Several Wide Receivers Are Quietly Making a Big Impact
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Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, Randy Moss — the NFL has no shortage of wide receivers making headlines. But some of the most effective wide receivers operate under the radar. Some are possession receivers who earn the tough first downs that keep the chains moving. Others are slot receivers who make a team’s three-wide sets far more dangerous.
Here’s a look at some unheralded wide receivers having excellent seasons in 2006:
PATRICK CRAYTON, DALLAS
Like rookie sensation Marques Colston of the Saints, Crayton is a big, athletic receiver with good technique and an outstanding work ethic. And like Colston, Crayton fell to the seventh round because he came from a small school and doesn’t have a scout’s favorite talent: top-level speed.
But Crayton’s job is to play football, not to run a 100-meter dash. He excels as a slot receiver thanks to his steady hands and his ability to find holes in zone coverage.
Last year, in just 11 games, Crayton had 22 catches, 15 for first downs, with 341 yards. This year, he has 31 catches, 24 for first downs, with 468 yards. He’s also caught 76% of intended passes, one of the highest figures in the league. (The league average for wide receivers is 56%.)
There’s no doubt that Crayton is facing nickel backs while the opposition’s main defenders focus on Terry Glenn and Terrell Owens. But that makes him no different from every other slot receiver — and very few of them produce like he does.
RONALD CURRY, OAKLAND
Randy Moss leads the Raiders with 42 receptions and 553 yards. Curry is second in both categories with 37 receptions and 487 yards — but he’s the far superior receiver, because he’s put together those numbers with fewer opportunities. Moss has been the intended target on 97 passes, Curry on just 54. Moss has started every game this season, while Curry has only started once, back in Week 5 against San Francisco.
A former quarterback and basketball player at the University of North Carolina, Curry has been in the NFL for five seasons, but he’s only really played in two of them. Two years ago, playing behind Jerry Rice and Jerry Porter, Curry caught 70 passes for 679 yards and six touchdowns. Only Hines Ward caught a higher percentage of intended passes that season.
The problem is that the speedy Curry can’t stay healthy. His Achilles tendons are his Achilles heel. He tore the right one in college, then tore the left one at the end of the 2004 season, and re-tore it early in 2005.
D.J. HACKETT, SEATTLE
Hackett was a fifth-round pick out of Colorado in 2004, but didn’t catch a single pass his rookie season. Last year, he stepped in when other receivers were injured and ended up with 28 receptions for 400 yards and two touchdowns. According to Football Outsiders’ play-by-play breakdown, Hackett had more value than any other wide receiver who had thrown fewer than 50 passes.
Instead of giving Hackett more playing time, the Seahawks signed Minnesota’s Nate Burleson to a restricted free-agent contract and traded a firstround pick to New England for Deion Branch. That knocked Hackett down to fifth-string.
But Burleson has been a huge disappointment, and veteran Bobby Engram has missed much of the year with a thyroid condition, so Hackett is getting playing time and once again excelling. He’s not the most valuable receiver under 50 passes this year — instead, he’s second behind Devery Henderson of New Orleans.
Hackett is tall and fast, but the scouting report on him said he had trouble tracking the ball in the air. Either scouts were wrong, or he spent that first year fixing the problem, because Hackett has caught 68% of intended passes over the last two seasons, more than any other Seattle wideout.
ERIC PARKER, SAN DIEGO
Like Crayton, Curry, and Hackett, Eric Parker is more valuable than conventional stats indicate because he consistently catches a high percentage of intended passes. But Parker is the most underappreciated of them all, because he’s not a slot receiver. He’s a regular starter for a Super Bowl favorite — and completely unknown to casual fans outside of San Diego.
Last year, Parker caught 71% of passes, the highest figure for any starting wide receiver. This year, he’s caught 70% of passes, which ranks fourth. Parker has a first down on more than half his passes this year — not catches, but all passes, complete or not.
One reason why Parker does not get a lot of press is that he doesn’t score many touchdowns. He had just three last season, and hasn’t been in the end zone once this year, which makes him fairly useless to the massive audience of Fantasy Football addicts.
But Parker’s lack of touchdowns isn’t a weakness in his game; it’s a function of the Chargers’ offense. San Diego features two of the biggest red zone weapons in the game, LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates. Tomlinson set a new NFL record for touchdowns in a season last week, but often those scores were set up by a couple of Parker receptions.
Parker is one of the greatest scouting mistakes of the last few seasons. He played big-time football at Tennessee, but went undrafted back in 2002. He was considered a hard worker and a gamer who would go over the middle to make tough catches. But scouts felt he was injury prone, that he bobbled too many balls and couldn’t run proper routes.
When that scouting report proved incorrect, the Chargers ended up with an inexpensive receiver who moves the chains, rarely drops a pass, and has missed just one game in the last three seasons. And Parker may end up being an anonymous player with a Super Bowl XLI ring.
Mr. Schatz is the editor in chief of FootballOutsiders.com.