Let's Be Honest, Tavon Austin Or Cordarelle Patterson

[Rams and Gators]

What Keenan Allen did as a rookie was impressive but keep in mind that he was also the most pro ready WR in the draft. If you go back and look at recent history, you'll see that usually the most pro ready WR(i.e. the WR that led the NFL in rookie receiving yards) didn't end up being the best WR in his class.

Hell, go back and look at the 2010 Draft. In a draft that featured Dez Bryant, DeMaryius Thomas, Rob Gronkowski, Golden Taint, Eric Decker, Antonio Brown, Danario Alexander and Victor Cruz...the best rookie WR in that draft was Tampa Bay's Mike Williams.

What Allen did was impressive but I would like to see how Austin develops before we start deciding that we should have taken Allen. If Austin gets anywhere near his ceiling, I think he'll be the better pick.

Since 1980 10 receivers have had 1,000+ yard rookie seasons (not including Allen), 5 of them went on to lead their draft class in career receiving yards, a further 2 were second in their class (Boldin to Andre Johnson and Marques Colston to Brandon Marshall) 1 finished 3rd (214 yards off 1st, who also happened to be a 1,000+ yard rookie) and there were two true disappointments in Michael Clayton (13th) and Terry Glenn (7th). So Usually 1,000+ yard rookie receivers if not the best in their class, do fairly well.

 

[jrry32]

Since 1980 10 receivers have had 1,000+ yard rookie seasons (not including Allen), 5 of them went on to lead their draft class in career receiving yards, a further 2 were second in their class (Boldin to Andre Johnson and Marques Colston to Brandon Marshall) 1 finished 3rd (214 yards off 1st, who also happened to be a 1,000+ yard rookie) and there were two true disappointments in Michael Clayton (13th) and Terry Glenn (7th). So Usually 1,000+ yard rookie receivers if not the best in their class, do fairly well.

Those 10 WRs were:
1. Anquan Boldin -> Best WR = Andre Johnson
2. Randy Moss -> Best WR in his class
3. Michael Clayton -> Best WR = Larry Fitzgerald
4. Terry Glenn -> Best WR = Marvin Harrison
5. Bill Brooks -> Best WR = Ernest Givins
6. Ernest Givins -> Best WR
7. A.J. Green -> Remains to be seen
8. Joey Galloway -> Best WR = Antonio Freeman
9. Marques Colston -> Best WR = Brandon Marshall
10. Cris Collinsworth -> Best WR

I never made the argument that they don't do fairly well but aside from Moss, the WRs that were the best in their class were in weak classes. The majority were not the best in their class. And there's only one HOFer on the list. It remains to be seen on AJ Green.

Allen is a talented kid but he's not Moss. Point is that while rookie production is great...Allen doesn't have the same ceiling as Tavon so why don't we give Tavon a chance to reach that ceiling. Because there are some darn good WRs on this list...a lot of the game's best WRs took time to develop.

He got a 7 on the Wonderlic. More cerebral?

The Wonderlic doesn't test football knowledge. It has no correlation to success.