NFL draft: Forget his 40 time — Minnesota's Tyler Johnson is among the elite college

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per Yahoo:

The Gophers’ best receiver in many years opted to return to Minneapolis, giving his ascending program a major boost and himself a chance to break some long-held school records. But don’t look at this as a victory lap for Johnson. He’s not expected to be treated any differently than he has while turning himself from a gifted athlete into one of college football’s most productive and dangerous receivers.

“I said to myself, if I come back I have to do it [for] the right reasons,” Johnson told Yahoo Sports last week at Big Ten Media Days. “I have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to get better. Not just rest on my laurels.”

Johnson polled everyone about whether to come out for the 2019 NFL draft: coaches and teammates, his Little League and high school coaches and, naturally, his family. There was only one choice in his mind, tough as it was.

“It came down to a lot of things I needed to get better at,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing I am top level at. It’s pretty much everything I need to work on route running, catching, speed ...”

That last skill is probably the biggest knock on Johnson. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound receiver has transformed from a high school quarterback into a receiver who is 100 catches shy of Eric Decker’s school mark for receptions; 1,1,32 yards behind Decker’s receiving record; and 11 receiving touchdowns behind Ron Johnson’s 31 career TDs.

If those feel like unapproachable marks to hit during Johnson’s senior campaign — on a team that hasn’t settled on a starting quarterback yet — consider that he hauled in 78 passes for 1,169 yards (about a 15-yard average) and 12 scores in a breakout 2018 season.

“And he probably will be the first to tell you he had five or six drops that he should have had,” Gophers offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca told Yahoo Sports.

Beyond those drops, the most concerning element of Johnson’s game from the perspective of NFL scouts might be his speed.

“I don’t know if we ever thought he was going to run some crazy 40-yard dash,” Ciarrocca said.

Johnson’s game is polished in other ways. His tape reveals a player who has thrived from the outside and in the slot. He dices up man coverage with slick, precise routes (especially slants) and gains separation quickly and with ease. Johnson also displays great body control and the ability to high-point to haul in 50-50 balls. And after the catch, Johnson can do damage — even while lacking that elite gear.

He said Minnesota Vikings WR Stefon Diggs is a player he watches as much as anyone in the NFL.

“That’s the guy that I like watching run routes,” Johnson said last week. “He’s very explosive running routes. He can get off the line quick and he can attack the ball.”

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-draft-...ng-the-elite-college-receivers-173457338.html

Go Gophers!!
 

per Yahoo:

The Gophers’ best receiver in many years opted to return to Minneapolis, giving his ascending program a major boost and himself a chance to break some long-held school records. But don’t look at this as a victory lap for Johnson. He’s not expected to be treated any differently than he has while turning himself from a gifted athlete into one of college football’s most productive and dangerous receivers.

“I said to myself, if I come back I have to do it [for] the right reasons,” Johnson told Yahoo Sports last week at Big Ten Media Days. “I have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to get better. Not just rest on my laurels.”

Johnson polled everyone about whether to come out for the 2019 NFL draft: coaches and teammates, his Little League and high school coaches and, naturally, his family. There was only one choice in his mind, tough as it was.

“It came down to a lot of things I needed to get better at,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing I am top level at. It’s pretty much everything I need to work on route running, catching, speed ...”

That last skill is probably the biggest knock on Johnson. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound receiver has transformed from a high school quarterback into a receiver who is 100 catches shy of Eric Decker’s school mark for receptions; 1,1,32 yards behind Decker’s receiving record; and 11 receiving touchdowns behind Ron Johnson’s 31 career TDs.

If those feel like unapproachable marks to hit during Johnson’s senior campaign — on a team that hasn’t settled on a starting quarterback yet — consider that he hauled in 78 passes for 1,169 yards (about a 15-yard average) and 12 scores in a breakout 2018 season.

“And he probably will be the first to tell you he had five or six drops that he should have had,” Gophers offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca told Yahoo Sports.

Beyond those drops, the most concerning element of Johnson’s game from the perspective of NFL scouts might be his speed.

“I don’t know if we ever thought he was going to run some crazy 40-yard dash,” Ciarrocca said.

Johnson’s game is polished in other ways. His tape reveals a player who has thrived from the outside and in the slot. He dices up man coverage with slick, precise routes (especially slants) and gains separation quickly and with ease. Johnson also displays great body control and the ability to high-point to haul in 50-50 balls. And after the catch, Johnson can do damage — even while lacking that elite gear.

He said Minnesota Vikings WR Stefon Diggs is a player he watches as much as anyone in the NFL.

“That’s the guy that I like watching run routes,” Johnson said last week. “He’s very explosive running routes. He can get off the line quick and he can attack the ball.”

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-draft-...ng-the-elite-college-receivers-173457338.html

Go Gophers!!

Between your Junior and Senior years, how much faster can someone become in the 40? I'm not being sarcastic, it's an honest question. Is it typical for DBs and WRs to get faster their senior year of college?
 

Eric Decker ran a 4.54, was a 3rd round pick, and had a pretty solid NFL career. That’s probably close to Tyler’s speed. Maybe he can work to get it below 4.5 before the combine.


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Last edited:

Eric Decker ran a 4.54, was a 3rd round pick, and had a pretty solid NFL career. That’s probably close to Tyler’s speed. Maybe he can work to get it below 4.5 before the combine.


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I seem to remember that at draft time there were concerns about Jerry Rice's speed.

I wonder: how many games into Rice's career was it before people came to the conclusion that Jerry Rice's 40-yard dash time was pretty much irrelevant?
 

I seem to remember that at draft time there were concerns about Jerry Rice's speed.

I wonder: how many games into Rice's career was it before people came to the conclusion that Jerry Rice's 40-yard dash time was pretty much irrelevant?

Chris Carter was “slow” too.





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Chris Carter was “slow” too.


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Yep.

Two Hall of Fame receivers; each labelled 'too slow'.

Cris Carter also had to listen to another, really unusual put-down:

"All he does is catch touchdowns."

... and that statement was meant to be disparaging!
 


Will be about running the routes correctly and hanging onto the ball for him. to make it in the NFL.
 






Adam Thielen did speed drills or speed camps to get to where he needed to be to get attention. Don't know how long he worked on it, but you need to have the right building blocks to get there.
 

Jeff Badet ran 4.27 and barely made the Vikings practice squad. How bad to you have to be at the fundamentals of the position to not make an NFL roster with that much speed?

Thinking Johnson is 4.5ish. Bateman is probably in the 4.4 range, but I wouldn’t put it past him to prepare well enough to go a little under that.
 



Jeff Badet ran 4.27 and barely made the Vikings practice squad. How bad to you have to be at the fundamentals of the position to not make an NFL roster with that much speed?

Thinking Johnson is 4.5ish. Bateman is probably in the 4.4 range, but I wouldn’t put it past him to prepare well enough to go a little under that.

As long as Johnson can come in under 4.6 he should be fine. A really talented route runner who runs under 4.6 isn't going to be dinged much in their evaluation. It's the guys who can't run routes well that need to be posting the 4.3 or low 4.4 times to make up for it.
 

Functional speed is what is important. The 40 time used to mean more when guys would just show up and run it. Now guys train specifically for the 40. Change their running style to a sprinters style and run straight up and down. That is not how people run in games, if they did they would fall down if anyone made contact with them or they had to change direction. There was a good article in the The Athletic where several scouts said, teams care about the 40 only because it shows them that a guy is willing to work and apply himself to make themselves better. The actual times don't matter much anymore. There is also the fact that how people move in pads and helmets is much different than a spandex jumper.
 




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