How good can Tee Higgins be?

[*SHRacerX*]

(04-12-2021, 07:56 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: I agree with all the good, so I’ll just touch on some of the “concerns.” There seems to be some discrepancy on what he actually ran at his pro day. I’ve mostly seen his two 40’s at 4.54 and 4.56.

https://theclemsoninsider.com/2020/03/12/higgins-surprised-he-impressed-so-many-at-pro-day/

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/tee-higgins-testing-numbers-only-confirm-what-we-knew/

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/2020-nfl-draft-evaluating-on-field-speed-for-henry-ruggs-and-other-top-wide-receiver-prospects/

The only place I can find with a claim of 4.43 is a single tweet from PFF, but I’m guessing that’s wrong. Not the biggest deal or anything, but 4.43 would make him faster than AJ at the 2011 combine (4.48), and both my eyes and everything I can find (outside that one tweet) tell me AJ was a bit faster coming out.

He also had more drops last year than I would have liked, but not enough for me to question his hands. I think he can clean that up.

One thing I don’t see brought up much is that despite being awful, AJ was still in fact drawing some CB1’s in at least a few games. I know the Browns had Ward on him, and Philly with Slay off the top off my head. If we don’t go WR at 5, it will be interesting to see how Tee does as “the guy” in an offense for entire season. In a perfect world Mixon is a huge factor, but we all know how Taylor likes to run his offense.

I was going to read the responses before answering and you identified the pro day errors.  He also only had a 31" vertical and 4.53 short shuttle.  All those numbers added up equaled on thing:  He tested in the lower 10th percentile of WRs.  

Now, he had an injury at the end of the season, which might have prevented him from a lot of "combine training" immediately following his bowl game but those numbers were clearly disappointing.  Sure, there are always examples of guys not running a blazing 40 time that go on to be excellent WRs, but all those numbers taken together add up to a lot of contested catches.  Thankfully, that is one of his biggest strengths.  

Burrow also knows how to "throw a guy open", and Higgins also has a massive catch radius.  

Do I love Higgins?  Yes.  Same as Boyd, but that doesn't mean they don't need a WR like Chase.  It reminds me a bit of the Manning-led Colts.  Their belief was that their fourth best receiving option was better than your fourth best cover man, and Manning could find that mismatch quickly.  Your point about AJ still drawing the opposing team's #1 cover guy is valid, and Boyd did against the Ravens (two of the worst offensive outputs we had all season).  Higgins is a bit, reliable target with a massive catch radius that can move the chains, be a weapon in the red zone, and if he draws a team's #3 cover option, make a lot of hey in the year's to come.