Kerley is quick but his 40 time isn't that good (somewhere between 4.56 and 4.62). He's not close to a McKnight or Cromartie on raw speed.
Totally agree. Cro is good at returns but the last thing we need is him getting injured. Kerley was drafted for his punt return abilities, why isn't he returning kicks too?
Kerley is sure handed and can make people miss tackles so he is perfect for punt return (remember we had Leonhard returning punts last year). He is just too slow for kickoffs.
Oh wow, that is interesting. I just kind of assumed slot receiver = fast enough to return kickoffs. I looked up their 40 times and a few others for comparison: 4.56 Kerley 4.47 McKnight 4.46 Brad Smith 4.41 Devin Hester 4.38 Cro 4.38 Revis Interesting that Brad Smith is actually faster, but watching Brad play the slot it always seemed like he was slower from what little I've seen of Kerley.
Ill take Cromartie in for a few plays on offense, but thats about it. We need him at corner. He's not that bad guys. Its really hard to play corner in the NFL.. Nobody's perfect. Even Revis let up a big play....
and yeah Kerley looked slow on those punt returns... He had some space on one of them but he couldnt get there because he didnt have the speed... McKnight or Wilson would be good on punts.. but I guess Westy thought Kerley was the best so I trust him..
2 reasons for that. One is that Brad Smith has incredibly long strides, which makes him very deceptively fast. He doesnt appear so on film, until he simply flies by you on the field. The second reason, is the slot receiver is all about quickness, not straight line speed. Kerley is incredibly quick. What is going to make him great, is that he is quick, shifty and elusive.
