Are 6ft guys who run in the 4.5s all that uncommon? Seems like there's a bucket full of those guys every year. BJ Cunningham and Rishard Matthews both fit that profile and were taken in the 6th and 7th rounds. And anyway is there a confirmation that Swope is a full 6ft. 206? He always struck me as sort of a boxy 5'10 guy, but I guess I could be wrong.
Oh, is that all?
That stuff makes a huge deal, at least to me. This offense already has "skilled" guys to move the ball between the 20s. We need guys who can put the ball in the end zone, and that's not what spending a third round pick on Swope is going to get me.
Perhaps. But "true slot" guys have limited value, at least to me. They didn't have one in Green Bay when Philbin was there either until they took Cobb, and he's much closer to Tavon Austin than Ryan Swope. Green Bay used outside win guys on the inside, which is what you should be looking for. You don't want a defense to know exactly where everyone's going to line up when you bring in a particular personnel grouping, but a guy like Swope does that just like Bess does. His limitations force the offense to be more predictable, which allows the defense to dictate more than you should let them. We had the same problem with Bess and Brandon Marshall. Every team knew exactly where those guys were going to line up, because even if the Dolphins broke their habit and put Bess on the outside, he was basically being neutralized by the formation rather than the defense. It's like tying your arm behind your back.
I'd much rather spend an earlier pick on Stedman Bailey and get a truly threatening slot guy who can also win on the outside. You get a guy like that now you're dictating to the defense. That's worth more than the extra resource you have to spend to get him, imo.