My interest in Waddle is his speed, much like it was with Ruggs. I am intrigued. My interest with Smith is his ability to separate, much like Jarvis Landry but with much greater speed. My concern with Ruggs, Waddle and Smith is that they are not physical enough to get off the jam and stay on their routes versus NFL physicality. It will effect whether they are able to get to the spot in their routes when the route requires them to be there, thus creating a window for a precision passer like Tua. In college, almost no DB's are physical, and the receivers' superior speed and quickness almost always dominated the guys they faced.
But one of the biggest jumps up at any position from college to the NFL is at CB, where the press-man corners go from being laughable boys to becoming ultra-quick Paul Bunyon men. It's the story of why someone like Richard Sherman or Xavien Howard can become great in the NFL while only being good at the collegiate level. That level of maturation, development, and muscle use to dominate is simply a different level in the NFL.
There are a lot of receivers who struggle and never really beat that coverage consistently. With the evolution of the route complexity in today's NFL, the OC requires each WR to be exactly where the play calls for them to be--particularly against 1v1 coverage so they can exploit the matchup. In today's NFL, the first option in the route is usually 70% ofthe play design, and if the guy cannot win that route 90% of the time, the whole offense falls apart. Now, for plays farther downfield, those speed guys can do what is required, but most passes today are short passes, which is where those press-man corners dominate and literally shut down offenses. Tyreke Hill typically doesn't catch many 5 yard plays vs. press coverage, but if he can get past the initial bump zone, he can turn intermediate throws into huge gains.
Realistically, Smith probably weighs about 165, and NEEDS an extra 20 pounds of muscle on that tall, skinny frame to even have a chance at not being consistently manhandled. Putting on 20 lbs. of muscle isn't easy, and it definitely will affect his speed and quickness. He simply isn't going to survive the redirect at the LOS against good press-man coverage .... and every DC who employs that type of coverage will dominate him. Waddle will get open more like Jakeem Grant as his speed will scare a lot of DB's and he may be able to juke his way past press-man 50% or more of the time .... but he's still going to be unreliable. Guys like Jamar Chase, who is bigger, beefier, stronger, and does well against that sort of physicality can shine. Someone like Kyle Pitts who is kind of a Shannon Sharpe type WR or Move TE hybrid pass catcher will have no trouble with it. Those are the guys who I see becoming successful and have no fear of adjusting to the physical NFL coverage.
