I love his potential, and what he brings to the team. His main weakness is his hands, and he's looked better lately. The other weakness (route running) should get better as he goes on and gets acclimated to a normal route tree. The reason I'm excited about him is because he's a mismatch. If his hands improve, it would be very hard to defend him one on one, because he has the speed to blow by the CB, and even if the CB keeps up, he has the height and leaping ability to out jump him for the ball. He's not a finished product yet, so he's not unstoppable or anything right now, but the potential is there for him to be a monster. I think nowadays, the whole concept of offense is to find mismatches that cause the other team to over compensate. For example, the Pats with the TE. I think having a WR with size and speed creates havoc for defenses, and creates opportunity for others as well.
Only 5 of 8. The other 3 were TD catches. He definitely has ability and you have to like that he can make plays in the endzone. As long as he keeps playing and doesn't have recurring problems with the hamstring this year, he should develop nicely.
I don't know if ya'll realize this but Stephen Hill is outperforming every receiver drafted before him. That should be worth noting before dismissing Hill as a "solid #3" potential. He's significantly outperforming Blackmon and Michael Floyd (early first rounders), despite missing 2 games. Kendall Wright has more yards than him, but only because he has a crapload more attempts. Hill's average is higher than all 3, plus he has more TDs and long catches. The other guy drafted below him AJ Jenkins hasn't even played. I know this doesn't mean everything because they're all still rookies, but Hill is looking like the best receiver in the draft so far.
I'm not nitpicking, but those count as 1st downs for stats sake. But the most important thing: HE"S FREAKING 21 YEARS OLD!! He's one of the youngest players in the NFL.
I'm not sure his hands are bad but his technique is terrible. He insists on catching the ball against his body and not with his hands. When he changes that I think he will be fine.
This is kind of common with guys who have bad hands. The closer they want to ball to their body the less they trust their hands. They're a much more effective target, with a much wider area to throw too when they're comfortable just going and getting the ball.
I am not going to say that Hill is or is not going to an average WR (+/-), but I would like to focus on your thought process. In red, I will attempt to refute your logic.
Hill has a great attitude and potential. As long as he doesn't catch Holmesatosis, he has a bright future ahead of him.
I agree I stopped. Catching with my body when I was ten . I like him but I just don't get how a coach hasn't fixed this
I wish I had the time to go into every thread you post in to say how wrong you are all the time. That way you'd have to dodge every thread trying to bring you back to reality. Eventually you'll need to admit that you just don't know much about the receiver position, or football in general, it seems. I'd repost all of the same stuff you've run away from before, but it wouldn't matter.
I think part of the problem is his leg positioning. When he catches a ball, he almost always seems to take a bit of extra time moving, or getting in position to run. And he seems to stumble a lot with the first move after catch as well. I think he does a poor job of positioning his feet for a catch and run. This wasn't a problem at GT because most of the throws that came his way were deep routes where he was just heading one way and the ball came over the top or quick screens. I think he lets the ball travel too much at times because to catch with his hands would mean having it at a difficult angle to his position (sort of how in baseball, it's easier to catch a ball hit towards your glove side than your throwing arm side). I don't think physically he has a problem catching the ball (say if his hands were too small), just that he positions his feet in a way that makes it hard for him to have his hands at an optimal position to catch the ball with his hands, and to him seems easier to just grab the rebound off his body. His hands aren't great, but I think he hurts himself with his body positioning as well. Obviously I'm not expert, so this could be wrong, but just something that sort of stuck out to me while watching the games.
I have high hope for Hill as we all do. However.....I watched Hill in practice this summer in Cortland on 4 different occasions and his hands are a MAJOR concern (at least to me). Watching a 40-50 yard rainbow clank off his outstretched forearms in the end zone wasn't pretty (he had Revis beat by 5 yards). It's very hard for a rookie receiver to catch the ball with his hands and not with his body when he doesn't trust his own hands. Success on the field (which he has had) plus solid coaching may change this...but every time he drops a game winner will set him back mentally. A #3? I think he will develop into something better than just a #3. A #1 Calvin Johnson / Randy Moss? ehhh....maybe not. But a Semi #1 Braylon Edwards who fixed his droppsies or a Plax with speed? Probably down the road.
The Niner and Ram fans who trashed Hill while celebrating AJ Jenkins and Brian Quick have been pretty quiet.
