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The drumbeat continues for George Pickens as he had this nice touchdown catch in practice today.
And then George Pickens got comped to Randy Moss by a former player.
Clearly the hype is off the rails right now for Pickens. He does offer an interesting profile for a 2nd round pick and the Steelers are arguably the best team at drafting wide receivers over the last decade.
It’s obviously extremely exciting that Pickens is balling out as he has an alpha like profile and was viewed as arguably the best WR in his class after his true freshman at Georgia. He was super unproductive in the 12 games he played since then as he had injury issues.
He’s mostly a black box prospect in terms of having a wide range of outcomes. There is certainly upside with Pickens and am optimistic he can be a stud WR at the next level given opportunity.
Tyquan Thornton is now running more reps with the first team according to Doug Kyed of PFF.
Bill Belichick had this to say about Thornton today: “He’s improved…he’s picked things up. He’s smart.”
Thornton seemed to be overdraft when he was selected in the 2nd round. He profiles as a speedster with a blazing 4.28 40 time, but lacked ideal production in college at a young age. He also turned 23 years old as he’s an older prospect.
Overall I’m very hesitant to buy into this news. Thornton really doesn’t check a lot of the boxes we are looking for in a WR prospect with upside.
I’m taking a “wait and see” approach with Thornton before I’m bought in.
2nd round pick Wan’Dale Robinson has already started getting first team snaps. Robinson saw 22 of 31 first team snaps over the weekend per Dan Duggan of the Athletic.
The Giants also released their first unofficial depth chart and Robinson was listed as a starter.
Robinson is getting praise from his WR coach Mike Groh as he said this about Robinson: “Wan’Dale is very competitively mature, very competitive player… he’s a pro.”
Robinson is an intriguing WR prsoecpt despite his short stature. He was extremely productive in college and declared early, which are both positive signs towards his potential future success in the NFL.
I’m buying the hype on Robinson for the most part as he should produce given opportunities. He isn’t an elite prospect by any means but can definitely be a legit starter in the NFL.
John Shipley of the Jaguar Report put out this piece on Trevor Lawrence.
Here’s what Doug Pederson has said about his inherited potential franchise quarterback: “He looks sharp. He looks crisp. Gosh, he sees the field really well right now. He’s commanding the offense. He’s still in the growth mentality, which is exciting. He still wants to get better each and every day. We’ve seen that out of him. He’s leading not only by example but being able to go up to players and talk to them about routes or protections with the o-line or whatever it may be. He’s in a good place. It’s still early in camp, but we like where he’s headed.”
Newcomer Christian Kirk had this to say about his quarterback: “The great thing about him and what I think is important is the open-minded communication between him and us receivers and the tight ends, and even his offensive line. If he sees something, immediately after the play he’s coming up to us, we’re talking it through and making sure we’re getting it right. That’s the kind of things you want to see from your quarterback and having that communication and getting better.”
The hype is there for Lawrence coming off a dreadful rookie season. Due to his talent profile coming out of college and the messy situation he got thrown into as a rookie, it’s easy to give him a “pass” for his rookie year performance.
I fully expect Lawrence to have a big bounce-back season and give us many more glimpses of the potential generation quarterback prospect we saw coming out of Clemson. I think it’s much more likely that Lawrence becomes a top-tier quarterback in the NFL than the bust some may think he is after his rookie season.
