Because of Michael Egnew, apparently we are supposed to be gun shy about things that are supposed to be unqualified positives (e.g. elite athleticism) about our draft prospects.
The myth is that Michael Egnew flunked out of Miami and the NFL because of his blocking. That's not the case at all. He was ultra bad at blocking when he showed up, totally inexperienced with it. By his final days in Miami he had turned that around completely, and was even being used by the coaching staff as a blocking specialist, as a fullback blocker, etc. I don't know how you look at the blocking footage from his final preseason and games in Miami and excoriate him for it.
Egnew flunked out because he came out of a Missouri offense that basically just asked him to catch screen passes, run verticals, or maybe a few hitches and out routes, all from a spread concept, with him almost exclusively working out of the slot. He didn't really have to read leverage, know defenses, have a feel for spacing or passing lanes, etc. And though there were reports he had an academic background, I don't know whether those were just BS or whether there was an emotional thing going on (possibly both), but he just was not a player that could ever "get it".
In the end he failed WORST at the thing he was supposed to be MOST good at. And that's how you get a draft bust.
So if you're worried about Mike Gesicki being another Michael Egnew, that's what you've got to be concerned about. For all our talk about Gesicki's truly elite level size and athleticism, for all the tape of him out there abusing linebackers and defensive backs with the way he catches the ball in contested situations, does he go to the NFL and have all of that just fall completely flat because he can NEVER seem to translate it?
I guess to the degree you worry about any draft prospect, of course you have to worry about whether you've got the wrong evaluation here. But I'm not as worried with Gesicki on this area.
It's true that Michael Egnew also had good tape of his ability to finish catches, including some tape where he abused NFL standouts like Lavonte David. People sometimes do like to pretend there was nothing to like about Egnew coming out and that just was not true.
But Gesicki has more than that because when you watch him, you know that he knows how to set up defenders, how to read leverage, and how to find passing lanes. I think his basketball experience is particularly instructive on the latter. He just has a great feel for maximizing his spacing and looking out for passing lanes. He's a finesse player, there's absolutely no doubt about that. But as a finesse player, he knows how to get between zones and away from hairy spots in the coverage. He worked out of an offense where much more was asked of him than you saw with an Egnew at that Missouri spread. He only spent about 45% of his time in the slot, which is conservative for the college game TEs nowadays.
