knew much about him, AJ who ? The fact that the 9ers picked him also shocked just about everyone especially taking him in the 1st round. I don't know about him being a developmental player, you are not going to deny there were far better players we could have picked such as Ruben Randle, TY Hilton, just to name a couple who pretty much performed right out of the box. Seriously, is not even about his slight build, LaMike is much smaller than him and still performed very positively.
He was a college stud, he just played on a bad team, and he wasn't one of those physical freaks that gets a lot of attention during draft season. Compare his numbers with other WRs his Sr season, and watch him play. He was the only thing worth defending on that offense, his QB was garbage, and he still put up elite numbers, often taking short passes to the house and getting behind the whole defense for deep pass plays. His TDs would have been even better if his QB could hit him in stride, but he had to literally stop and wait for a lot of underthrown deep balls. I don't think that Hilton would have gotten on the field for us. I think Randle might have, but he will never be the deep threat that AJ could be (higher floor, lower ceiling).
Edit: besides his numbers being impressive because he was the only weapon that Defenses had to take away, he also played injured through the majority of the season.
[ Edited by WRATHman44 on Apr 17, 2013 at 1:05 PM ]