In that way, one hundred and fifty percent, Devonta Smith is further along on the road to being able to be declared 'generational' as a wide receiver prospect.
Why? Because I can throw on the tape of him going up against Derek Stingley, Jaycee Horn, Parnell Motley, Noah Igbinoghene, Shaun Wade, Tyson Campbell, Eric Stokes, Keidron Smith, Brandin Echols, even Cam Dantzler once or twice, and I will absolutely find tape of Devonta Smith winning the reps.
Did Devonta Smith win every rep? No. But he won enough reps relative to the number of times they really faced up, to know that the receiver won the day.
Truthfully, the only guy I've seen win the day on Devonta Smith...is Kelvin Joseph.
And as much as I have criticized the fact that you really can't say the same about Ja'Marr Chase when he went up against the likes of Noah Igbinoghene, D.J. Daniel, Parnell Motley, Pat Surtain, Cam Dantzler, and C.J. Henderson...fact of the matter is he took apart two NFL players in Trevon Diggs and A.J. Terrell, and he also took apart Eric Stokes. So there IS a body count. It might not be quite as extensive. But it's there.
For that matter, we talk about Kyle Pitts, how special he is, how NFL evaluators think he's the most likely player to end up in the Hall of Fame. Well guess what? Body count. You can stack up reps of him beating Jaycee Horn, Pat Surtain, Derek Stingley, Tyson Campbell, Kelvin Joseph, Grant Delpit.
Penei Sewell doesn't have a body count. I don't know that I really count Bradlee Anae, or even Kenny Willekes. Zack Baun isn't even a pass rusher at the NFL level, and I thought Baun illustrated Pach's point about beating Sewell around the edge anyway.
