Once upon a time, there were little people in the NFL. They were known as “smurfs.” They were receivers who would dart here and there, bedeviling the larger secondary defenders assigned to cover them.
Time passed. Defenses changed. They made it their thrust to impede receivers at the line of scrimmage through the use of press coverages. The little fellows were not able to get downfield as readily as they had. Sometimes, they could not get downfield at all.
The land of the “smurfs” was no more.
The NFL's transition to receivers of size can be seen in the group of receivers available in the draft Saturday and Sunday. They are tall athletes, by and large, with Devin Thomas of Michigan State at 6-1 7/8, Limas Sweed of Texas at 6-3 7/8, Malcolm Kelly of Oklahoma at 6-3¾, James Hardy of Indiana at 6-5 3/8, and Adarius Bowman of Oklahoma State at 6-2 7/8.
Of this group, Jerry Jones, author of the “Drugstore List” of draft ratings, said his expectation is that three likely will be taken in the first round. Jones ranks Thomas as the prize of the bunch, followed by DeSean Jackson of Cal, the only receiver shorter than 6 feet who has good notices – Jackson is 5-9¾ – and Sweed. Jackson, it should be noted, has 4.38 speed.
Nolan Nawrocki, Pro Football Weekly's draft scholar, does not rank a receiver among his top 20 prospects. He puts Thomas at No. 22 and Kelly at No. 24. ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. has Thomas at No. 20 in his top 100, Kelly at No. 27 and Jackson at No. 29.
