This is how Dexter McClusters happen.

"Oh, well we have an extra pick, so its okay if we set one of them on fire..."

Reaching because you have another pick doesn't do anything to diminish the opportunity cost of any individual bad pick.

And Christian Watson in the first round would be a REALLY bad pick.
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Man you are just ADAMANT.

LOL

comparing Watson, a 6'4" 210 lb. WR who runs a legit 4.3 and got a perfect 10 RAS score at the combine to McCluster (who made up for being tiny by also being slow) is nuts.

Look- you want to knock Watson over the strength of competition, that's understandable. You want to knock him for his stats-well, then you're not listening to what his situation with QB's was in college.

But the kid is a FREAK athlete. I mean, his ceiling is GENERATIONAL TALENT with that ability. His floor is probably lower than some others, but this is not Dexter McCluster, who didn't really do anything at all well, not even run fast.
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And I'm not even saying we SHOULD take him at #30.

His potential floor worries me. Is it MVS, or is it lower? I don't know.

I like the kid, but I think Pierce is a similar guy, with a more proven track record, so to speak.

I don't know. But I won't be mad if Veach does take Watson at #30, it'll just mean that what my eyes told me was legit.
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I can also see something like this:

29 and 30: DE and DT (Mafe or Williams paired with Travis Jones is my favorite grouping)

50: DE or CB (Cam Thomas sweet spot, Sam Williams potential spot, maybe one of the hybrid S)

TRADE UP from 62 into the mid-50s (would cost a 2023 4th, roughly) to take the WR they want. POtentially Christian Watson, potentially someone else.

I'm with Meck, though. If they take Watson, it means to me they are sold on his athletic ability and the rare quick twitch and explosion. There are guys that big and fast in the NFL (not a lot, but some). But for a guy to be that big and fast and ALSO have the agility and movement is rare, to me.

I think Marquez Valdes-Scantling is a solid floor for Christian Watson. He's going to be valuable at least to that level. Ceiling is high, though, as high as anyone in this draft class.
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But here's my question - if you are an FCS coach and you have Randy Moss on your roster - You're not finding ways to get that guy the football every couple of plays?

The issue I have with his production isn't even that he didn't go off playing w/ substandard competition. It's that his coaches - the guys who saw him practice every day and play every weekend - didn't feel COMPELLED to force him the football.

Any swinging dick who's ever so much as watched a football game would know to get Megatron the football if he's playing against glorified High School talent. And yet these coaches didn't see a need to do so.

So either these are the dumbest human beings on the planet, or this guy ISN'T the football player some are claiming he is.

I'm not doubting things like the RAS score - because again, hell of an underwear warrior. I'm asking why this 'generational athlete' got 15 carries all season. Or why he wasn't getting 10 targets a game on bubble screens or quick slants. In a run-first offense, why not single-read RPO plays? Remember that year that Mizzou realized their WR room had fallen apart so they decided "Y'know what? This year our offense is going to be running the football and throwing it to Danario Alexander every play in 15 different ways..."

And that was against Division I competition and a guy who wasn't the 'freak' Watson is. Dude went for 1,800 yards when the 2nd leading receiving option on the team had 700.

His utilization, or lack thereof, against incredibly poor competition says something about who he is as an actual football player.

And yeah, I'm WHOLLY opposed to taking this guy in the first or even with the 50. I'd maybe consider him in the late 2nd and even that's not terribly likely.

Before he ran fast in track shorts this guy was a 3rd round pick by virtually every scouting service. Now we're in "talk ourselves into this guy" season and suddenly I'm supposed to act like Randy Moss 2.0 just got overlooked by his coaches in the FCS?

Eh. Not buying it.
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If it came down to Burks or Watson in the 1st....I'm going Burks 10 times out of 10.
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His floor is substantially lower. MVS is nearer his ceiling than his floor.

His floor is, I dunno, Matt Jones. And even that may be an oversell.

C'mon guys. Randy Moss went for 1,800 yards in his only year in college football. Calvin Johnson went for 1,200 at Georgia Tech.

Generational talents get the ball. No coach is so stupid as to not find ways to get the football to guys like that.

And Watson's coaches just didn't. That absolutely means something.
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I'm probably going Sam Williams and Travis Jones at that point.

There's ZERO reason to hem ourselves into WR at the back end of the first. Absolutely none whatsoever.
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I meant if those two were my options.

I'm on the Ojabo and Jones in the first train right now. Williams and Jones works as well.
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I don't disagree with that at all.

i just think you've got a bad take on Watson.
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So I ask again - a quick twitch monster with physicality and speed to burn. The agility to toast guys off the line and get clean releases....

....and he had 15 carries in the FCS?

If he is all that is being claimed, do you think his coaches are THAT stupid? Those guys who saw him every single day and didn't think "yeah, this guy needs a dozen touches/gm"?

Or maybe, just maybe, this guy who we've seen nothing but highlights of and some callisthenic exercises isn't quite as good a football player as is being indicated?

I will bet ANYTHING that he's closer to Matt Jones than Randy Moss.

I'm not the one with the bad takes here, fellas. It's the glowing praise over his generational ceiling that's over the top. I'm saying an FCS receiver w/ less than 1,000 scrimmage yards might be worth consideration at the end of the 2nd round. That's DAMN high praise and an acknowledgement of his athleticism.

Meanwhile there are guys in this thread saying he has potential HoF skills.

Who's really overplaying their hands here?
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Build me a board where those are my options.

And I'll go find you 2 I like better.

Though I may be able to talk myself into Burks w/ the new focus on physicality we seem to be putting on the offense. I haven't really re-evaluated his fit here since the Hill trade and I should probably do that before I come with the same stance I had previously on him.
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Plus all of the talk that he "looked good at the Senior Bowl".

In one on ones? You mean when it's pretty easy to make DBs look horrible if you have any kind of agility and speed?
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I'd rather have Watson at 29 than trading up.

But there's a handful of guys I'd rather have at 29, too.
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Okay, I don't get the Travis Jones love AT ALL.

He's a run plugger, he's not particularly explosive, he's just a big 'ole lump 'o dude there in the middle, a nose tackle, and I don't get it. AT ALL.

Wyatt I get; his athleticism projects in a way that he might well be a better pro than he was a college player.

hell, I get Winfrey.

I DO NOT get Jones, and I would NOT take Jones over taking a big swing on a kid like Watson. If THAT is what you want to spend a first on, I think you're bonkers.
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