Curious what others expectations are for DK.

[DomeHawk]

From what i saw at the couple of practices I was at his lateral movement is actually good for someone his size. He had no problems getting in and out of cuts and breaks, and hits full speed very fast. I can see he and Jazz being book end corner endzone box put types, forcing team to either double them leaving the middle open or giving them one on ones that they will win more often than not. DK will get more yards and long TDs. I could see 600 and 7tds give or take 10%.

Yep.

People expect a 6'4", 235 pound man to move like Doug Baldwin. It isnt going to happen.

Big men move like big men. For good and bad.

There were a number of "big men" at the combine that were exponentially quicker in lateral quickness drills. Mile Boykin was WAY quicker at 6'4" 220lbs. Metcalf was 228lbs at the combine.

Look, I am not saying that DK won't be good, only that he had some issues coming into the league. That's not my opinion, it's the opinion of all of the NFL team scouts, a consensus of NFL analysts, AND simple stats/facts that he demonstrated at the combine AND in his college career. I'll take take those opinions/stats over some clown that "says" he went to practice and didn't notice something.

Will he overcome those faults? I sure hope so, especially if he's going to be an integral part of the WR corps.

http://www.nfl.com/combine/tracker#day=saturday

 

[McGruff]

From what i saw at the couple of practices I was at his lateral movement is actually good for someone his size. He had no problems getting in and out of cuts and breaks, and hits full speed very fast. I can see he and Jazz being book end corner endzone box put types, forcing team to either double them leaving the middle open or giving them one on ones that they will win more often than not. DK will get more yards and long TDs. I could see 600 and 7tds give or take 10%.

Yep.

People expect a 6'4", 235 pound man to move like Doug Baldwin. It isnt going to happen.

Big men move like big men. For good and bad.

There were a number of "big men" at the combine that were exponentially quicker in lateral quickness drills. Mile Boykin was WAY quicker at 6'4" 220lbs. Metcalf was 228lbs at the combine.

Look, I am not saying that DK won't be good, only that he had some issues coming into the league. That's not my opinion, it's the opinion of all of the NFL team scouts, a consensus of NFL analysts, AND simple stats/facts that he demonstrated at the combine AND in his college career. I'll take take those opinions/stats over some clown that "says" he went to practice and didn't notice something.

Will he overcome those faults? I sure hope so, especially if he's going to be an integral part of the WR corps.

http://www.nfl.com/combine/tracker#day=saturday

Undoubtavly true.

Also true is that DK ran one of the fastest 10 yard splits in combine history.

Explosiveness that shows up on tape in his ability to quickly eat up whatever cushion a defender gives him.

Pete tends to excel when developing playing with singularly extreme traits. DK has a lot of those to work with.

My biggest concern is ball tracking.

 

[DomeHawk]

From what i saw at the couple of practices I was at his lateral movement is actually good for someone his size. He had no problems getting in and out of cuts and breaks, and hits full speed very fast. I can see he and Jazz being book end corner endzone box put types, forcing team to either double them leaving the middle open or giving them one on ones that they will win more often than not. DK will get more yards and long TDs. I could see 600 and 7tds give or take 10%.

Yep.

People expect a 6'4", 235 pound man to move like Doug Baldwin. It isnt going to happen.

Big men move like big men. For good and bad.

There were a number of "big men" at the combine that were exponentially quicker in lateral quickness drills. Mile Boykin was WAY quicker at 6'4" 220lbs. Metcalf was 228lbs at the combine.

Look, I am not saying that DK won't be good, only that he had some issues coming into the league. That's not my opinion, it's the opinion of all of the NFL team scouts, a consensus of NFL analysts, AND simple stats/facts that he demonstrated at the combine AND in his college career. I'll take take those opinions/stats over some clown that "says" he went to practice and didn't notice something.

Will he overcome those faults? I sure hope so, especially if he's going to be an integral part of the WR corps.

http://www.nfl.com/combine/tracker#day=saturday

Undoubtavly true.

Also true is that DK ran one of the fastest 10 yard splits in combine history.

Explosiveness that shows up on tape in his ability to quickly eat up whatever cushion a defender gives him.

Pete tends to excel when developing playing with singularly extreme traits. DK has a lot of those to work with.

My biggest concern is ball tracking.

I hadn't seen that and yes, it's impressive. He's really-really fast for a big man and that is something you cannot teach. But, it is still straight line speed and we already have a speedster in Lockett who tracks long balls really well.

If he can demonstrate that he can track long balls he will be very valuable but even if he doesn't RW has a habit of throwing it up and letting the receiver go up for it. If he can use that big body to block out and/or overpower the smaller DB, THAT is what you draft big receivers for.

 

[Ad Hawk]

If he can demonstrate that he can track long balls he will be very valuable but even if he doesn't RW has a habit of throwing it up and letting the receiver go up for it. If he can use that big body to block out and/or overpower the smaller DB, THAT is what you draft big receivers for.

I hope this is exactly why he was drafted, this and his deep-ball possibility combined with leaping ability, and in the red zone. His lateral quickness will mean just a bit less if he's continually given a 7-yard cushion. He'll already have a step and a half on the DB when he makes his break, if the routes are short.

If there's no safety help, though, on a quick slant given a 7 yard cushion? He may be tough to bring down in the middle of the field, too.

I get it--this is speculation at this point. But strengths worth considering, anyway.

 

[Mad Dog]

Too raw to have high expectations. Right now he's Darrius Heyward-Bey. He'll either translate that speed at this level or he won't but it will likely will take a year or two.

20 catches, 300 yds 2 TD's

 

[McGruff]

Except Heyward Bey was like, the 7th overall pick.

 

[Mad Dog]

Except Heyward Bey was like, the 7th overall pick.

Guess GMs learned their lesson. Just like they did with Russ. No way Mayfield and Murray go do high if Russ hadn’t gone off.

Bottom line. Can’t coach speed but you don’t draft high on speed alone.

 

[chris98251]

Speed is one thing, him and Jazz had the largest catch radius in the draft last year for receivers. I think giving Russell's type of pass and how he likes to throw it to a safe area that was almost more important, and we got both on the team.

 

[OahuHawkFan]

Well this is a bummer...

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2 ... ecked-out/

 

[Ad Hawk]

This was fun to revisit. Regular Season Stats:

58 receptions, 900 yards, 7 TDs.

Some posters were close!

Post-season stats TBD.

 

[toffee]

Except Heyward Bey was like, the 7th overall pick.

Anyone watched enough of Bey to figure out what was lacking in his game? Sure got the speed and opportunities, but certainly failed to become a go to WR. Butter fingers? poor football IQ? lousy route running? what went wrong?

 

[richp01]

I was quite low as it turns out. Glad DK performed better then I expected.

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

Pretty much exceeded everyone's expectations. Even fans that two fisted the hype.

- effort
-humility
- growth
- health

The production we're all talking about here is predicated on these things.........and I think we will see it from DK, nothing we've seen so far has shown anything else.

This is definitely an understated aspect of how rookies perform and even grow during their 2nd year.

One lesson that we as fans of this process should take away from DK's performance this year, is that really at any position and with every prospect, there is more than one way to get the job done. We (all fans and pundits) continually fall into the trap of finding 'the next X' or making player comparisons to try to make predictions of how a player will turn out. But every player is their own archetype.

Metcalf didn't improve his 3 cone this year. He didn't improve his lateral agility to a great degree. Those liabilities still exist. But he's used other tools to compensate.

He doesn't run a terribly limited tree. What we've seen, is that he can run curls/out patterns and succeed famously. Because his other traits (size and speed) force DBs to play off him or bail aggressively. He can succeed with lower agility based on the difference in how he's covered.

I mentioned this early before the season, that I thought he'd have to learn the tricks of the trade that made Michael Irvin successful. The ability to get open when the ball arrived, not before. Irvin was similarly saddled with less than ideal lateral agility (not unlike just about every big WR). But he compensated with skill and other gifts.

I figured DK would maybe pick that up by end of year two. But I think we all saw his growth this year in virtually all aspects of his craft. He's just way ahead of the development curve and it's due to the aforementioned traits above. I hope those traits serve him well in the upcoming offseason, because it's a portent of a very significant jump in production in year two.

He has the real opportunity and ability to become special in this league. He's been fantastic this year, and I think everyone would admit that he's left a TON of yards and points on the field. He has so much room to grow it's really kind of scary. Not just with greater use, but also improving the near misses with the opportunities he's already had. What we've seen this season may only be 60%-70 of his realistic and achievable potential in year two.

 

[HawkerD]

Great revisit. Lots of folks in the ballpark with the exception on the pro-Jazz contingent. At this point it is comical but I could see how they were swayed during preseason. :stirthepot:

 

[TwistedHusky]

I really want to see him start going down more once he has more than one defender on him.

It is no coincidence we have so many guys injured, because they are always fighting for yards. When 3 guys are on you, you go down. Ideally with 2. It is not worth the 2 extra yards to take that many additional hits from different angles.

Not everybody can be Marshawn. Go down when you have 2 defenders on you.

I was in a bar in that last game, Metcalf made a catch - everyone cheered. Then he started fighting for yards and the entire bar screamed NO NO NO almost in unison. They were waiting for the fumble (that never happened). The run into the EZ after the catch was different, nobody touched him.

But damnit, our guys need to stop fighting for yards. Not only is there injury risk, but that is where the fumbles happen too.

Otherwise he is stellar. And the issues with his hands are overstated, most of those are in the rain. I have seen him make great catches outside in the frame as long as it isn't raining. He only seems to be inconsistent in wet weather - which is understandable.

 

[Mad Dog]

well he pretty much tripled my expectations so way to go rookie!!!

I never saw the smarts and work ethic which clearly elevated him past the usual WR rookies. He clearly caught on to the pro game quickly much like Tyler and Doug. A pleasant surprise. If only we'd have been so lucky with Collier ><

 

[justafan]

H ugh Millen had a lot to say about him on monday Qb. Saw his route ability in college. He has been a fan of his since.

 

[JGreen79]

well he pretty much tripled my expectations so way to go rookie!!!

I never saw the smarts and work ethic which clearly elevated him past the usual WR rookies. He clearly caught on to the pro game quickly much like Tyler and Doug. A pleasant surprise. If only we'd have been so lucky with Collier ><

Russ has even called him a "Hall of Game studier". This coming from someone like Russ is huge praise imo.

 

[SanDiego49er]

I have been listing to radio shows, TV shows and podcasts in regards to DK. And the hype around him is quite impressive. I have only seen the Denver game and he does appear to have talent and I am wondering what others on here have in regards to expectations. Considering our offense and it typically takes rookie WR's two or 3 years, I personally would consider a very good rookie season if he ends up with 40 rec. 600 yards and 4-5 TD's. I am curious what others think?

He beat that expectation.

 

[raisethe3]

I made a bet way back that he would get at least 800 yards receiving, and now he's already well over it.

My friend lost the bet! Haha, go suck on onions!