A different possibility at wideout

[defiantgiant]

So this draft is pretty short (no pun intended) on big, physical wide receivers. There's no real "jumbo jet" here - no Calvin Johnson, no Andre Johnson, no Plaxico Burress. The Bears could really use a king-size wideout to complement Devin Hester, but there isn't really one in the group. What do you guys think about drafting Jared Cook from South Carolina and moving him to wide receiver?

 

Cook goes 6'5" 246 pounds, and ran a 4.49 in the 40 at the Combine. Back in 2007, he weighed 235 and could run a 4.37. When he was around that weight he played split end and flanker, but then Spurrier had him bulk up and moved him to tight end. He's a very incomplete TE prospect: not a good blocker at all, hasn't played very much with his hand down, was lined up in college much wider than NFL tight ends.

 

As a possession/red-zone receiver, though, I think he'd be spectacular. He's got good hands and a disgusting vertical (41") for a guy his size. He's not going to lose a jump ball to anybody in the NFL. If he could slim back down to under 240, I think he could be another Brandon Marshall for Jay Cutler to throw to. He's got experience lining up as a receiver, and he's got more than enough long speed/burst to play the position. Plus, the Bears desperately need a wideout who can beat the jam at the line. What corner is going to get a jam on a guy Cook's size? I mean,

is what happens when DBs try to lay a hit on the guy. He's lined up a little closer in that video, but he's still in a two-point stance. Check

out for a look at what Cook can do when he's lined up more like a split end.

 

What do you guys think?

[Stinger226]

So this draft is pretty short (no pun intended) on big, physical wide receivers. There's no real "jumbo jet" here - no Calvin Johnson, no Andre Johnson, no Plaxico Burress. The Bears could really use a king-size wideout to complement Devin Hester, but there isn't really one in the group. What do you guys think about drafting Jared Cook from South Carolina and moving him to wide receiver?

 

Cook goes 6'5" 246 pounds, and ran a 4.49 in the 40 at the Combine. Back in 2007, he weighed 235 and could run a 4.37. When he was around that weight he played split end and flanker, but then Spurrier had him bulk up and moved him to tight end. He's a very incomplete TE prospect: not a good blocker at all, hasn't played very much with his hand down, was lined up in college much wider than NFL tight ends.

 

As a possession/red-zone receiver, though, I think he'd be spectacular. He's got good hands and a disgusting vertical (41") for a guy his size. He's not going to lose a jump ball to anybody in the NFL. If he could slim back down to under 240, I think he could be another Brandon Marshall for Jay Cutler to throw to. He's got experience lining up as a receiver, and he's got more than enough long speed/burst to play the position. Plus, the Bears desperately need a wideout who can beat the jam at the line. What corner is going to get a jam on a guy Cook's size? I mean,

is what happens when DBs try to lay a hit on the guy. He's lined up a little closer in that video, but he's still in a two-point stance. Check

out for a look at what Cook can do when he's lined up more like a split end.

 

What do you guys think?

[/quote

He is right now as fast as several P-type WRs, its a very good thought as a possiblity. Does anyone know his stats in college?

[BearSox]

Not a terrible idea, but we already have our Cook in Olsen. Cook's value goes way down as a WR, IMO.

 

A thought I had though is bringing in James Casey in the 3rd or 4th as an H-Back. He can play FB, TE, WR, and even Wildcat QB.

[AZ54]

We need to draft two WR so he'd be a good option in the later rounds but he needs quite a bit of work, especially catching the ball:

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/584314

Run After the Catch: Cook can get to top speed in an instant after he secures the ball after the catch, but that is also a problem, as he does have concentration lapses that leave the ball on the ground (29 of 70 passes thrown to him he failed to secure in 2008). You can see on film his ability to turn it up hard after the catch. He is not your typical one-cut runner, like most tight ends on deep routes, as he is faster and shiftier with outstanding speed and good hip wiggle. GRADE: 6.5

[defiantgiant]

We need to draft two WR so he'd be a good option in the later rounds but he needs quite a bit of work, especially catching the ball:

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/584314

Run After the Catch: Cook can get to top speed in an instant after he secures the ball after the catch, but that is also a problem, as he does have concentration lapses that leave the ball on the ground (29 of 70 passes thrown to him he failed to secure in 2008). You can see on film his ability to turn it up hard after the catch. He is not your typical one-cut runner, like most tight ends on deep routes, as he is faster and shiftier with outstanding speed and good hip wiggle. GRADE: 6.5

 

He does need to work on his concentration, but missing 29 out of 70 targets isn't that bad. That's still a 58.5% catch rate, which is better than Devin Hester's. Brandon Marshall's catch rate is actually lower: he failed to secure 78 of 182 passes thrown to him, for a 57.1% catch rate.

 

I do like that this scouting report points out the fact that he doesn't run like a receiving tight end. A lot of fast TEs, even awesome ones like Olsen, don't really have a second gear. They're fast enough to get into the open, but they sort of do everything at one speed. In the game tape I've seen of Cook, he can throttle down to separate, then get a burst out of his cut, just like a wideout.

 

In response to BearSox, my thinking was actually that Cook has better value as a WR than TE. If you used him as a TE, he'd be a very-poor-man's Olsen: he's even worse as a blocker than Olsen, ten pounds lighter, and has more inconsistent hands. Defenses would know he was in as an eligible receiver every time. If he dropped a little weight and played split end, though, I think he'd be a matchup nightmare. Like I said above, he runs like a receiver now, and he's at least as fast as the Anquan Boldin/Larry Fitz-type receivers in the NFL.

[AZ54]

I'd rather have Cook than Matt Jones.