I'm going to ignore the names and rely on the generality that applies best to wide receiver...competitiveness. That is the variable that defines the successes and the flops. I have mentioned it for years. Wide receiver versus cornerback is the closest thing in this sport to 15 rounds of boxing. That's why the guys jaw at each other and it becomes so personal, even if the ball hasn't headed in that direction in half a quarter or more.
The guys picked too high are invariably speed guys who lack competitiveness. The Raiders made that mistake with Ruggs last year just like the Bengals with Ross, etc. There will be numerous future examples also. Speed is absurdly overrated at wide receiver and absurdly underrated at running back. I have provided those links many times. The later round running backs who dramatically exceed expectation are sub 4.5 guys. Yet somehow the league continues to screw up the priority list by fawning over speed at receiver and instincts at running back.
I'm not going to say I know for sure who the most competitive is, among the three. But that is what I would be focusing on if I were Grier. Not separation. Not anything technical. You need the guy who values the ball, who will impose himself in that one-on-one matchup as the ball arrives. That's what allows guys like Boldin and Hopkins to overachieve. And in a truly gifted player it's like a different dimension.
Relying on generalities again, I would say the tight end is least likely to be the most competitive. Again, this has nothing to do with Pitts. I despise the Gators so much I refuse to watch their games unless they lost. And even then they disgust me so much I normally erase the tape before watching even if I know they lost. I don't know the first thing about Kyle Pitts. I do remember the Great Gator Flop. I remember when the gallant Gators ran away from the Canes in 1987, claiming they no longer could play annually because they had to prioritize major intersectional home and home series.
By Gator standards that means three home games annually versus Montana Tech. The Gators have not played a true non conference road game outside the state of Florida since being humiliated at Syracuse in 1991.
As always...Orange, Blue and Mostly Yellow
Athletic tight ends have been overrated by the league for 20 years or more. Those guys look dominant in college but it seldom if ever fully translates to the NFL. It began with Kellen Winslow Jr -- if not earlier -- and has continued all the way through Ebron and Njoku and O.J. Howard, etc. Centerfield is so comparatively wide open in college football. I'm convinced that is a huge reason for it. I'm always begging any team I root for or wager on to simply pick apart the middle of the field in college games. Deep sideline is such a low percentage waste.
But it also means that gifted college tight ends who are accustomed to easy pickings on that level find rude awakenings in the pros. You have to be ultra competitive to the brink of extreme athletic arrogance to excel at tight end in the league. I have seen that all my life from Ditka to John Mackey to the original Winslow to Bavarro and Gonzalez and Kelce and Gronkowski, etc.
Maybe Kyle Pitts is in that league as ruthless competitor. If so, okay. If not, I would eliminate him first and choose between the two receivers. That wingspan and knee bend aren't going to mean a heck of a lot if you find linebackers and safeties suddenly taking shots at you and you don't think it's particularly fair.
www.philadelphiaeagles.com
Truce?
