#2 2008 NFL DRAFT RAMS PICK (Round 2, 33rd overall): Donnie Avery, WR, Houston

[Nick]

He isn't a good value there at all.

According to who? Fans and draft websites? AKA, guys who looked at this draft from the outside. According to the Houston Chronicle on April 18th, some NFL GMs were projecting Avery as a top-40 pick. Rick Gosslein, widely regarded for his accurate projections because of his sources to teams, had him ranked #43. He ended up going 33rd. This isn't a strong receiving class, as evident by none of them being taken in the first round. All of these guys have question marks, and Avery has his share. But a number of Avery's weaknesses are things that can be coached.

[RamWraith]

Bernie on Avery:


They wanted to greatly increase their vertical speed ... because THEY HAVE NONE in case you didn't notice.

They also wanted to increase their YAC among wideouts, which has been a terrible trait of Rams WRs in recent seasons.

He was rated in the top five in release from the line, and in the top for running after the catch.

He's a guy who can pressure a defense which was a missing element.

They had him rated as one of the second or third fastest WRs in the draft.

Productive at Houston -- not like he was just some workout warrior.

No character issues. No questions about his competitiveness. There were some real punks at the wideout position this year and this guy wasn't one of them.

Raw, yes.

I don't know if he would have been my first choice at WR, because I don't know enough about these guys. But obviously none of 'em were the whole package -- that's why the first round drafters ignored them.

Frankly, some of the whining on here in reaction to the pick seems a little overdone.

--B
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POST-DRAFT TAKE: Rams officials say Avery is similar to ex-Rams great Isaac Bruce. Avery will bring the explosiveness and game-changing speed St. Louis needs to open up its offense.

PRE-DRAFT REPORT:

Hands: Catches the ball effortlessly. Snatches passes outside his frame, and can get low and catch passes near the ground. Shows great concentration to look balls all the way in. Attacks balls, rarely allowing passes to get to his chest. Tracks deep passes well, leaping to catch balls at their highest points. Grade: 8.0

Patterns: Reaches top speed so quickly, defenders often are on their heels the entire game. With great downfield speed, cornerbacks are in bail technique before he gets five steps off the line. Is explosive in and out of breaks. Shows good flexibility in hips and knees to drop weight and separate out of breaks. Grade: 7.5

Run after catch: Has the speed to score on any touch. Is tough to tackle in the open field because of elite quickness, speed, vision and shiftiness. Must improve lower-body strength; gets tripped up by ankle tackles he should break. Nobody catches him from behind. Grade: 6.5

Release: Must strengthen upper body to escape jams of long-armed cornerbacks. Can dodge jams with quickness and explosiveness; has a natural body shake to dance off the line before cornerbacks get their hands on him. Sometimes dances too much. Grade: 7.0

Blocking: Must improve in this area. Lacking blocking skills have more to do with size than desire. Is a scrappy, tough player who works hard. Grade: 5.0

Bottom line: Avery can change a game with just one touch. Once he gets stronger, he no longer will get bounced in traffic and will become an effective blocker. Avery is sure to be a star at pre-draft workouts and could sneak into the bottom half of Round 1.

I don't know... doesn't sound like a disaster to me.

One more thing: the Rams really didn't say he was the next Issac Bruce... that's really taking it out of context.

--B

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Memo ... no perfect receivers available here. That's why no one went in the first round.

All have some flaws.

This team needs to enhance its vertical element.

They have the slowest group of wideouts in the NFL.

I'm not trying to be rude -- but none of you have any idea how good any of these wideouts are, or where they should have been drafted.

This guy's particular skill set matched what they needed -- VERTICAL SPEED and YAC.

--B

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He isn't "very raw."

The sum***** caught over 200 passes in his career, with progression, and had nearly 1,500 yards receiving last year. He's a productive guy. he has a body of work.

How the heck do you folks know that he would have been there in the third round?

Answer: You don't.

But what amazes me is, the people who are caterwauling about this apparently didn't see the slow-azzed group of receivers this team had last year, and apparently didn't see a virtual absence of YAC.

Seriously: did any of you actually watch the games?

What's funny is, those of you who were pining for Chris Long because he filled a clear need apparently want to disregard the team's desperate need for speed and run-after-catch element among WRs.

--

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War Room rated him 5th best among WRs in run after catch.

I see a trend here...

Chris Long: OK to reach and fill a need.

Donnie Avery: OUTRAGEOUS to reach and fill a need.

Hmmm...

--B

[Rambos]

What about a every down Outside WR .

Bennett is number two and will play well.
We need a WR with speed and no past drug issues or injuries, that has had more then one great year.

[Milan]

According to who? Fans and draft websites? AKA, guys who looked at this draft from the outside. According to the Houston Chronicle on April 18th, some NFL GMs were projecting Avery as a top-40 pick. Rick Gosslein, widely regarded for his accurate projections because of his sources to teams, had him ranked #43. He ended up going 33rd. This isn't a strong receiving class, as evident by none of them being taken in the first round. All of these guys have question marks, and Avery has his share. But a number of Avery's weaknesses are things that can be coached.

I never said that these guys didn't have weaknesses. In fact, that's the reason why I didn't want a WR with the #33 overall and my main complaint is that he was taken too early, he will most likely cost too much and I don't want a WR til at least the 3rd.

[LA Rammer]

this move might allow us to address another need at 3, Dan Connor?

[RAMMAN68]

He is defiantly a deep threat; and to have the likes of Henry Ellard and Torry Holt to learn from; I look forward to seeing what he can do in the return game as well.

[Curly Horns]

I'm not much into pre-draft rankings and all, yet I like to stay tuned on draft day. As I was watching round 1 unfold I started thinking the Rams should look for a WR with their 2nd pick as none were being drafted.

I'm thinking it must be a weak class, but there has to be someone worth a second round pick.

I'd have to agree with Nick on this one. We needed a WR and we needed some speed. Hard to predict what exactly will happen with a lot of these players, however, on paper this seems like a logical pick.

Shortly after Avery was announced Mel Kiper moaned a bit yet he stated that there was very little difference in ranking among the top WR's in this draft.

[Milan]

this move might allow us to address another need at 3, Dan Connor?

If Dan Connor slips that far I'll be ecstatic. The Giants will most likely select him though.

[Nick]

I never said that these guys didn't have weaknesses.

You're right - what you DID say was that he "isn't a good value there at all" and you referenced him as being the "#11 rated WR in the draft."

Thus, my response addressed that. The point I'm making is that I don't think Avery's grade by NFL teams was that far off from other receivers.

According to the Houston Chronicle, "Where he once was viewed as at third-rounder at best, some general managers, having seen the numbers from his workouts, now are projecting him to go anywhere between the 20th and 40th picks."

That seems to suggest we got him within the range he was being valued as.

[bruce4life]

Once everyone gets over the shock of the Rams passing on bigger names at WR, I think a a deep breath and a calm head makes this pick much more understandable.

The Rams needed to add speed to their receiver corps. This should be an undisputed fact. Holt is losing his speed because of his knee injury. Bennett is a tall guy, not incredibly fast. Caldwell isn't going to burn you. Avery is one of the fastest guys in the draft, and he has much better size than DeSean Jackson.

It seems obvious that NFL teams don't view this WR class as having a lot of top talent. Devin Thomas went right after we took Avery, but then the Packers took Jordy Nelson. Jordy Nelson! Right now Jackson, Sweed, and Kelly are still on the board. Eddie Royal went above all of them. Jackson's weight is probably worrying some teams. Sweed's injury could be the cause of his slip. Hardy has off the field character concerns that probably caused him to drop to Buffalo's second rounder.

Avery has elite quickness and is a deep threat. He has a lot of starting experience in college and was very productive. His ability to change direction is considered to be top notch. He needs to work on his route running and his ability to beat the jam at the line, but those are the kinds of things that can be taught. Legitimate 4.3 speed cannot. I think he'll be a good fit in Saunders' scheme, definitely a guy who could be a weapon in multiple receiver sets. He can also contribute as a special teams player, which the Rams can always use.

Again, the fact that Jordy Nelson got picked over Jackson, Sweed, and Hardy demonstrates that NFL boards may not have had the WRs valued in the same manner as most fans and some analysts. I suspect there may not be as much difference in grade between Avery and some of these other guys, at least not as much as some may think.

For those saying we could have had him later, there's absolutely no way of knowing that. That's based on fan and analyst pre-draft rankings, none of which predicted the first round being WR-less.

this is very very true my friend... someone correct me if i'm wrong but isnt Donnie Avery the fastest receiver in the draft???/ based on need, he would of been the rams highest rated receiver...

[Rambos]

Mel Kiper moaned a bit

LOL

I think it comes down to the best player for your system, Rams FO feel he fits in perfect.

[Milan]

You're right - what you DID say was that he "isn't a good value there at all" and you referenced him as being the "#11 rated WR in the draft."

Thus, my response addressed that. The point I'm making is that I don't think Avery's grade by NFL teams was that far off from other receivers.

According to the Houston Chronicle, "Where he once was viewed as at third-rounder at best, some general managers, having seen the numbers from his workouts, now are projecting him to go anywhere between the 20th and 40th picks."

That seems to suggest we got him within the range he was being valued as.

I understand you don't really care for the rankings. I also didn't want a WR that early, but since 10 of them have been drafted in the 2nd round so far, and Dan Connor is slipping hard, I'm alright with the pick now. If we can grab Connor in the 3rd, I'll be extremely happy.

[smitheRAM]

Avery. This is a joke, right. What a chicken s**t way to run a draft. He might turn out to be the next Jerry Rice but couldn't you have traded down and still got him and a pick? C Long might be a "safe pick" but I would rather have Gholston and a pick that could have turned into Avery. Is C Long that good or that much better then VG?

[Nick]

He might turn out to be the next Jerry Rice but couldn't you have traded down and still got him and a pick?

We'll never know. The Houston Chronicle article suggests he went right in the range where he was valued, though.

[npow81]

We need a slot receiver, yes, but playoff teams draft for need...teams with a 3-13 record should not sacrifice talent for need--what upsets me is that if we are picking him there, with no other WRs off the board it should be saying that Avery is the best WR in this draft, and its hard to imagine that so many people would have him rated lower if he was in fact the best WR
With that said, most of us are criticizing this pick because he's not a big name and we've never seen him play...what's done is done--give him a shot and hope he works out