Wes Welker is the greatest metric outlier. He is short, slow, and did little in college to give promise of fantasy football stardom in the NFL. However, Welker was very thick for his height as a redeeming physical trait. He promptly went undrafted and needed a situation change in the NFL to emerge as Tom Brady’s steady target to the tune of 323 career VBD. It is a great story.
Golden Tate remains one of the best short receiver prospects in the projection model. He broke out with Calvin Johnson in and out of the Detroit lineup in 2014 and after a team change, leaving after his rookie deal in Seattle. Deion Branch fit the mold as a former Patriots ‘hit’, Davone Bess had some Welker qualities and a run of relevance, Kendall Wright has been a very poor man’s Welker early in his Tennessee career, and Stedman Bailey could be a name to watch from the 2013 class.
In 2014, I pointed out Michael Campanaro, Bruce Ellington, Robert Herron, Jeremy Gallon, and Albert Wilson as being short, but thick receivers in the mold of Wes Welker as a prospect. Wilson emerged on the Chiefs paper-thin receiver depth chart as a rookie with a few flashes. Michael Campanaro is the name for which I hold out the most hope in 2015. The Ravens slot job is wide open and Campanaro has solid athleticism, college tape, and passable production from Wake Forest.
Moving on to 2015, five receivers fit the ‘short, but thick’ physical mold. Here are the names to know:
