Comparing AJ Green and Tee Higgins as prospects

[CJD]

What's up guys. I've been on the Tee Higgins at 33 hype train for about 3 months now and I was so unbelievably stoked to see we actually got him on Friday. I was having my doubts, because we did have huge needs at LB and OL and with Baun and Jones there, I was relatively certain we weren't going to go with the "luxury pick" of a WR at 33.

But, luckily for me, the Bengals saw what I saw in Tee Higgins which is, for lack of a better term, AJ Green 2.0.

This guy has incredible hands, incredible catch radius and incredible athleticism and focus to make circus catches.

Some people, including the guys over at Walterfootball.com, did not like this pick because Higgins, as they put it, "doesn't project well for the NFL. He reminds me of N'Keal Harry in terms of his inability to separate from coverage."

I'm not absolutely certain where he gets that evaluation from. As I watch his tape, I know that it isn't based off of that, because we see him separate all the time on tape. So it must be his pro day numbers which, to be perfectly honest, weren't the best. His vert and broad jump numbers would not have ranked in the top 15 WRs at the combine and his speed was not under 4.5 (not that anyone actually thought it would be, of course.)

So, what I decided to do was pull up AJ Green's NFL draft profile and see just how far off Higgins was, athletically and physically, from Green. And I was a bit surprised.

First, let's talk about physical measurables.
AJ Green was 6'4", 211 lbs with 34 3/8" arms and 9 1/2" inch hands.
Tee Higgins is 6'4", 216 lbs with 34 1/8" arms and 9 1/2" inch hands.
Striking similarities so far.

As they said on ESPN's coverage of the pick, at the 4:25 minute mark in the below video, In the last 10 drafts, there've been 4 wide outs in the first round with arms that long (longer than 34"), Mike Evans, Kelvin Benjamin, AJ Green and Dez Bryant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVCJlj6jhss&feature=youtu.be&t=263

So his physical measurables are in pretty elite company.

Next, let's look at his athletic numbers.
At the 2011 combine, AJ Green ran a 4.50 40, had a 34.5 inch vert, a 126 inch broad, a 6.91 3 cone drill and a 4.21 20 yard shuffle.
At the 2020 Clemson Pro Day, Tee Higgins ran a 4.54 40, had a 31" vert, a 123 inch broad and a 4.25 20 yard shuffle.
I'm not sure why he didn't do the 3 cone drill, as I can't find any data on it, but those numbers are strikingly similar.
It's true that AJ Green bested Higgins in every regard, but only by 3 inches or less than a twentieth of a second in each drill.

So, athletically they're very similar and physically they're very similar. What about in terms of production?
In AJ Green's college career, he played 32 games, had 166 receptions for 2619 yards and 23 touchdowns in 3 years. Oddly enough (and this surprised me a ton), his best year was his freshman year because it was the only year he played the full season. He had 56 receptions for 963 yards (17.2 average) and 8 TDs.

In Tee Higgins' college career, he played 37 games, had 135 receptions for 2448 yards and 27 touchdowns in 3 years. His best year was his junior year, where he played all 15 games and had 59 receptions for 1167 yards (19.8 average) and 13 touchdowns.

It's worth noting that, with the college playoff system, Higgins played more games in his sophomore and junior year merely as a function of Clemson making it through those additional 2 games each year. It's also worth nothing that in the two years that he blew up, Higgins had Trevor Lawrence throwing him the ball whereas Green had Aaron Murray so his stats are a bit more padded, but Higgins' yards per catch and touchdowns were both far higher than AJ Green's were in college.

So, Higgins is similar to Green physically, athletically and arguably superior (or at the very least, equally) productive in college. Hell, they even have similar personalities, as Tee notes in the article that he wrote leading up to the draft. (by the way, it's a damn compelling read).

Quote:She made sure I understood the importance of getting a good education and of always trying to do the right thing. I never went anywhere near drugs. Ever. Never really got into any trouble at all. I was that quiet kid who was just always about his business. All I ever wanted to do was whatever I thought would make my mom the most proud.
...
I’m someone who has lived through some stuff, someone who appreciates every single day and goes out of his way to bring a ton of optimism and positive energy to the locker room. My whole vibe is just … put in the work, never complain, and earn the respect of the veterans. Show people right away that you’re someone they can trust, someone who will always have their backs.

I’m never going to take anything for granted. Ever.

I stay humble. And really, after all that you know about me now, think about it….

So what's left? Let's just take a look at actual plays the two players made in college.

Here are AJ Green's 2010 highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aABY_tEmewg&

Here is a highlight tape of Tee Higgins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZhFddyD1-I&list=PLMCblKt-6_fcWI10PjOGWTTCTLVZsRZ5d&index=17&t=0s

Some notable comparisons:
At 0:13 in AJ Green's tape and 4:15 in Higgins' tape, see them both adjust to a contested pass in the end zone to make a 1 handed catch and hold on through contact with the ground for the touchdown. (You'd say Green's is more impressive, and I agree, but the hand-eye coordination is obvious in both cases).

At 1:17, Green splits the safety and CB and catches the deep ball and holds on through hard contact.
At 2:32 for Higgins, he doesn't get crushed like Green did, but he bounces off a big hit like he didn't even feel it.

At 1:50, Green beats the CB to the sideline and tightrope walks it to the end zone.
At 1:38, Higgins does the same.

At 1:57, Green breaks tackles and pushes forward for additional yards.
at 5:21, Higgins does the exact same thing, but actually finishes the run for the TD.

At 3:39, Green is headed for the sideline and jukes a player out of his shoes (Causing the player to lunge out of bounds) and proceeds to the end zone
At 0:58, Higgins puts an even more dramatic juke on a player to get an additional 10 yards on a quick out.
(There is another play where Higgins does a very similar thing, but it isn't in this particular video. I don't want to go find it because that's just too many videos to sift through and I think these 5 comparisons are enough.)

Other common themes throughout both videos (too numerous to give specific examples), watch how they both snatch the ball out of the air with their hands, rather than let it come into their body. You'll see Higgins a lot of times holding the ball above his head as he goes to the ground to prevent CBs from swatting it away. That's classic AJ Green.
Then you got your typical back shoulder throws that they both make look easy as all hell, them splitting the safeties deep for a touchdown and them going up and getting it where no one else can.
Then you'll see they both often draw offensive pass interference while also still catching the ball!

There are only two things that AJ Green does clearly better than Higgins.
1. Higgins is a toe tapper, but some of his best toe taps are 1 footed toe taps (4:01), whereas Green, even in college, had perfected the double toe tap. Obviously, 1 toe is all you need in college so maybe Higgins was just doing what needed to be done to get the catch, but it would have been nice to see him show off some NFL level toe tapping in college.

2. Adjusting to horribly thrown passes. You see it in AJ Green's tape at 1:12 and 2:27, where he catches a ball at least a yard off target on a simple slant. Higgins didn't do that too much in college, but that may be because Lawrence didn't throw too many of those. Higgins has shown the body contortion and athleticism required to make a play like that, as seen at 0:17 and 0:48, where he twists his body all the way around to catch the ball and then seamlessly continue on to the end zone.

But then, there's a reason Green went #4 overall, so it's expected that he is a better prospect than Higgins in some regard.

Did I mention Tee's a Bengals fan and that AJ Green is his role model?

This guy was, literally, the perfect pick at 33, just like Joe Burrow was the perfect pick at 1. And their strengths complement each other so well, as Joe is the king of the back shoulder throw and finding the sliver of space required to get his man a ball that only he can get to. We're blessed to have them both and they're going to be our new 9 to 85 connection for the next decade.

Who Dey!

[coachmcneil71]

(04-27-2020, 11:16 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: What's up guys. I've been on the Tee Higgins at 33 hype train for about 3 months now and I was so unbelievably stoked to see we actually got him on Friday. I was having my doubts, because we did have huge needs at LB and OL and with Baun and Jones there, I was relatively certain we weren't going to go with the "luxury pick" of a WR at 33.

But, luckily for me, the Bengals saw what I saw in Tee Higgins which is, for lack of a better term, AJ Green 2.0.

This guy has incredible hands, incredible catch radius and incredible athleticism and focus to make circus catches.

Some people, including the guys over at Walterfootball.com, did not like this pick because Higgins, as they put it, "doesn't project well for the NFL. He reminds me of N'Keal Harry in terms of his inability to separate from coverage."

I'm not absolutely certain where he gets that evaluation from. As I watch his tape, I know that it isn't based off of that, because we see him separate all the time on tape. So it must be his pro day numbers which, to be perfectly honest, weren't the best. His vert and broad jump numbers would not have ranked in the top 15 WRs at the combine and his speed was not under 4.5 (not that anyone actually thought it would be, of course.)

So, what I decided to do was pull up AJ Green's NFL draft profile and see just how far off Higgins was, athletically and physically, from Green. And I was a bit surprised.

First, let's talk about physical measurables.
AJ Green was 6'4", 211 lbs with 34 3/8" arms and 9 1/2" inch hands.
Tee Higgins is 6'4", 216 lbs with 34 1/7" arms and 9 1/2" inch hands.
Striking similarities so far.

As they said on ESPN's coverage of the pick, at the 4:25 minute mark in the below video, In the last 10 drafts, there've been 4 wide outs in the first round with arms that long (longer than 34"), Mike Evans, Kelvin Benjamin, AJ Green and Dez Bryant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVCJlj6jhss&feature=youtu.be&t=263

So his physical measurables are in pretty elite company.

Next, let's look at his athletic numbers.
At the 2011 combine, AJ Green ran a 4.50 40, had a 34.5 inch vert, a 126 inch broad, a 6.91 3 cone drill and a 4.21 20 yard shuffle.
At the 2020 Clemson Pro Day, Tee Higgins ran a 4.54 40, had a 31" vert, a 123 inch broad and a 4.25 20 yard shuffle.
I'm not sure why he didn't do the 3 cone drill, as I can't find any data on it, but those numbers are strikingly similar.
It's true that AJ Green bested Higgins in every regard, but only by 3 inches or less than a twentieth of a second in each drill.

So, athletically they're very similar and physically they're very similar. What about in terms of production?
In AJ Green's college career, he played 32 games, had 166 receptions for 2619 yards and 23 touchdowns in 3 years. Oddly enough (and this surprised me a ton), his best year was his freshman year because it was the only year he played the full season. He had 56 receptions for 963 yards (17.2 average) and 8 TDs.

In Tee Higgins' college career, he played 37 games, had 135 receptions for 2448 yards and 27 touchdowns in 3 years. His best year was his junior year, where he played all 15 games and had 59 receptions for 1167 yards (19.8 average) and 13 touchdowns.

It's worth noting that, with the college playoff system, Higgins played more games in his sophomore and junior year merely as a function of Clemson making it through those additional 2 games each year. It's also worth nothing that in the two years that he blew up, Higgins had Trevor Lawrence throwing him the ball whereas Green had Aaron Murray so his stats are a bit more padded, but Higgins' yards per catch and touchdowns were both far higher than AJ Green's were in college.

So, Higgins is similar to Green physically, athletically and arguably superior (or at the very least, equally) productive in college. Hell, they even have similar personalities, as Tee notes in the article that he wrote leading up to the draft. (by the way, it's a damn compelling read).


So what's left? Let's just take a look at actual plays the two players made in college.

Here are AJ Green's 2010 highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aABY_tEmewg&

Here is a highlight tape of Tee Higgins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZhFddyD1-I&list=PLMCblKt-6_fcWI10PjOGWTTCTLVZsRZ5d&index=17&t=0s

Some notable comparisons:
At 0:13 in AJ Green's tape and 4:15 in Higgins' tape, see them both adjust to a contested pass in the end zone to make a 1 handed catch and hold on through contact with the ground for the touchdown. (You'd say Green's is more impressive, and I agree, but the hand-eye coordination is obvious in both cases).

At 1:17, Green splits the safety and CB and catches the deep ball and holds on through hard contact.
At 2:32 for Higgins, he doesn't get crushed like Green did, but he bounces off a big hit like he didn't even feel it.

At 1:50, Green beats the CB to the sideline and tightrope walks it to the end zone.
At 1:38, Higgins does the same.

At 1:57, Green breaks tackles and pushes forward for additional yards.
at 5:21, Higgins does the exact same thing, but actually finishes the run for the TD.

At 3:39, Green is headed for the sideline and jukes a player out of his shoes (Causing the player to lunge out of bounds) and proceeds to the end zone
At 0:58, Higgins puts an even more dramatic juke on a player to get an additional 10 yards on a quick out.
(There is another play where Higgins does a very similar thing, but it isn't in this particular video. I don't want to go find it because that's just too many videos to sift through and I think these 5 comparisons are enough.)

Other common themes throughout both videos (too numerous to give specific examples), watch how they both snatch the ball out of the air with their hands, rather than let it come into their body. You'll see Higgins a lot of times holding the ball above his head as he goes to the ground to prevent CBs from swatting it away. That's classic AJ Green.
Then you got your typical back shoulder throws that they both make look easy as all hell, them splitting the safeties deep for a touchdown and them going up and getting it where no one else can.
Then you'll see they both often draw offensive pass interference while also still catching the ball!

There are only two things that AJ Green does clearly better than Higgins.
1. Higgins is a toe tapper, but some of his best toe taps are 1 footed toe taps (4:01), whereas Green, even in college, had perfected the double toe tap. Obviously, 1 toe is all you need in college so maybe Higgins was just doing what needed to be done to get the catch, but it would have been nice to see him show off some NFL level toe tapping in college.

2. Adjusting to horribly thrown passes. You see it in AJ Green's tape at 1:12 and 2:27, where he catches a ball at least a yard off target on a simple slant. Higgins didn't do that too much in college, but that may be because Lawrence didn't throw too many of those. Higgins has shown the body contortion and athleticism required to make a play like that, as seen at 0:17 and 0:48, where he twists his body all the way around to catch the ball and then seamlessly continue on to the end zone.

But then, there's a reason Green went #4 overall, so it's expected that he is a better prospect than Higgins in some regard.

Did I mention Tee's a Bengals fan and that AJ Green is his role model?

This guy was, literally, the perfect pick at 33, just like Joe Burrow was the perfect pick at 1. And their strengths complement each other so well, as Joe is the king of the back shoulder throw and finding the sliver of space required to get his man a ball that only he can get to. We're blessed to have them both and they're going to be our new 9 to 85 connection for the next decade.

Who Dey!

Agree! I basically said the same thing when we drafted him. He's an AJ Green clone...lol.. Well, sort of. I didn't really want a WR at #2, but I'm good with it being Higgins. Joey Bengal definitely has some weapons to choose from.

[BURROWorBUST]

Wow!! You put some serious work into this. Polish it up and submit it to Cincy Jungle. You might have a second career going here.

We can see the similarities in the way they run and b y the way they high point the ball. It's small wonder to hear that Tee modeled his game on AJs. Smart kid!! He's going to be fun to have around.

[CJD]

(04-27-2020, 11:57 AM)BURROWorBUST Wrote: Wow!! You put some serious work into this. Polish it up and submit it to Cincy Jungle. You might have a second career going here.  

We can see the similarities in the way they run and b y the way they high point the ball. It's small wonder to hear that Tee modeled his game on AJs. Smart kid!! He's going to be fun to have around.

I write some articles in my spare time for other games I enjoy, but I've never worked well on a schedule cuz I need to be really passionate about something to write about it haha. I don't know how these guys do it with new articles every week. I'm good for a write up once every 4 or 5 months usually.

It just so happens I am a PASSIONATE Tee Higgins fan XD.

But if Cincy Jungle wanted to pick this up and publish it, I'd be honored. Are they on this forum?

[WeezyBengal]

I made a thread saying I think he projects more toward an Auden Tate type of receiver than an AJ Green. I think AJ is a superior athlete and can get better separation at the LOS. AJ was just a more polished player coming out of college as well.

That's just my opinion, though.

[Hammerstripes]

AJ was a more complete and better route runner coming out and it's not even close.

That being said, the WR room should get Tee up to speed very quick.

[CJD]

(04-27-2020, 12:34 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: I made a thread saying I think he projects more toward an Auden Tate type of receiver than an AJ Green. I think AJ is a superior athlete and can get better separation at the LOS.

That's just my opinion, though.

What is your basis for that opinion? Because I think Tate is a much thicker player at 228 lbs, much slower with a 4.68 40 and much less explosive, with a 112 broad jump.

I think their tape is noticeably different as well.

[CJD]

(04-27-2020, 12:37 PM)Hammerstripes Wrote: AJ was a more complete and better route runner coming out and it's not even close.

That being said, the WR room should get Tee up to speed very quick.

I think AJ was more refined for the NFL, as I mentioned with the toe tapping, and that likely extends to route running as well but there's no doubt Higgins is capable of running better routes, especially under the tutelage of Green :)

[Nicomo Cosca]

Great thread, Crazyjdawg. I’m liking this pick more and more.

I’m not surprised one bit Taylor went with Higgins after reading that little snippet about his personality and work ethic. ZT loves these high character guys.

[BURROWorBUST]

(04-27-2020, 12:02 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I write some articles in my spare time for other games I enjoy, but I've never worked well on a schedule cuz I need to be really passionate about something to write about it haha. I don't know how these guys do it with new articles every week. I'm good for a write up once every 4 or 5 months usually.

It just so happens I am a PASSIONATE Tee Higgins fan XD.

But if Cincy Jungle wanted to pick this up and publish it, I'd be honored. Are they on this forum?

I don't know. I'll tweet it to Ace Boogie and John Sheeran. 

[Au165]

In terms of their football skill, the big difference is their route running. AJ is really good at the top of his stem where as Tee is going to need some work. AJ has made a killing selling the deep ball then whipping in back to a comeback. Tee doesn't have the suddenness at the top of his stem currently and I think it will lead to a couple of interceptions as NFL corners will jump that, especially if Burrow is throwing opposite hash. In general though Higgins didn't run a very robust route tree at Clemson, now does that mean he can't or wasn't asked to?

The good thing here though is most of Higgins issues are easily coachable. Most of the things that are kind of intrinsic to elite WR's he already has which gives him a really good foundation to work from. In terms of people using Higgins comp as Green, I can see it but you are just getting a slihtly less polished version of Green that may take a year or two to give early AJ like production.

[Essex Johnson]

(04-27-2020, 11:16 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: What's up guys. I've been on the Tee Higgins at 33 hype train for about 3 months now and I was so unbelievably stoked to see we actually got him on Friday. I was having my doubts, because we did have huge needs at LB and OL and with Baun and Jones there, I was relatively certain we weren't going to go with the "luxury pick" of a WR at 33.

But, luckily for me, the Bengals saw what I saw in Tee Higgins which is, for lack of a better term, AJ Green 2.0.

This guy has incredible hands, incredible catch radius and incredible athleticism and focus to make circus catches.

Some people, including the guys over at Walterfootball.com, did not like this pick because Higgins, as they put it, "doesn't project well for the NFL. He reminds me of N'Keal Harry in terms of his inability to separate from coverage."

I'm not absolutely certain where he gets that evaluation from. As I watch his tape, I know that it isn't based off of that, because we see him separate all the time on tape. So it must be his pro day numbers which, to be perfectly honest, weren't the best. His vert and broad jump numbers would not have ranked in the top 15 WRs at the combine and his speed was not under 4.5 (not that anyone actually thought it would be, of course.)

So, what I decided to do was pull up AJ Green's NFL draft profile and see just how far off Higgins was, athletically and physically, from Green. And I was a bit surprised.

First, let's talk about physical measurables.
AJ Green was 6'4", 211 lbs with 34 3/8" arms and 9 1/2" inch hands.
Tee Higgins is 6'4", 216 lbs with 34 1/8" arms and 9 1/2" inch hands.
Striking similarities so far.

As they said on ESPN's coverage of the pick, at the 4:25 minute mark in the below video, In the last 10 drafts, there've been 4 wide outs in the first round with arms that long (longer than 34"), Mike Evans, Kelvin Benjamin, AJ Green and Dez Bryant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVCJlj6jhss&feature=youtu.be&t=263

So his physical measurables are in pretty elite company.

Next, let's look at his athletic numbers.
At the 2011 combine, AJ Green ran a 4.50 40, had a 34.5 inch vert, a 126 inch broad, a 6.91 3 cone drill and a 4.21 20 yard shuffle.
At the 2020 Clemson Pro Day, Tee Higgins ran a 4.54 40, had a 31" vert, a 123 inch broad and a 4.25 20 yard shuffle.
I'm not sure why he didn't do the 3 cone drill, as I can't find any data on it, but those numbers are strikingly similar.
It's true that AJ Green bested Higgins in every regard, but only by 3 inches or less than a twentieth of a second in each drill.

So, athletically they're very similar and physically they're very similar. What about in terms of production?
In AJ Green's college career, he played 32 games, had 166 receptions for 2619 yards and 23 touchdowns in 3 years. Oddly enough (and this surprised me a ton), his best year was his freshman year because it was the only year he played the full season. He had 56 receptions for 963 yards (17.2 average) and 8 TDs.

In Tee Higgins' college career, he played 37 games, had 135 receptions for 2448 yards and 27 touchdowns in 3 years. His best year was his junior year, where he played all 15 games and had 59 receptions for 1167 yards (19.8 average) and 13 touchdowns.

It's worth noting that, with the college playoff system, Higgins played more games in his sophomore and junior year merely as a function of Clemson making it through those additional 2 games each year. It's also worth nothing that in the two years that he blew up, Higgins had Trevor Lawrence throwing him the ball whereas Green had Aaron Murray so his stats are a bit more padded, but Higgins' yards per catch and touchdowns were both far higher than AJ Green's were in college.

So, Higgins is similar to Green physically, athletically and arguably superior (or at the very least, equally) productive in college. Hell, they even have similar personalities, as Tee notes in the article that he wrote leading up to the draft. (by the way, it's a damn compelling read).


So what's left? Let's just take a look at actual plays the two players made in college.

Here are AJ Green's 2010 highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aABY_tEmewg&

Here is a highlight tape of Tee Higgins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZhFddyD1-I&list=PLMCblKt-6_fcWI10PjOGWTTCTLVZsRZ5d&index=17&t=0s

Some notable comparisons:
At 0:13 in AJ Green's tape and 4:15 in Higgins' tape, see them both adjust to a contested pass in the end zone to make a 1 handed catch and hold on through contact with the ground for the touchdown. (You'd say Green's is more impressive, and I agree, but the hand-eye coordination is obvious in both cases).

At 1:17, Green splits the safety and CB and catches the deep ball and holds on through hard contact.
At 2:32 for Higgins, he doesn't get crushed like Green did, but he bounces off a big hit like he didn't even feel it.

At 1:50, Green beats the CB to the sideline and tightrope walks it to the end zone.
At 1:38, Higgins does the same.

At 1:57, Green breaks tackles and pushes forward for additional yards.
at 5:21, Higgins does the exact same thing, but actually finishes the run for the TD.

At 3:39, Green is headed for the sideline and jukes a player out of his shoes (Causing the player to lunge out of bounds) and proceeds to the end zone
At 0:58, Higgins puts an even more dramatic juke on a player to get an additional 10 yards on a quick out.
(There is another play where Higgins does a very similar thing, but it isn't in this particular video. I don't want to go find it because that's just too many videos to sift through and I think these 5 comparisons are enough.)

Other common themes throughout both videos (too numerous to give specific examples), watch how they both snatch the ball out of the air with their hands, rather than let it come into their body. You'll see Higgins a lot of times holding the ball above his head as he goes to the ground to prevent CBs from swatting it away. That's classic AJ Green.
Then you got your typical back shoulder throws that they both make look easy as all hell, them splitting the safeties deep for a touchdown and them going up and getting it where no one else can.
Then you'll see they both often draw offensive pass interference while also still catching the ball!

There are only two things that AJ Green does clearly better than Higgins.
1. Higgins is a toe tapper, but some of his best toe taps are 1 footed toe taps (4:01), whereas Green, even in college, had perfected the double toe tap. Obviously, 1 toe is all you need in college so maybe Higgins was just doing what needed to be done to get the catch, but it would have been nice to see him show off some NFL level toe tapping in college.

2. Adjusting to horribly thrown passes. You see it in AJ Green's tape at 1:12 and 2:27, where he catches a ball at least a yard off target on a simple slant. Higgins didn't do that too much in college, but that may be because Lawrence didn't throw too many of those. Higgins has shown the body contortion and athleticism required to make a play like that, as seen at 0:17 and 0:48, where he twists his body all the way around to catch the ball and then seamlessly continue on to the end zone.

But then, there's a reason Green went #4 overall, so it's expected that he is a better prospect than Higgins in some regard.

Did I mention Tee's a Bengals fan and that AJ Green is his role model?

This guy was, literally, the perfect pick at 33, just like Joe Burrow was the perfect pick at 1. And their strengths complement each other so well, as Joe is the king of the back shoulder throw and finding the sliver of space required to get his man a ball that only he can get to. We're blessed to have them both and they're going to be our new 9 to 85 connection for the next decade.

Who Dey!

Great breakdown.. the one worry i have with WR more and more today is there is little pressure at the line, most struggle with separation at snap which in the NFL can be death to overcome.. AJ was strong coming off the ball right his 1st year.. if Tee can get close that he will be a great addition.  2020 is setting up to be more like 2011 but with a better QB AJ as a veteran and "Tee Green" :),  outside of our line, 2020 weapons are looking good compared to 2011 playoff run.... :)

[CJD]

(04-27-2020, 03:41 PM)Au165 Wrote: In terms of their football skill, the big difference is their route running.  AJ is really good at the top of his stem where as Tee is going to need some work. AJ has made a killing selling the deep ball then whipping in back to a comeback. Tee doesn't have the suddenness at the top of his stem currently and I think it will lead to a couple of interceptions as NFL corners will jump that, especially if Burrow is throwing opposite hash. In general though Higgins didn't run a very robust route tree at Clemson, now does that mean he can't or wasn't asked to?

The good thing here though is most of Higgins issues are easily coachable. Most of the things that are kind of intrinsic to elite WR's he already has which gives him a really good foundation to work from. In terms of people using Higgins comp as Green, I can see it but you are just getting a slihtly less polished version of Green that may take a year or two to give early AJ like production.

Yea, I am in no way saying Higgins is a prospect of Green's caliber through and through. There's a reason Green was a top 5 pick and Higgins wasn't a first round selection. I'm just noting that physically, athletically, mentally and in terms of production and style, they are very similar players.

This idea that Higgins is too slow or too inflexible to get separation in the NFL is silly. He has things to work on, such as his toe tapping and route running, but the physical gifts are there, as they compare very favorably to Green's, who has had a pretty decent career in the NFL, I think .

[BleedNOrange]

So far we have threads that Tee Higgins is the same prospect as AJ Green and Auden Tate! I guess we shall see.

One thing that caught my eye on Thursday night is the player comparison from Lance Zierlein at NFL.com.
https://www.nfl.com/prospects/tamurice-higgins?id=32194849-4738-7791-9f89-d556c4b59b9a

[CJD]

(04-27-2020, 01:01 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Great thread, Crazyjdawg. I’m liking this pick more and more.

I’m not surprised one bit Taylor went with Higgins after reading that little snippet about his personality and work ethic. ZT loves these high character guys.

Thanks! I'm glad to be winning you over . His personality and work ethic is definitely one of his many strengths.

(04-27-2020, 01:47 PM)BURROWorBUST Wrote: I don't know. I'll tweet it to Ace Boogie and John Sheeran. 

Thanks! :)

(04-27-2020, 03:51 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Great breakdown.. the one worry i have with WR more and more today is there is little pressure at the line, most struggle with separation at snap which in the NFL can be death to overcome.. AJ was strong coming off the ball right his 1st year.. if Tee can get close that he will be a great addition.  2020 is setting up to be more like 2011 but with a better QB AJ as a veteran and "Tee Green" :),  outside of our line, 2020 weapons are looking good compared to 2011 playoff run.... :)

I think the beauty of players like AJ Green and Tee Higgins is they don't really have to make horizontal separation in order to be open. It's great when they do get it, and they both do it pretty frequently, but they are both incredibly good at creating vertical separation, by which I mean they are open when other receivers are not because they can high point the ball so well. So many of both Green's and Higgins' best catches from their college days were caught around a defender's head or over the defender's shoulder because they were just physically larger and more imposing than the person covering them.

Higgins has some nifty moves at the line and I think he'll have similar get off as Green. Handling the press has never been a huge strength of Green, but he does it well enough to make it risky if the cornerback whiffs or doesn't do it well enough. I expect Higgins will have that same level of risk vs reward in pressing him.

If we could make a playoff run this season, that would be so sweet!

[CJD]

(04-27-2020, 04:17 PM)BleedNOrange Wrote: So far we have threads that Tee Higgins is the same prospect as AJ Green and Auden Tate!  I guess we shall see.

One thing that caught my eye on Thursday night is the player comparison from Lance Zierlein at NFL.com.
https://www.nfl.com/prospects/tamurice-higgins?id=32194849-4738-7791-9f89-d556c4b59b9a

I think he nails the NFL comp

[JerseyDD09]

CrazyjDawg,

As I mentioned in my #33 thread, we both predicted WR's to be taken, and you hit it on the nose with Tee and my guy went a few picks later in Shenault.
Looking back on it now, you were 100% right with this pick for our team.

I was a little shocked at his Vert being less than AJs, b/c Tee is such a good Bball player. And, after watching him do his between the leg dunks, I'd say anyone would agree Tee's athleticism is off the damn charts! But, Tee is also a little bit taller than AJ is as well.

All the rest of the pitty patty stuff that these fans keep talking about needing refinements on.....well, of course!
He's going to be a rookie, but being taught not only by a really good WRs coach in Bicknell, he'll also be right behind AJ in all the WR drills I can assure you. During their off times, he'll work with AJ on tactics getting off the line of scrimmage better. That's what these guys do. He'll get better and progress throughout his Rookie season. Please remember, that as good as AJ was his Rookie year, he still had trouble getting off press coverage particularly against some of the better CB's in the league, especially against Haden when he was in Cleveland.

The bottom line is:
1. They get a WR who is a Comp to AJ. No way!
2. He is a Fan of the Bengals??? Huh? In what universe are we in??
3. And, his idol is AJ? What? Too good to be true
4. And, he'll get to learn from his idol? Icing on the cake!

I mean, you couldn't have drawn up a better situation here for a #2 WR on the opposite side of AJ.

I do agree that he was the best choice at WR of any player remaining and time will tell if it pays off or not.
Right now, I'm salivating to see how Defenses will be able to stop Higgins and AJ on the outsides, and Ross and Boyd and Tate in the slots, along with flanking Mixon and Gio out as well for Burrow.

Good Luck NFL!!! Lol
NEW DEY!!

[Nicomo Cosca]

I see Higgins won Mr. Football in Tennessee. Along with Burrow here in Ohio we have at least 2 guys from this draft that won that honor in their state.

[coachmcneil71]

You put 6'4 Green on one side, 6'4 Higgins on the other , n the redzone. Then you also have Boyd in the slot, motion with JR ( a pick that I hated, but ts, I think his is this year to REALLY bust loose). Opposing secondaries arse's are going to be puckered!

Mixon in the backfield, hell this offense has serious potential, now.

[*ochocincos*]

(04-27-2020, 06:14 PM)coachmcneil71 Wrote: You put 6'4 Green on one side, 6'4 Higgins on the other , n the redzone. Then you also have Boyd in the slot, motion with JR ( a pick that I hated, but ts, I think his is his year to REALLY bust loose). Opposing secondaries arse's are going to be puckered!

Mixon in the backfield, hell this offense has serious potential, now.

Add 6'5" Auden Tate as that 4th RZ receiver.