PacificNorseWest wrote:To the guys clamoring about wanting a WR that knows how to run routes...The Vikes did just get Greg Jennings.
Not saying we need one thing or the other at all here, but if there is a playmaker like Tavon or CP availabe...Why not? You can never have too many guys who can break games open in my opinion.
EXACTLY!!!
This is not to say that we "need" a play maker or anything, but we lost that "change the game in one play" aspect from Percy Harvin when he left. I think with addition of a polished WR such as Greg Jennings, we now have the freedom to address the WR position however we want. We don't need that "polished" WR right away, because we have that in Jennings. We can afford to have a guy who brings game changing ability early, but may take a few years to develop his technical side.
As for mondry, as you alluded to in your last sentence, let me start this off first of all by pointing out that I would be exstatic if we landed DeAndre Hopkins. Like you, I am a true believer in Hopkins and I think he will be a very solid starting WR in the pros for many years.
However, as far as Patterson goes, comparing college stats between players is something I rarely do, time and time again difference in stats has proven to be a very poor indicators of the difference in future success in the NFL. Really you complain about Patterson's receiving stats, but compare them to AJ Green's 3 year career in Georgia. He averaged 870 yards and just under 8 TDs a year. Not a far cry away from Patterson's stats, yet he was drafted in the top 5 and was one of the best WRs in the game in one year. Now I'm not comparing the two WRs in any sense, as they are much different prospects, my only point is that stats only tell a very small percentage of the whole story, when evaluating players, you must look beyond the stats to gauge a player's future success.
What you also seem to ignore is Patterson's complete stats. Sure his passing stats look like:
46 Rec. 778 yards 5 tds.
Not disappointing, but not incredible either. But what about his rushing stats?
25 attempts 308 yards 3 tds
and his returns?
4 PRs 101 yards 1 td
25 KRs 671 yards 1 td
Yes it's only one year, but he was the #1 JUCO prospect entering the year. When a kid can tear up JUCO, and then come to the SEC and prove himself to be a productive player against a much higher level of competition, it's a very good sign.
As I alluded to earlier, I think a lot of fans who don't follow college ball as closely as others often get caught up in the online scouting reports they read, which often use over-simplistic and generalized terms that don't give you a full understanding of the player your analyzing. You see simple terms like "struggles with drops" or "body catcher" and you make an immediate correlation to Troy Williamson. You see the term "raw" or the term "one year wonder" and red flags pop up. But those are very simplistic general terms that can be misconstrued if you don't break them down and compare the differences between the player at hand and previous players who've been labeled the same.
Let me just give a simple break down of why those terms concern me a lot less with Patterson then they do with a guy like Williamson or other NFL busts who shared similar labels.
First off the concerns with catching the football. I think Viking fans especially see this concern and immediately Williamson comes to mind and it turns them off before they really delve deeper into the issue. With Williamson, he had a very serious concern with his hands and ability to judge the ball when it was in the air. Yes he had a tendency to "body catch" as well, but the main concern with this was that he really struggled with the ability to snatch the ball out of the air. His hands were very poor, he didn't not have natural WR hands. Also judging the ball in the air, he very rarely made proper adjustments to the ball, and we saw that when the ball would bounce of his helmet, shoulder or arm. Now when you break down Patterson's "catching" concerns, how does it compare? There's no doubt that he often lets the ball into his chest far too often. This however is actually a very common concern with raw WRs who are still learning the intricacies of the WR position. It's a bad habit that WRs get accustomed to because at the level of competition they face, it's something they can get away with. To differentiate this from Williamson however, you must look at the other aspects of Patterson's ability to catch. Is it simply a bad habit that Patterson has, or does he simply struggle, like Williamson, to be a natural catcher of the football? This is where I draw the line, because IMO, Patterson does not have at all the similar concerns that Williamson had. Patterson judges the ball in the air well, you don't see him misjudge many passes. And while he does let the ball into his body too often, when he doesn't let the ball into his body, and "snatches" the ball, he more often then not does indeed show natural hands. So what it comes down to with Patterson is that he simply has a bad habit that needs to be corrected at the next level. He can be developed into a "hands catcher", because he shows the ability to be that type of WR. It just comes down to coaching his bad habit out of his game, and making him become more comfortable with snatching the ball. This is something you'll see can and has been coached into players like Julio Jones and Demaryius Thomas.
Now onto the "one year wonder" concern. Immediately off the top of my head, I can't think of many WR prospects who fall into the same category of "one year wonder" as Patterson, however one player at another position does immediately come to mind when I think of the type of one year wonder Patterson is. And that player is Jason Pierre-Paul. Now let me explain. Often times, the term "one year wonder" is used to describe players who have a few years of college ball. They struggle for most years in college, but have that one "breakout year" that gives so many scouts hope that they can be successful at the next level. But you have that full college career to break down and evaluate, and it becomes a concern of why was that player so underwhelming for the majority of their college career, and what allowed them to be so successful in that one year. This is often what we see out of so many "one year wonder" busts, because more often than not, the one year that they produce is actually the aberration in their career, and can be attributed to other factors than the players themselves. However, with Patterson (and Pierre-Paul) it's a very different story. Patterson's success was only for one year, however there is no proof mediocrity in the grand scheme of Patterson's career. Pierre-Paul was the same, he came to football very late, and showed that his god given ability alone was enough to produce at an adequate level once he did come to USF. Patterson was out of football for a year before catching on in JUCO. After a year at the JUCO level, he was so successful that he was considered the top JUCO player in the country. He then took that JUCO success and immediately showed his talents were not simply a matter of level of competition, as he then went to the SEC, arguably the best division in all of college football, and showed off his immense god given ability against a much stronger level of competition. IMO this is a great sign as to what his transition to the NFL will be like. He has been able to produce at every level of football he's played, and has never shown that disappointment that so many "one year wonders" show. His talents have been directly apparent at every level of football he's played.
So to me, what you have in Patterson is an elite athlete, with exceptional god given ability, who is simply behind in the learning curve. He is not the type of "height/speed/size" athlete who is gifted physically, but underwhelming when transferred to the football field. He is a productive player, with special talents, who has the physical gifts to be even more impressive with proper coaching. I know a lot of people get caught up in the idea that we need a player to come onto our team and be that starting WR from day one. The "safe" type of prospect. However, those players are very hard to find outside of the top 5 or so picks. Drafting a player because he's more of a technician can turn out to be a mistake, because no matter how developed a WR is in college, the learning curve in the NFL is steep, and those more "polished" players in college can often struggle once they encounter the more physically gifted as well as technically sound players they face at the NFL level. Successful drafting ball clubs don't draft a player for day one success, they draft players based on the entirety of the career they hope to get out of a player. It's obviously a balancing act, and drafting a player based on pure potential alone often results in a mistake. But Patterson fits the mold of nice balance between long term potential and production at the college level. This is a kid who can have an immediate impact on a team in if used in the proper role (gadget player/return game/etc). But he's also the type of a physically gifted player who can develop into an elite WR if developed properly.
For me, after I broke down all the supposed red flags that come with this kid, I see a kid who's talent and production far outweigh the concerns that are linked with him. To me, passing up on this kid for a player who is less physically gifted, but more technically sound is a mistake, because you're passing up a player with "elite" or "special" talent for a player who may fit an immediate need more quickly, but will never live up to the potential ceiling that Patterson has. Patterson is a playmaker who has the potential to be an elite star in the NFL down the road. A player like Hopkins, who I do really like, doesn't have that same ability. He is more so a player that will be a quality NFL starter, but will never truly be considered amongst the NFL elite WRs. But, that is merely my opinion.
Patterson is a beast. My only issue is how much of an impact is he going to make down the field at the beginning of his career? He was reportedly very immature in the interviews and on the white board. Hopefully he would spend every moment holding on to the pocket lining of Greg jennings pants. Daddy GJ can teach lil Patty how to decorate that route tree
All I got going for me is common sense so to me the guy with 1400 yards and 18 touchdowns sounds like a good pick heh. 