Dobson 40 time

[briz almighty]

says he ran a 4.40 and 4.42 forty at his proday. i take proday forties with a grain of salt, they are usually lower than combine numbers because players want to boost their draft stock. dobson didnt run at the combine. seems like hes a 4.43 - 4.53 game speed, and i think this is the reason he is struggling so far. most nfl cbs are faster than him and dobson cant beat them deep. thats why he hasnt caught any deep routes yet in preseason. cant get the separation. i expected him to come in and be the number 1 and he hasnt been dominating or anything. i dont know if hes fast enough to be a stud #1 wr.

 

[paperchamp]

I was very excited when the Pats drafted him as well. Thompkins is a lot more reliable WR so far, and AD will make the highlight plays.

 

[briz almighty]

hey paper, yea i still think AD will be good im just worried now im not sure if he will be that elite stud #1 wr on the outside we been looking for. can we call his number and go deep when we need to i just dont know. seems like he cant outrun anyone deep so far.

 

[Drawmeomg]

There are a lot of receivers who beat CBs consistently despite not being able to beat them in a foot race. Give him time to develop.

 

[briz almighty]

There are a lot of receivers who beat CBs consistently despite not being able to beat them in a foot race. Give him time to develop.

you cant teach speed draw. i dont like the fact that our outside wr cant outrun almost any cb in the league. you look at mike wallace he is so dangerous with his speed thats why he got 15 mill a year or what ever it was. the sad part is he doesnt have the hands or size of dobson but it dont matter, you got to respect that deep speed. same thing with randy moss. i dont see that happening with dobson.

here dobson preseason:

4 games:

2 catch, 35 yd, 0 td, long 23, 8 targets
2 catch, 30 yd, 0 td, long 23, 5 targets
4 catch, 50 yd, 0 td, long 19, 8 targets
3 catch, 35 yd, 0 td, long 18, 6 targets
total:
11 catch, 150 yd, 0 td, long 23, 27 targets

he played nearly the whole game everygame too. the thing that concerns me is that his longest catch was 23 yards. thats not exactly what we were looking for when we needed a deep vertical threat on the outside. i think his speed may be a huge issue.

 

[Drawmeomg]

And you don't need 4.3 speed. Plenty of great receivers have 4.45 or 4.5 speed instead.

Not that I'm saying Dobson will be great. The hype wagon on that guy got rolling WAY too early. I'm just saying, he has some elite physical characteristics and some very good ones. He's fast enough to play outside WR in the NFL if he can outjump people. No reason to right him off just because of his rookie year preseason.

 

[briz almighty]

you dont need it if you are a #2 or lower wr but #1 wrs who are going up against the fastest best #1 corners on every team deffinitly need it. you want to go deep and verticle you need deep speed. dobson dont have it. we need more from him than 20 yard in cuts.

 

[Drawmeomg]

you dont need it if you are a #2 or lower wr but #1 wrs who are going up against the fastest best #1 corners on every team deffinitly need it. you want to go deep and verticle you need deep speed. dobson dont have it. we need more from him than 20 yard in cuts.

Vincent Jackson ran a 4.46 40 yard dash.

Hell, different era but Jerry Rice ran a 4.71. And it's not like numbers are across the board better - Deion Sanders played at the same time, and he ran a 4.27. There is just more to it than that.

You want speed on the outside, but speed isn't everything. If it was, Oakland would have the best WR corps in the league year in and year out.

(And to reiterate: I am not saying Dobson will be Jerry Rice. I'm just saying it's too early to write him off.)

 

[briz almighty]

Vincent Jackson ran a 4.46 40 yard dash.



Hell, different era but Jerry Rice ran a 4.71. And it's not like numbers are across the board better - Deion Sanders played at the same time, and he ran a 4.27. There is just more to it than that.



You want speed on the outside, but speed isn't everything. If it was, Oakland would have the best WR corps in the league year in and year out.



(And to reiterate: I am not saying Dobson will be Jerry Rice. I'm just saying it's too early to write him off.)

you name a few examples that dont but i could name hundreds that do like moss, calvin johnson, julio jones etc. you generally want your #1 outside wr that runs deep verticle routes to have speed or hes not gunna beat corners in the nfl. you need to be a good football player first and foremost thats why speed only not gunna cut it like bethel johnson or heyward bay. obviously i think we agree dobson is a good football player so his speed is deffintly an issue.

 

[JDM]

His speed is good enough. You do not need to be a burner to be an elite receiver. Does it help? Of course. But if you run decent routes and are big and reasonably strong with very good hands, you can absolutely be a legitimately elite guy. Some of us disagree about what he is currently capable of and how he should be used off the start, but to start worrying about his speed now when we have known exactly what it was since he was drafted is silly.

Larry Fitzgerald is the best receiver in the NFL and he ran a 4.5 (SI.com - 2004 NFL Draft - Larry Fitzgerald). Some may take Calvin Johnson maybe one or two other guys, but he is absolutely elite, and he does't need 4.2 speed to do it.

 

[briz almighty]

His speed is good enough. You do not need to be a burner to be an elite receiver. Does it help? Of course. But if you run decent routes and are big and reasonably strong with very good hands, you can absolutely be a legitimately elite guy. Some of us disagree about what he is currently capable of and how he should be used off the start, but to start worrying about his speed now when we have known exactly what it was since he was drafted is silly.



Larry Fitzgerald is the best receiver in the NFL and he ran a 4.5 (SI.com - 2004 NFL Draft - Larry Fitzgerald). Some may take Calvin Johnson maybe one or two other guys, but he is absolutely elite, and he does't need 4.2 speed to do it.

the pats will find ways to get him the ball and he will be productive. im just saying it seems like hes not going to be what we were hoping to get, a moss that can stretch the field deep. everyone wanted to sign mike wallace here in free agency. you put mike wallace on the pats right now and corners play off him and safeties stay deep over the top of him. same with moss or calvin and others. it opens up the te's and slot and run game which was utterly clogged by other teams last year with no deep threat on the pats. dobson doesnt command that respect and i dont think he will because he doesnt have elite speed. so im not sure we really fixed our problem. has anyone seen dobson catch a deep ball yet?

 

[paperchamp]

we all may want too much from him too early.. like others have said if speed was everything then slater would be the best!!

 

[paperchamp]

and with the #6 pick in the draft the paperchamps select......

 

[JDM]

Larry Fitzgerald stretches the field deep. If you were expecting randy moss of course you will be disappointed. No one at the wide receiver position ever has even rivaled the randy moss that played when randy moss was happy and wanted to play.

Again, I don't know why you are acting like you expected him to be a burner. It's not like he tested at a 4.0 and looks like he runs 5.0 in pads. He has every bit the skill set to be very excited about what he can bring, especially with Tom Brady throwing him the football. Clearly he hasn't shown a thing in real football yet, but being upset about this now is just that your expectations were overblown. Mike Wallace, for the record, has the speed but is incredibly inconsistent and drops more balls than we should be happy with as an offense. It's the reason I begged for them to let Welker go at the start of the offseason. I want someone I can trust, and Dobson has looked very good with balls within reasonable catchability, barring one nervous drop.

I still want him on the field every play from day one. I think he is perfect for the role.

 

[briz almighty]

Larry Fitzgerald stretches the field deep. If you were expecting randy moss of course you will be disappointed. No one at the wide receiver position ever has even rivaled the randy moss that played when randy moss was happy and wanted to play.



Again, I don't know why you are acting like you expected him to be a burner. It's not like he tested at a 4.0 and looks like he runs 5.0 in pads. He has every bit the skill set to be very excited about what he can bring, especially with Tom Brady throwing him the football. Clearly he hasn't shown a thing in real football yet, but being upset about this now is just that your expectations were overblown. Mike Wallace, for the record, has the speed but is incredibly inconsistent and drops more balls than we should be happy with as an offense. It's the reason I begged for them to let Welker go at the start of the offseason. I want someone I can trust, and Dobson has looked very good with balls within reasonable catchability, barring one nervous drop.



I still want him on the field every play from day one. I think he is perfect for the role.

i wasnt expecting him to be moss, moss ran a 4.25 40 and was the best wr ever. fitz is incredibly athletic and physical which makes up for some of his speed. dobson is not athletically elite on those levels. calvin ran a 4.35 40. i was expecting going into free agency and draft to get an outside wr that can stretch the field deep. i dont feel we got that in dobson after watching him so far, i feel like we got a good wr that can play outside but isnt what we were looking for from a deep threat perspective. i want my #1 wrs to run a 4.3 and be able to beat corners deep, or be so athletically gifted he is hard to cover. dobson seems like he is neither of those, he has been covered fairly easily so far and has done nothing deep. unlike thompkins or amendola who can separate in their #2 wr and slot roles. i feel amendola is elite in the slot, thomkins is elite at the #2, but dobson is not elite at the #1 from what we seen so far.

 

[briz almighty]

and with the #6 pick in the draft the paperchamps select......

tebow!

 

[paperchamp]

well crap I thought he would be off the board @4

 

[eric5577x]

How fast is KT? Speed helps, but if you can get separation, which you do not need speed for, you are already ahead of that CB. KT has some great separation and gets the CB behind him. Have not seem enough of AD to tell if he does or not. It has been all KT. I think NE got Boyce for that speed, deep threat. I am sure BB never in a million yrs thought he would find a gem like KT, well at least in preseason he was.

 

[briz almighty]

How fast is KT? Speed helps, but if you can get separation, which you do not need speed for, you are already ahead of that CB. KT has some great separation and gets the CB behind him. Have not seem enough of AD to tell if he does or not. It has been all KT. I think NE got Boyce for that speed, deep threat. I am sure BB never in a million yrs thought he would find a gem like KT, well at least in preseason he was.

i think more for the slot and #2 wr spots quickness is more important and both amendola and kt have that on an elite level. #1 wr you want them to be big with great long distance vertical speed, dobson is big but dont have that elite speed it looks like. yea there are some exceptions like desean jackson or steve smith who are small but can get deep and be a #1. but on the norm most #1 wr are big and fast. we dont got a desean or smith. maybe boyce can be that on a limited basis but im not sure he could be a desean or smith fulltime. we are very lucky to find kt i agree.

 

[eric5577x]

I think AD value will be noticed in the Red Zone. He has that big body, kind of reminds me of Mike Williams in TB. Not good speed, but has good hands and can go over people to get the ball. I mean, who knows. BB has yet to open the play book yet, and I do not think we will see that until the 3rd game.