This is all you really need to see about Hill. It encapsulates all his strengths and weaknesses, particularly the ones we have observed so far, very well. http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/stephen-hill?id=2533537 The 74 grade they gave him is an eventual starter. He was in the low end of that range. 5 points below that is draftable player worth a 4th to 7th round pick. The thing about Hill that is frustrating is that he has the potential to be a very good player but based on his history and the holes in his game he likely won't make that cut. Which is where so many of the people Terry Bradway fell in love with over the last decade wound up.
I wouldn't say 'likely'. Whether Hill develops into the great talent he has or not, he will always be a 2nd or 3rd receiver based on his presence and potential alone. I really hope Hill develops into a solid #1 because he is exactly the type of player that could revitalize this offense.
Hill has potential, but really needs to work on the whole catching the ball thing. I love the kids speed. He could be really dangerous if he gets it. Hopefully he grows a lot over the offseason.
Hill was a terrible draft pick because of the Jets situation. He was incredibly raw coming into the draft , and still is. He essentially needs to be taught how to be a Wide Reciever, how to run routes, how to catch, etc... He would've been a better draft pick for some team that could afford to bury him on the depth chart and teach him the position, because he does have nice speed and size. The Jets were the opposite of the situation. They needed an reliable WR immediately. Santonio Holmes and Sanchez were having issues and they didn't really have anyone at all opposite of him. Above all they should've looked to draft a more polished and reliable WR, even if it meant sacrificing potential. Alshon Jeffrey, Ryan Broyles, Rueben Randle, Mohamed Sanu - were all guys that they could've had instead that were much more polished and reliable than Hill. Maybe some of their ceilings aren't high, but at least they could've been counted on to produce and CATCH the ball this year. There's a time and place to gamble on a guy's raw potential in the draft. The Jets were NOT in that place at WR when they drafted Stephen Hill. As fans we are seeing the effects, as Hill is being counted on and continues to make big mistakes and its hurting the team. I hope that this doesn't ruin him and his confidence completely and he can someday become a player - but the path they went down with him isn't fostering his confidence and growth, that's for sure.
I agree with most of what you said other than the other potential picks you listed. None of those picks provided the deep threat that the Jets were looking for. I doubt any of them would get open as much as Hill does too. His route running has actually been very impressive considering how raw he was expected to be.
Well he's a rookie, he's definitely not a number 1 receiver, Mark is one of the most inaccurate QBs in the league, and the Jets didn't get any more depth at WR in the offseason. These dropped passes shouldn't be a surprise, once Holmes went down we all knew the offence would be even more mediocre than it already was. Hill needs to hold onto the ball sure, but he needs more experience and development. There's a lot of NFL players that have an okay to disappointing rookie season and then just come out blazing in the second year, Rob Gronkowski comes to mind as an example. Or, if you get a decent QB throwing them the ball, they will become better as a result.
Poor coaching from high school football on. I make my 14 year old every ball with his thumbs together away from his body unless it's impossible. Parcells spent a lot of time making Keyshawn learn to catch properly his rookie year....
Not just a pick. A bet. They traded up to take him. That means they bet that he was better than what they'd get on their pick if they just sat and used it. Hill represents everything that is wrong with the Jet's talent acquisition process in a nutshell. His hard work may salvage things for the Jets but that's a 50/50 proposition and he'll be ok, not great if he works it all out.
Is Stephen Hill a bust? It's only 11 games into the season, but this kid will catch less than half of the on target passes thrown his way. I feel awful because he's such a nice dude, but I have not liked at all what I've seen out of him
Rex wanted no part of the pick. He thought he was a 5th rounder. He verbally disassociated himself from the pick, did not want another 'Ducasse reach' picked in the 2nd round on his resume for Woody to stew about.
I still think Hill can be dominant -- it'll just take some time (example: Powell. He got 2 tds this game and looked great; he did nothing in his first season). Catching the ball is a skill that can be LEARNED. Being physical and getting open isn't. Luckily Hill has the talent; he just needs to improve his catching ability and he will be a great 2nd wr.
No one is a bust in their rookie year. It's how Hill develops moving forward that will tell the story. The only fail was by the FO/CS in expecting him to simply show up and be an adequate 2. Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2
You can't learn hand-eye coordination. Hands can be improved but only to some extent. It doesn't matter how big and physical someone is if they have stone hands. It's too soon to write Hill off as a bust but Jets fans need to stop pretending every prospect is a superstar in the making, Hill has serious concerns, but also deserves time. The bigger problem isn't Hill though, it's the team that expected him to be a #2 receiver right away. He could be a playmaker some day but for now he sucks.
I agree with your latter 2 concerns completely, but hand-eye coordination actually can be taught. With certain training, our brain can adapt and our ability to respond accurately to visual stimuli can be improved. Furthermore, catching is a skill that players usually become more consistent at over time; it just depends on whether the Jets can develop Hill in the right way. We will see.
The problems with Hill are 1) he tries to catch too much with his body and not his hands. 2) I think he's letting the pressure get to him a bit in his rookie year and taking his eyes off of the ball to try to start running after the catch. Both issues can be solved with time. But I have no doubt about how good his hands "can" be, i've seen the circus catches he made in college, so he's got the hands. It's his rookie year and recievers often take 2-3 seasons before they really take off, there are of course exceptions. But to write Hill off as a bust, as some people are doing, is way too soon. He's got enourmous potential, but he's got the dropsies right now. If he's still dropping passes in 2 years then it's a problem. But, and here's the disclaimer, it really depends on what you call a drop. To me there are 3 kinds of incomplete passes, the first is the QB misfires, the second is the Receiver drops an easy pass in the chest. Both of these in there most basic form are obvious. However, the third type of incompletion is where part of the blame is on the QB and part of the blame is on the receiver. On these the more acrobatic the catch required the more the blame falls on the QB, the more "routine" the catch the blame falls more on the receiver. The problem here is it's all objective and not subjective at this point. Fans of the QB will call almost anything a reciever touches a drop, no matter how difficult the catch. Fans of the reciever will call anything not directly in the recievers hands a bad throw from the QB. There are no "official" stats on who drops the most passes. But there there are two sources that kind of reference it, and neither of them mention Hill. Granted neither source is "perfect" since it's also a matter of judgement. However, the two sources are fairly objective, something us fans of specific teams and players incapable of as we tend to see these things from a subjective perspective. http://stats.washingtonpost.com/fb/leaders.asp?range=nfl&type=receiving&rank=232 http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_/id/41732/jimmy-graham-leads-nfl-in-dropped-passes Like I said, they're not perfect sources, but it's about as good as it's going to get on an objective viewpoint of a subjective call.
So he magically is suppose to be develop great hands when he has had his entire life catching footballs through high school and college already to do so? We expected "serviceable" catching skills but this guy has no business even being on a football field as a receiver. It isnt like he is only dropping balls in games too. We heard all summer and saw in the preseason how bad his hands were and there is no improvement so far. Whats even more sad is Westoff had this guy on the "hands" team for the onside kick. What the hell is he even thinking lately?
