Other depth chart observations

[Go Budaw]

Yes, it is literally possible. All that is required to be good at WR is to be able to catch, run routes, have enough speed/quickness, and be strong enough not to get pushed around without making D's pay. Dear, when he was healthy, had all of that. You don't get penalized for being too big, other than it makes it less likely you can meet the speed/quickness requirements. Dear was going to be somewhat limited by not being tall enough to be a deep threat, but that's not much different than a lot of our slot players we've had recently. And to offset that he would have been much more dangerous on runs and screens.

Dear's freshman year, he was our only wide receiver that looked like he belonged on the field athletically against A&M. He couldn't stay healthy, probably at least in part because he didn't stay in as good of shape as he should have.

Dear doesn’t and hasn’t ever had the top end speed or quickness at 225 lb to get off the line in man coverage. And at 5-9, he also lacks a hell of a lot of leverage against SEC corners and safeties. None of that is his fault, I mean I can’t name a single successful WR from any time in upper level college football with those height / weight measurables. If you can, props to you.

Just about all the big plays he made in 2015-16 were on routes out of the backfield or lined up out wide against soft zone coverage. He has never shown the ability to beat man coverage or go down the field. Mixon and Thomas are both quick enough to get behind the defense even if they are not well suited for jump ball type situations. Simply put, he doesn’t bring anything to the table that we can’t get more efficiently from another player...as long as he insists on only playing WR.