Pure Deep Speed / Vertical Threat WR's
 

I haven't gotten heavily into scouting yet, so I'm deferring to some of you here. The Bears' most underrated need, something I hope they address in the first couple rounds, is a deep threat at receiver. Not a good receiver, necessarily. Just a guy that can sprint down the field on a 9 route and make the defense pay for not giving safety help. Pure speed. Like a pre-crippled Johnny Knox.

This is kind of hard to determine without 40 times available, but going down the list, I'm kind of blanking. Tavon Austin seems to be the fastest, but I don't really think "deep threat" so much as get him the ball in space. Terrance Williams and Robert Woods are a couple guys I saw do it in college, but I'm not sure they fit my "pure speed" criteria in the NFL in that they seem to be 4.45-4.5 type guys. Anyone have any ideas?

Goodwin from Texas is who you want.

Marquise Goodwin. There's your answer.

Beat me to it.

start with Marquise Goodwin out of Texas and then go from there. The guy has near 4.2 speed.

Goodwin is more than just a deep threat, but yeah. He's kinda quick.

We'll see what Youtube has to say about this.

The guy looks fast too. A lot guys are fast but it's in comparison to other fast guys on the field. He looks Sanders or Moss fast out there, prime for those two of course.

Well he can certainly catch bubble screens. I would expect no less in the Big 12. I did see him make a couple nice adjustments on the few deep balls thrown his way. The guy will definitely have a role in the NFL with that speed.

I don't think Tavon Austin is that fast.

Besides Goodwin, I'd look into Corey Fuller and Chuck Jacobs.

Markus Wheaton isn't Goodwin fast but might be another guy to look at.

Hopkins?

Chris Harper?

Tavarres King

and a small school guy like Quinton Patton

Only one of those guys is probably fast: Tavarres King.

yeah disregard all of those guys, after watching Goodwin none of them compare.

corey fuller, he is useless in blocking but the kid can run

Ace Sanders, Markus Wheaton, Terrance Williams

You want Goodwin from Texas, like a couple other people said.

Watching Austin, I don't see "fast." He's "quick."

Man, I hate pure deep speed receivers. Coaches always try to use them like real receivers. That's how you get your Hesters and Knoxes falling down on cuts, leading to INTs because they're lying on the ground instead of being where they're supposed to be. Or getting blasted and letting the ball fly out of their hands, leading to an interception. Or cutting in the wrong direction, leading to an interception. Interception interception interception.

Ace Sanders is a bit difficult to judge. He certainly has the speed to beat any team deep. But at the same time, given his size, he's not going to be winning jump balls deep. Although I certainly think coaches should utilize him to get behind defenders every so often, I think he'll be better underneath utilizing his amazing athleticism and change-of-direction ability.

Our offense desperately needs on though. It's just so stagnant otherwise and it's a total waste of Cutler's arm. I'd love to get a guy like Goodwin and just have him run 9's whenever he's on the field.

If we had any intention of having someone just run 9s, we could keep Hester. It's the only thing he can do. He can blow by DBs no problem.

The problem is that we wouldn't use him that way. No one ever does. We'd try to have him run actual routes in the middle of the field and stuff because an incomplete WR who just runs fast is easy enough to take out of the game with one defender. We've seen that a lot. It takes a more special kind of WR than we can acquire this offseason to make that work.

Realistically, if we just get a good-at-blocking averagish-at-being-a-threat TE with plus-plus hands in FA (Anthony Fasano) and maybe a #2ish kind of WR (Hixon, Hartline, Gibson), it'll take enough pressure off of Marshall to open things up. I'm thinking lots of sets with 3 WR/1 TE/1 RB would probably result in some big Alshon Jeffery mismatches.

Besides, Trestman's playbook is heavy on the three step drops with the ball being unloaded right away. There's not really time for deep balls. he kind of ripped those pages out of the playbook in SF.

Top-end speed would be nice, but I think just putting people with actual talent out there would be a huge improvement.

The problem with even Goodwin is that though he is lightning fast, he's not very big. Its going to be hard to get him the ball down the field unless he conpletely blows by his guy....which he is capable of. The WR corps needs speed but I'd almost rather have a guy that can provide quickness in the slot and allow more RAC or even more Marshall and Jeffery down the field where they can use their length against smaller dbs even if they don't have separation.

Yup, Ace Sanders and Terrance Williams are the other two that could fit this IMO

Torrey Smith says hi. You might have heard of him, playing this sunday. Granted this is somewhat of an exception.

Just started delving deeper into the receivers, and obviously Goodwin is the number one answer. I actually feel kinda silly even mentioning him. However watching some quick highlights I really started to like what I see.

If you watch the Senior Bowl, Goodwin had a lot of trouble finding open space, whether it was on pass plays or as a returner. His speed is obvious; he was clearly the fastest guy on the field. I question his open field vision, to be honest with you. Even the one play that they went to him deep, he seemed out of sorts to make the play. He has all the skill in the world that you look for, but it doesn't translate, not yet anyway.

Torrey Smith coming out, maybe. He can actually run routes now. He's a real WR, not a pure deep speed guy.