Originally posted by NCommand:That's a weak argument. The NFL trends together. Every bigger WR went crazy late or became UDFA's.
Didn't stop Cameron Sutton from going in the early 2nd round.
The bottom line is that this was a piss poor receiver class. One of the scouts that Bob McGinn spoke to said that this was the worst WR class that he's ever scouted. It speaks to the lack of depth in the class that guys like St Brown and Cobbs were ever considered to be second or third rounders.
Smaller receivers were prioritized in this draft because that is where the vast majority of the talent was. Guys like Moore, Ridley, Kirk and Pettis didn't go earlier because of rules changes, they were just flat out better overall reveivers, much more skilled and consistent.
If anything has changed I think its that NFL teams have been burnt so many times by bigger receivers with limited skills such as Justin Hunter, DGB, Cordarelle Patterson, Jon Baldwin and others that skill is being prioritized over pure physical size.
If you think St Brown is a good route runner, I don't know what to tell you. What I saw is a guy who too often ran sloppy, lazy routes, who has size but wound up getting outmuscled by much smaller defensive backs. You can't be big and soft, that isn't a great combination. He is someone who got by more on physical ability than pure skill.
McGinn's sources didn't have him ranked in the Top 12 WRs of the draft and had him, Cobbs, and Lazard all outside the 4th round so clearly where these guys ended up at wasn't entirely unanticipated.
In general McGinn's rankings tended to be closer to what actually went down than the vast majority of draft boards and ranking systems out there.