Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Ginn again
I'm losing it. One of my incredibly important points failed to make it in to my last post on Ted Ginn. And the point was that even if somebody thought Ginn would be a great kick returner while chipping in with a few big plays on offense, how the heck would that justify a top ten pick? You spend a top pick on a receiver you want another Randy Moss, a Larry Fitzgerald, a Calvin Johnson. You know, a stud. Sure a great returner would be nice but have you noticed how nobody ever spends a first round pick on one? Rick Upchurch, a 4th round pick. Dante Hall, a 5th round pick. Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, a 15th round pick! Michael "Beer Man" Lewis, undrafted! All those guys were great return men but so-so wide receivers (to be generous). And they weren't drafted anywhere near the first round. And you know what else they had in common? They only lit up the NFL for maybe three or four years at most. Oh, their careers may have lasted longer than that but the return magic disappeared pretty early on. I'm sure I'm oversimplifying here but it sure seems like it's tough for kick returners to stay on top very long. Just check out Devin Hester ( 2nd round pick). He's not even returning kicks anymore and his third year doing it proved to be a major drop-off from his first two. He's just an ok receiver. But Miami spent more and got less. Ginn not only underwhelmed as a receiver, he never came close to approaching Hester as a return man either. Drafting a glorified kick returner with the ninth pick? Doomed to fail.
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4 comments:
The only returner I can think of who made it a long, long time AND was taken with a fairly high pick where Mel J. Gray, who was taken by the Saints with a 2nd round supplemental in 1984 (ended up losing the 42nd overall) and was one of the game's best returners, maybe THE best, for a full decade, into his mid-thirties.
Still a far cry from # 9 overall as you mention.
There was a brief period in the late 1970's where a couple of teams thought taking a kicker in the first round was worthwhile. Steve Little was taken 15th by the Cardinals in 1978 and Russell Erxleben 11th overall the next year by the Saints. Both kickers washed out in the NFL.
The Erxleben pick might be the most comparable bomb to Ginn; he just couldn't kick in the NFL, was switched to punter, where he was about average for 3 seasons before getting released. Another reason the Saints stunk for so long.
And to think, the Saints passed on Kellen Winslow for a Punter. The Browns were going to take Kellen and move Ozzie Newsome to WR, but decided to pass on him as well. Crazy.
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