SI's Peter King: Pay Attention to Dolphins Undrafted Free Agent WR Jeff Fuller | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

SI's Peter King: Pay Attention to Dolphins Undrafted Free Agent WR Jeff Fuller

FinAtic8480

FinAtic8480

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I think you should pay attention to one undrafted player if you play fantasy football: Jeff Fuller. I'm not saying you should put him atop your late-round-flyer draft list; I'm just saying you should watch Dolphins training camp and see if he can win a job in an offense that will be struggling to find downfield weapons after the trade of Brandon Marshall.

In October, Fuller, of Texas A&M, was a legitimate first-round prospect. Then, as the 2011 season progressed, he seemed to drop more balls than he caught, he lost confidence, and bombed at the Senior Bowl. When I was in Miami last weekend, I could tell coach Joe Philbin had a blank-slate philosophy with everyone on the roster, which will hold Fuller in good stead. That plus he'll be catching the ball from his college quarterback, Ryan Tannehill, and having the plays called by his college coach, Mike Sherman. Maybe the dropsies will be terminal for Fuller. But if he catches the ball well in training camp, he's absolutely an NFL-caliber receiver.
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Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/05/06/mmqb/index.html#ixzz1u9rMTh10
 
I am a little surprised that he was considered a first round prospect just last October. How can he fall that far in less than a year?
 
between him, and our 2 late rounds WR.... I see 2 of those 3 making the team. At least making the PS.
 
Nublar7 said:
I am a little surprised that he was considered a first round prospect just last October. How can he fall that far in less than a year?
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I have been doing a ton of research on Fuller. At one point he was compared with Justin Blackmon & like you mentioned was considered a 1st round pick. Had he come out last year many believe he would have been a 1st round pick for sure, but he elected to return to TAMU for one more year & that is when all hell broke loose. Injuries, questionable hands & drop off in production ruined his stock. He had a horrible senior bowl week & suffered a stress fracture to his foot that week. There was also talk he was playing uninspired last year. He has all the tools to be a star WR & his decision to return to TAMU caused him a ton of money, if he turns things around he could be a huge steal & surprise. We'll see.
 
FinAtic8480 said:
I have been doing a ton of research on Fuller. At one point he was compared with Justin Blackmon & like you mentioned was considered a 1st round pick. Had he come out last year many believe he would have been a 1st round pick for sure, but he elected to return to TAMU for one more year & that is when all hell broke loose. Injuries, questionable hands & drop off in production ruined his stock. He had a horrible senior bowl week & suffered a stress fracture to his foot that week. There was also talk he was playing uninspired last year. He has all the tools to be a star WR & his decision to return to TAMU caused him a ton of money, if he turns things around he could be a huge steal & surprise. We'll see.
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It really sounds as if it was a perfect storm of everything that could go wrong did go wrong for him. I'll be rooting for him though!
 
endorPHINS72 said:
It really sounds as if it was a perfect storm of everything that could go wrong did go wrong for him. I'll be rooting for him though!
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In addition to the stress fractured he suffered to his foot at the Senior Bowl, he was dealing his entire Senior year with hamstring & ankle injuries.
 
The key question is WHO was considering him a first round pick.

I doubt very many reputable scouts had him as a first round pick. And of the ones that made the mistake of rating him that high, ask them what they think of the guy now. That's the problem. The fans want to pretend that the evaluation of the guy NOW, with MORE information at everyone's disposal...is somehow less valid than the evaluations that occurred when LESS information was at everyone's disposal. That doesn't make any sense.

Really Jeff Fuller is just a great storyline, but nothing more. He wasn't even Tannehill's favorite target at Texas A&M. That honor clearly belonged to Ryan Swope.
 
Nublar7 said:
I am a little surprised that he was considered a first round prospect just last October. How can he fall that far in less than a year?
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Having been arrested tends to help.
 
ckparrothead said:
The key question is WHO was considering him a first round pick.

I doubt very many reputable scouts had him as a first round pick. And of the ones that made the mistake of rating him that high, ask them what they think of the guy now. That's the problem. The fans want to pretend that the evaluation of the guy NOW, with MORE information at everyone's disposal...is somehow less valid than the evaluations that occurred when LESS information was at everyone's disposal. That doesn't make any sense.

Really Jeff Fuller is just a great storyline, but nothing more. He wasn't even Tannehill's favorite target at Texas A&M. That honor clearly belonged to Ryan Swope.
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who im hoping miami has a chance to draft next year
 
I don't like Fuller's chances in the NFL at all. First of all, despite his size he has problems getting off the line. He's also had alot of problems against press coverage and that's quite sad given his size. He also lacks explosion and lacks good speed. To top it off he also stands too much before his breaks/cuts and is not a swift cutter in some of his routes, though he does flash good feet on cuts in certain routes.

He also has very long legs and is a very long strider in the Ted Ginn mold , so when you combine his long stride with his lack of explosion and lack of speed it's not good news-- so with being a long strider you really can't use Fuller in the slot , only on the outside and I just don't see him being able to evade NFL starting corners with his skill set, or lack thereof.

He's also not good after the catch and takes time to change direction. Although he is poor after the catch and has poor field vision his agility isn't too too bad, and he has a nice catch radius and can catch a ball if its anywhere around him (in this regard he is far better than Hartline for example who sucks at this as he's not a good fighter for the ball in traffic and loses those battles far too often given his size)

People point to Fuller's season two seasons ago but he was also quite poor in his final 5 games. He had under 40 yards receiving in 4 of his last 5 games. He had big yards very early in that 2010 season against poor opposition.

I like Rishard Matthews as a prospect 1000000X more than I like Fuller. And so should you. Fuller was just brought in here to help out Tannehill a little in some early camp bumps on the road. If Miami didn't draft Tannehill, Jeff Fuller wouldn't be here and you can be certain of that.
 
You never know, can the guy flip the switch? alot of players are like that coming to the pros.

He definitely understands coming back to the ball. Some guys never even get that!

He does well on the comebacks and outs and I noticed briefly he has good anticipation. Football is a mental game. We dont know what was going on with his life this past year. He gets a shot, and thats all that anyone can ask for. 6'4" is nice to have if a gamer.
 
ckparrothead said:
The key question is WHO was considering him a first round pick.

I doubt very many reputable scouts had him as a first round pick. And of the ones that made the mistake of rating him that high, ask them what they think of the guy now. That's the problem. The fans want to pretend that the evaluation of the guy NOW, with MORE information at everyone's disposal...is somehow less valid than the evaluations that occurred when LESS information was at everyone's disposal. That doesn't make any sense.

Really Jeff Fuller is just a great storyline, but nothing more. He wasn't even Tannehill's favorite target at Texas A&M. That honor clearly belonged to Ryan Swope.
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His mom!! Hands o' stone!!
 
I'd merge this into the other thread, except the thread title of this one isn't misleading.
 
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