What exactly separates Hill from Moss in his rookie season? Given that they possess nearly identical athletic attributes, why did Moss pick the game up the pro game much faster than Hill?
Well Randy Moss is arguably the best receiver of all time and Hill is Hill. Physical/combine stats aren't everything.
for comparisons sake, stephen hill had 49 receptions 1248 yards and 9 td's in 3 years at GT. So yeah, Moss was polished and prepared coming out of college. He also had an NFL QB throwing to him in Chad Pennington. Hill, not so much.
Hill can certainly run routes and get open, it's just the actual receiving part of being a receiver that he needs to work on. As indicated by his stats in college, he really didn't have many in-game reps catching the football. It seems like if he can focus on putting two hands on the ball and securing it, he'll be OK. My $0.02, he'll work out a lot better than other high WR picks.
I wasn't aware anyone wass calling for his head. He's as advertised, a raw athlete with scary size/speed ratio capable of making circus ccatches, yet limited route tree and inconsistent hands due to the system he came from. Hills interviews and attitude have me believing he will be dedicated enough to hone his craft and will develop to a premier wr. Has anyone noticed he looks imposssible to cover? Cbs are scared of getting beat deep giving him cushion hence a few long gains on comeback routes thiss preseasson. Georgia tech rarely throwss and has never had anything resembling a decent qb, we all knew he was a project. You can't teach his frame ability to run, jump, and box out. The route running and consistenccy can be worked out. Anyone complaining about him this early should be slapped
I love Hill's upside, but there will be growing pains. Unfortunately, we have to deal with these growing pains, because if he didn't have questions marks around him, he would've been gone before our first pick. We can't just want the team to get younger, and not also be willing to put up with the problems than young players face as they mature in the game. I think Hill will do allright, and catch a decent amount of balls as compared to other rookie WRs in the past, mainly because he is already a starter, and should see one on one coverage if our running game is going well and Santonio is healthy. I think for someone like Calvin Johnson, he only started like 10 or 11 games in his first season. And others who weren't as highly touted, usually started off as the No. 3 WR and built their way up on the depth chart, say someone like Mike Wallace. Unless he gets injured, I think he's pretty much a lock for 40+ receptions, because he's just going to get too many targets as a No. 2 WR to not have that many catches, even if he drops a few.
on one hand you say that, barring injury, DT could have had, "just 44 catches" ... which, btw, would have equaled the numbers of megatron, even tho DT was not a "complete stud and #2 overall pick" on the other hand you say you would be happy with 48 catches from hill seems inconsistent
cause its not just about athletic attributes. if it were then guys like chaz schilens and heyward-bay would be stars. its about athleticism, skill, precisions, and consistency and most of all explosiveness moss was a freak athlete, but also insanely skilled and explosive. he also was much more decorated in college. he also had isnane game speed. not just run fast in spandez shorts on a track speed. he had an ability to catch passes in traffic, deep down the field. hill is fast. most was explosive.
you missed my point i think. a best case scenario had thomas at 44 catches. the best WR in football as a freak rookie had 48. those seem to be the ceiling of what you could expect from hill. thus, id be beyond thrilled with him getting 44-48 catches. overall 48 catches isnt really anything special and not really making a big impact. which was my point(s) 1) i dont think he will make a big impact because 2) even if he hit his ceiling, its really not going to be much production
Give the kid a break. He will be fine, once we get a good mentor at WR in here to help him. For now he is just on his own for advice. I wish Cotchery was still here.
