[OC] NFL GM Misses - The Combine

Metcalf was the talk of the Friday sessions of the combine after he ripped off a devastating 40-yard dash in 4.33 seconds. On top of showing an elite combination of size and speed, the sculpted wideout did well in the field drills, catching the ball and showing off better-than-expected route-running. After his phenomenal workout, Metcalf looks like a secure first-round pick despite coming off a season-ending neck injury and not having much development in his route-running from college.

After Metcalf's crazy good '40 yard dash, most draftniks locked him in as a 1st round pick. After running my analysis of him... his profile reeks of "bust". The earliest Metcalf should be drafted is the 3rd round. Why? Well, where should I start? First, he's a poor pass catcher, dropping at a 10.3% clip. Second, he dealt with major injuries at Ole Miss, just playing 7 games last year. He wasn't even a huge factor when healthy, with AJ Brown and Damarkus Lodge overshadowing him plenty of the time. Metcalf also ran an awful shuttle run, which shows that his ability to change speeds is poor, which affects route running. Scouts have also reported that Metcalf runs poor routes, and basically only runs the fly route well. Are you convinced?

Alright, so after that roast session, I'll say this: Metcalf is a lethal downfield threat. He came up with 60% of deep balls his way and he has the speed to blow by DBs and the height to jump over them. He's a nice weapon to have, but counting on him to live up to his potential would be foolish.

Metcalf had a horrible 20 yard shuttle and 3 cone drill. Like bottom 10 percentile bad. What's funny is Calvin Johnson didn't run those exercises and likely had someone advising him against it. The reason being big a$$ wide receivers like that simply aren't going to test well in those events so while a lot of people are knocking Metcalf for it, I'm simply saying it's not his game. Yes this limits him some but the 4 routes he's good at megatron made a killing on in the NFL and plenty of guys have succeeded with a limited route tree.

As you might expect Metcalf is great at coming down with jump balls and the fade route is one of his best. He'll need to land on a team with a QB willing to trust him to win contested battles and someone who can get him the ball deep with an offensive coordinator who understands how to play to his strengths, rather than his weaknesses. Part of the reason Brown had so many more catches than Metcalf is that the coaches at Ole Miss didn't seem to understand how to use Metcalf as they had him running the entire route tree even though his limitations in agility / stop start are inadequate for those routes.