What if we compare him to Ed McCafferey, Tim Dwight, Brandon Stokely, Ricky Proehl, and Chris Collinsworth.
I see what you did there. You won't get me, though, because I dropped the names of two black guys. Also, correct spellings: McCaffrey, Stokley, and Cris.
chrebet wasn't as fast or elusive as welker, he was more of a troy brown type, get the first down then fall down. Welker's threat is that if you play zone he gets in the middle catches the pass then turns upfield and has the speed and moves to get a huge gain
Welker takes what he's given... He rarely breaks a tackle or makes a great move... He takes what he has, sprints forward, and dives/falls forward for a couple extra yards....
Gotta love the white-man love for Wes Welker. He's got the typical white receiver package: with the terms "deceptive speed" and "extremely intelligent" oft used to describe him. The guy he constantly reminds me of is Troy Brown c. 2001
Shhhhhh..... Welker is the greatest thing since sliced bread.... Not wheat or rye though.... White bread...
I loved that term "white receiver package"- I'm cracking up here. It's hilarious but it's true- 90% of the time, a white receiver's scouting report reads like this: "He won't impress you with his speed, but he catches everything thrown his way. Could excel as a slot receiever. Team leader and is like an additional QB on the field. Projection: 6th/7th round or UDFA"
Some whites who did not have the typical white receiver package- Don Maynard Roger Carr Elroy Hirsch Patrick Jeffers Lance Alworth
Although I've only seen video of about 5 or 6 games of Maynard, from everything I've read (which is a great deal), he was similar to a 1960s version of Randy Moss... From everything I've read, his long strides when he ran was not the style of running most common among the fastest players in football at the time. According to Gerald Eskanazi in "The Gang Green," if I remember correctly, Maynard seemed to 'glide' past defenders, looking as if he wasn't even trying... Seems very, very similar to the way Moss runs to me.... Also, Maynard's speed combined with Namath's arm, and the vertical nature of the Jets' passing game at the time, resulted in an astonishing 22.8 yards per reception average for Maynard in the Super Bowl season of 1968, and a 18.7 yards per reception average for his career as a Jet.... In comparison, Randy Moss, arguably the best vertical threat WR in the NFL today, has a 15.8 yards per reception average for his career, with a 19.0 yards per reception average in his best season, YPC wise, his rookie year... Looking through Maynard's numbers, it is astonishing that he is not mentioned among the best of all time more often... He seems to only come up in Jets or AFL discussions, although his numbers compare favorably to many, many of the NFL's all time greats... He compiled 1434 yards and 10 TDs in 1967. That's an average of 102.4 yards per game! He had four seasons with a YPC average of over 20. He had 7 seasons with more than 8 TDs, 3 with 10+. Including 9 TDs in 12 games in '63, and 14 TDs in 14 games in '65. He had 5 1,000 yard seasons, again, in spite of the 14 game schedule... He had over 1,200 yards in 4 of those seasons... He was selected as an All-Pro 5 times. He was top 10 in yards 10 times. He was top 5 in yards 6 times. He was top 10 in TDs 7 times.... I'm sorry for going off on a tangent, but, as much as I had read and seen of Maynard, I'd never thoroughly examined his stats. He had an astounding career!
Comparing Maynard to Moss is not a crazy notion at all. Maynard was a tougher player, however. Part of that was the era, of course. He did take a few shots to the face through the years because he only had a single-bar mask. Jeffers was another fast, tall white guy. He had a big year for Carolina in 1999 and was superb down the stretch that year. He missed the 2000 season with an injury and came back for 9 games in 2001 and was not the same. If he had stayed healthy a Muhsin Muhammad, Jeffers, and Steve Smith WR corps would have been highly potent.
I'd have to assume almost every offensive player back in the 60s was tougher than the modern offensive guys... From the tapes I've watched, the rules were so much looser then, that if you weren't tough as nails, you were toast... I remember watching a tape of Namath running a 2 minute drill a while back, and how, after every lightning quick rocket the threw, he was absolutely mugged... Not just hit, but mugged, piled on, limbs twisted, etc... Hell, the head slap was still legal... For everyone who has played/plays, ever been trying to block someone and been confronted with a head slap before? It's almost unstoppable and it's ridiculously hard to keep your balance..... It was a different game, and, in my opinion, a better one...
I also think it was a better game back in the 1960s. I'm not happy with rule changes through the years which has led to the west coast offense being a league staple. It's a boring offense. I'm much more of a fan of the old Raiders style of offense. Take what you want, not what the defense gives you. I liked how receivers could get mugged beyond five yards. I liked how a WR could be a 1st team All-Pro in a season where he only caught 29 passes (Paul Warfield, Dolphins, 1973). Warfield was in the same class as Maynard and Moss. An argument can be made that Warfield was one of the top five WRs of all-time. He was the best player on the 1972 Dolphins. Warfield was bizarrely important even though he had, by today's standards, a low number of catches (29) . Warfield won two Super Bowls with the Dolphins and another league title with the Browns. He is as classy as Curtis Martin. Also, if Jerry Rice is not the most elegant WR in history, then that guy is Warfield. The following excerpt from "Fear and Loathing at the Super Bowl" from The Great Shark Race by Hunter S. Thompson illuminates the greatness of Warfield.
