Question for all you Tavon Austin fans

[NinerSickness]

This observation deserved its own thread.

Question for all you Tavon Austin fans out there...

Last year there were some people here who loved Tavon Austin (I was not one of 'em). I'm just wondering if you have that same man-love for Brandin Cooks. Because Cooks is probably just as fast (Cooks is probably faster), half an inch taller, 15 pounds heavier, his arms are longer, his hands are bigger, and he doesn't have Geno Smith throwing it to him.

And Cooks is like 6 months younger than Austin was at draft time. And they had almost identical total yards last season (Cooks had 15 more combined receiving / rushing yards; Austin had more on the rushing side).

I'm pretty sure Bingo & Clyde were both all over the Austin hype last year. Or am I remembering wrong? There were many others. Dodub I think...

Anyway, if you liked Austin (I didn't) then you've got to LOVE Cooks right? I mean Cooks is a superiour prospect in every way.

 

[Clayton]

Who the f is cooks and Geno Smith throwing to you isnt a plus

 

[NinerSickness]

Who the f is cooks and Geno Smith throwing to you isnt a plus

Brandin Cooks from Oregon State.

And Geno Smith throwing to you is not a good thing in the NFL. In college it was a different story.

 

[RobertPhD01]

I would like about 3 wrs who can catch and block and run 4.4!! Kap should be able to run more especially in man to man and ocassionally throw 80 yard tds!! Go 49ers!!!!!!

 

[BINGO]

There's nothing new under the sun. I was the first one that that started the Cooks bandwagon. I have been in love with him within a week or two of the 2013 college football games being played. I've been trying to catch others' attention about this kid - I made post about his elite speed, hands, big play abilities, etc. unfortunately, my constant raving about him fell on deaf ears.

This was one of the first post I made about him back in September:

http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/3701073-post419.html

I didn't have to wait for this stupid combine for me to create a buzz about him. I was the initial buzz maker when it came to Cooks. Why does everybody all of a sudden are pretending that they have never heard anyone on this board praise Cooks prior to combine/breaking news regarding his speed.

With all that said, if Austin was in the draft this year, I would still take him ahead of Cooks. You guys are really under rating the type of player Austin is. There were 2 long TDs I can think of that were called back b/c of stupid penalties. The guy is a weapon that's going to give us fits for years to come.

 

[Clayton]

Brandin Cooks from Oregon State.

And Geno Smith throwing to you is not a good thing in the NFL. In college it was a different story.

I guess. I just think that people are throwing Austin under the bus way too soon. Lets give him a full offseason before we judge him. He is more than just a 40 time. Austin has good hands and he is elusive. He just dances too much and doesn't always hit his max speed

 

[BINGO]

I guess. I just think that people are throwing Austin under the bus way too soon. Lets give him a full offseason before we judge him. He is more than just a 40 time. Austin has good hands and he is elusive. He just dances too much and doesn't always hit his max speed

Thank you. Mind you, they'll be the first to say otherwise 2 years from now claiming all along that they had Austin rated high on their rankings during the 2013 draft process.

 

[Dodub]

I don't buy Cooks being as fast as Austin but I do like Cooks. Austin's in game speed is unreal. Cooks would be an incredible asset and I'm hoping we get our hands on him.

 

[BINGO]

I don't buy Cooks being as fast as Austin but I do like Cooks. Austin's in game speed is unreal. Cooks would be an incredible asset and I'm hoping we get our hands on him.

 

[Logicallylethal]

I don't buy Cooks being faster than Tavon Austin either.

I think a better wr who will probably drop to the 4th or 5th round is Bruce Ellington. He's 5'9 (so 1 inch shorter) but is 196 pounds (nearly 10 pounds heavier) and has been clocked in college running a 4.34

 

[NinerSickness]

I just think that people are throwing Austin under the bus way too soon.

You're right. It is way too soon to throw Austin under the busT. He's only 22. Let's just say I'm not as optimistic about him as most people here are. I'm not saying he can't be a good player, but you have to be better than just a good player to justify the 8th overall pick.

 

[Dodub]

You're right. It is way too soon to throw Austin under the busT. He's only 22. Let's just say I'm not as optimistic about him as most people here are. I'm not saying he can't be a good player, but you have to be better than just a good player to justify the 8th overall pick.

He showed in the 2nd half of last season that he isn't just going to be a good player but a dynamic, game breaking player. He showed glimpses during the second half of the season (as did Patterson). People don't seem to have any patience and expect rookies to be great right away, let these kids figure out the pro game as he appeared to be doing the first half of the season.

 

[NinerSickness]

He showed in the 2nd half of last season that he isn't just going to be a good player but a dynamic, game breaking player. He showed glimpses during the second half of the season (as did Patterson). People don't seem to have any patience and expect rookies to be great right away, let these kids figure out the pro game as he appeared to be doing the first half of the season.

Oh I've got patience. I didn't use the b word on him yet. That would be silly. I waited 4 years before I finally called your boy Bradford a bust didn't I?

 

[Clayton]

Oh I've got patience. I didn't use the b word on him yet. That would be silly. I waited 4 years before I finally called your boy Bradford a bust didn't I?

Bradford seems to be following the Alex Smith trajectory.

For whatever its worth, I had Tavon Austin, Cordarelle Patterson and Deandre Hopkins all grouped together last year so I did find it odd that the Rams traded up to grab Austin when they could have had one of the other 2. Whats really interesting about Austin's draft position is where the Honey Badger went. When I saw them lined up against each other in week 1, it did look like they had roughly the same talent level and one guy went in the top 10 and the other in round 3. Much of nailing the draft seems to be taking huge risks on bad character guys.

 

[I_am_1z]

Bradford seems to be following the Alex Smith trajectory.

For whatever its worth, I had Tavon Austin, Cordarelle Patterson and Deandre Hopkins all grouped together last year so I did find it odd that the Rams traded up to grab Austin when they could have had one of the other 2. Whats really interesting about Austin's draft position is where the Honey Badger went. When I saw them lined up against each other in week 1, it did look like they had roughly the same talent level and one guy went in the top 10 and the other in round 3. Much of nailing the draft seems to be taking huge risks on bad character guys.

My top 3 from last year were DeAndre Hopkins, Justin Hunter, and Keenan Allen (in that order) don't see any reason to change it. Austin and Patterson don't look like they'll make that transition to being a number 1 guy. You have to make special play calls to get them in space. If 49ers want to target one of these exciting, explosive, elusive players, go no further than Dri Archer in the 4th.

 

[clyde_carbon]

Tavon Austin's stop-and-go quickness is second to none. Cooks is very quick, but Austin is absolutely off the charts in that regard.

Not even close as prospects, IMO.

 

[dredinis21]

Tavon Austin's stop-and-go quickness is second to none. Cooks is very quick, but Austin is absolutely off the charts in that regard.

Not even close as prospects, IMO.

Off the charts....yup. He is a game changer...once the game slows down for him a little, this kid is going to blow our defense up if we don't figure out how to cover these smaller WRs.

 

[NinerSickness]

Advantage Cooks:

*half an inch taller
*15 pounds heavier
*2/3 of an inch longer arms
*Almost half an inch bigger hands
*40 time 0.01 seconds faster
*Vertical 4 inches higher
*2 more reps on the bench
*6 months younger than Austin was at the same time last year
*More productive in combined receiving / rushing yards by about 15 yards
*tougher conference
*worse QB

Broad jump the same

Advantage Austin:

0.05 seconds in the 10-yard split

 

[Clayton]

Man, I really have been putting off watching tape of WRs this year because I dont want the Rams to add another young guy into the rotation but this year's class is so deep that its inevitable.

Cooks doesn't play like Austin. He plays more like Maclin(ish) despite having different measurables. Its also weird to see how often Cooks is covered and making contested catches as opposed to being open

I could probably come up with a better player comparison than Maclin but its definitely not Tavon Austin

 

[NinerSickness]

Brandin Cooks just ran the top shuttle time in 9 years at 3.81

He had a blazing 60-yard shuttle too: 10.72

3cone was 6.76. Yikes!