Deion Burks and The Wonderful World Of Short Wide Receivers

[Kray007]

Kudos to you if you rember Disney’s tv show The Wonderful World Of Color.

One of the ESPN guys, maybe Mel, remarked that, had he been just two inches taller, Burks would have gone in the 2nd round. I guess Burks’ fall is a tribute to the league’s fealty to measurables, a league’wide temptation for scouts to pigeonhole players, to judge them by how they well they fit into minimum standards of size that are required to find success.

Every year, teams make a pilgrimage to Indianapolis, striving to see who has the biggest hands, the longest wingspan, who can jump higher, and farther.

To be clear, size does matter. All things considered, finding the next Randy Moss, a freak of nature who also excels at catching the ball is the holy grail, and every NFL scout is Lancelot.

That having been said, Burks is 5’9”, and 5’9” is not a curse of doom. Consider that

Wandale Robinson was 5’8”
Steve Smith was 5’9”
So was Wes Welker
TY Hilton was 5’10”
Antonio Brown was 5’10”
DeShaun Jackson was 5’10
Ditto Julian Edelman.

That’s not to say that Burks is destined to join that illustrious band, it simply points out the possible. His 4.3 40 was 4th best at the combine. His 26 reps in the bench press led the way. He seems to have the kind of gritty, tough nosed approach to the game shared by most of the shorter guys who found success at the position.

It, by the way, didn’t escape notice that two guys on that list played for the Patriots, and, even though I hate to admit it, Belichick is a heckuva judge of talent . If he thinks that size doesn’t matter, who am I to argue?

His stats at Oklahoma weren’t eye opening, but he didn’t have an Andrew Luck throwing him the ball. He might not find instant success, but he’s a nice chunk of clay for Reggie to work on.

[YDFL Commish]

Burks isn't your typical small WR. He's got some strength to his game. He was in a shitty offensive system at OU. If he can show that he just catch the ball as a KR and PR he will beat out Gould, just because has more upside.

[YDFL Commish]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QwNINkEzkHI