Per 247, DPJ should have stayed in school
Pretty fair analysis here. Gott wonder why the #3 receiver would leave when they have another year
Yeah I wasn't sure why you'd leave in a loaded WR draft class. I wish him the best of luck he always played hard and blocked for his teammates. He just needed to work on his route running and creating separation.
Also I feel it hasn't really been mentioned much but even though he didn't miss many games, he missed all of last spring with injuries. I also thought I remember him being injured for good bits of spring or fall camp before. Seemed his hamstrings were always in question. I just wonder how that factors into not developing that much. But if you've missed like half your off-season practices in your career...
Next year class looks to be loaded as well. Ja'Marr Chase, DeVonta Smith, Jaylen Waddle, Chris Olave, Rondale Moore, Rashod Bateman and to name a few are all potential 1st round picks.
April 27th, 2020 at 12:15 AM ^
Add Nico to that list
Catching 3 passes for 48 yards a game again next year wasn't going to boost his draft stock
I’m sure DPJ is thinking the same thing after being drafted by the Browns.
One thing DPJ has going for him is that he’ll get a better QB throwing the ball, not that Mayfield is all that to brag about or anything.
true. but he will be going up against even better DBs.
April 26th, 2020 at 10:08 PM ^
This is so depressing to type given our current circumstances within football but your statement is highly debatable at best.
I believe Mayfield and Patterson are better suited for minigolf than any game that involves having to throw a pointy ball.
Maybe some others can give this story more juice, but I'm hearing from ex-players and people close to the program that there was some major friction between DPJ/Black and JH... I believe Magnus mentioned something about this, but the Detroit guys were all sitting around and getting more and more pist off when DPJ&Vert were not getting drafted. Apparently, it's their opinion that JH may have helped sink DPJ draft stock, and considered both Wideouts to be diva's and not serious about their craft. The guys went on to say DPJ and others were pissed they went from JM as a WR coach to a GA, and 3 coaches in as many years. Might of just been the emotions of the situation, however being present for this, it felt like much more...
Cheers
Our fairly shitty WR recruiting seems to suggest that our current guys might have been less than thrilled with their situation.
Showing significant development from coming back and having another year is not helped by having a GA as a position coach. I still don’t understand why we are in that situation, especially at a skill position.
April 27th, 2020 at 10:06 AM ^
It's hard to get every position coaching spot covered with a first time OC and a (now) hands off CEO type coach.
Offensive Guru Harbaugh has morphed into Herm Edwards.
April 27th, 2020 at 10:07 AM ^
Yeah, having a GA handle a position where you have a bunch of prima donna personalities is not a great plan. Top programs (Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, etc.) have dedicated WR coaches.
April 27th, 2020 at 10:33 AM ^
Seems like Richard Sherman was right about Harbaugh fucking over WRs he didn’t deem proper.
It’s up to him. Play well and get the (all important regardless) 2nd contract. Everyone says development is a reason, but he was taken in a round where they know that’s an issue and plan to develop him. NFL coaches know what they’re doing, for the most part.
First things first, he needs to make the team, which is not a given for where he was drafted.
Browns fan here. After Landry and OBJ, there’s not much on the roster so he’ll have a great chance.
Perception is a funny thing...people can fool themselves into thinking they are something they’re not or not yet. I’d say based on the perception of 32 NFL coaches/ front offices he should’ve stayed and would have gone higher next year.
Agreed. Delusion seems to set in when a player is a freak physically. They tend to believe that trumps actual game production. DPJ looked good on the field, but never looked like a physical freak against competition. Wish him the best.
His 44" vertical leap was in the Top-10 in NFL history. That's amazing. And then he posted a 139-inch broad, best in the entire 2020 combine, and 3rd of any NFL WR ever.
Jeff Okudah also ran a 4.48, and DPJ jumped almost half a foot higher, and jumped 1/3 of a foot farther.
His biggest problem is that he's a long strider (similar to Devin Funchess), and he's long-legged, which means he takes a while to get up to speed.
And with longer strides, means fewer steps per distance traveled which makes your route running much less sudden (think Lionel Messi's abnormally stubby legs allow him far more touches/changes of direction per 10yds traveled).
All that being said DPJ can still develop, he certainly didn't walk into a great QB situation or OC Offensive identity. His QB never could hit the deep ball and routinely overthrew him. Not to mention he was a run-threat/improv QB, and the coach wanted a hard-nosed power/quantity-running game.
I would love nothing more than to see him develop and find a system where he can really utilize his traits. His measureables are amazing, it can't be understated.
He was decent on punt returns though, so I think he could be quick enough and agile enough to be a good to great route runner. I wonder if he put in the time with Shea to get a chemistry. Shea had a lot of short comings, as others have mentioned, on going through the progressions and stepping into the pocket. I still expected to see domination of DPJ against bad competition.
Or maybe he saw the writing on the wall. New OC who had elite receivers but didn’t prioritize throwing down the field. Now a new starter at QB with the same OC....it doesn’t sound like the best system to be coming back to.
New OC who had elite receivers but didn’t prioritize throwing down the field.
You’re like a pit bull latching on to a bone (meme) and never letting it go! How do you know what Gattis’ priorities were or are. To know that, you’d have to be sitting in film study with the offense and be privy to his conceptual explanations and his breakdown of individual plays.
Was he telling Shea NOT to throw down field, or was Shea simply NOT throwing it down field (as much as you think) he should? Truth is, you don’t know, you’re making an assumption. My assumption, by contrast, assumes that Gattis (as an aggressive “modern” OC) wants to throw downfield as much as anyone save an “Air Raid” OC, and he was hampered by Shea’s lack of arm strength, accuracy, and RPO prowess.
What we all did see was Shea's inability to connect with open receivers 20+ yards down the field. That surely took away from DPJ's numbers and had to be a bit demoralizing when running your routes. Then mix in McCaffrey coming in (right or wrong seen as a strong runner but unknown ability as a passer), and it doesn't seem to be the most ideal situation for DPJ. Still, dude should have come back.
April 26th, 2020 at 10:25 PM ^
And Shea not connecting on the deep balls at a high enough rate probably forced Gattis to tweak the offense toward fewer deep balls not only for DPJ but all WRs. Play calling is probably pretty dynamic both in-game and from game to game.
We need to catch lightning in a bottle with the QBs vying for the starting job. It would be really nice to see a vertical threat again that doesn't involve Nico fighting for 50-50s every damn time. I just re-watched the LSU-Clemson replay last night on ESPN and was just in awe of both offenses. Trevor Lawrence had a bad game by his standards but it was still better than we've seen from any Michigan QB in years. And Joe friggin' Burrow was unbelievable. But both QBs are helped by well schemed and timed plays and guys that have speed to burn and understand how to get open and get YAC. Smart, savvy football all around.
April 27th, 2020 at 10:47 PM ^
Not going against what you said, but a program like Michigan should not have to "catch lightning in a bottle" to have excellent play at the QB position. Development at many positions is not what it should be.
April 26th, 2020 at 11:18 PM ^
Bell is good but Shea locking on him all day when DPJ would be streaking down field wide open, costed him a few draft rounds. Speight would have found him alot more, and I still wish Harbaugh didn't pine for Shea.
Don't oversell Wilton. He was good his first season but he was almost O'Korn bad his second. Something in the coaching broke him and there's no reason to think he'd be good in a third year as a starter.
Gentry and Poole might be able to tell the reason.
Per anyone with eyes it was a weird choice.
Magnus hinted on his site that DPJ was unhappy on the team.
Maybe he thinks he should have been more involved in the offense. Look, I get that he's got all the physical attributes, but too often he just was not getting open, and pro scouts have made such comments.
I wish him well and hope he finds success.
Some posts from insiders on 247 alluded to similar things. They said he tanked his draft interviews which lowered his stock with a lot of teams. I don’t know what he said but if true he didn’t really make the wrong decision. He’s probably a round 3/4 pick without and that’s probably where he was told he would likely go.
Given that he's thought of as a high character guy it's surprising. I'm not saying he's not! NFL teams sometimes ask really stupid questions and seem to be offended by dumb stuff. But I wonder if he put quite a bit of blame on Harbaugh and company instead of personal shortcomings. I'd imagine teams wouldn't like that.
Agree hard to believe. That said he didn’t run great routes and relied on athleticism and speed more than technique and the nfl that won’t get it done against good nfl defenses
Rumors are he bashed Harbaugh in those interviews which tanked his stock.
If that's the criteria no wonder the mgoboard went undrafted yet again
April 26th, 2020 at 10:04 PM ^
Harbaugh had success in that league. His brother continues to have success in that league.
Hard time thinking DPJ would bash the guy in a job interview. Accountability is a key marker in any profession.
April 26th, 2020 at 10:34 PM ^
When interviewing for a new job and you are asked why you want to change jobs, it's never a good idea to say "because my former employer sucked". It may be 100% true but it just makes you look bad. People respect and trust you more when you point out what you could've done better to improve things. Interviewing 101.
Interviewing 101, this is definitely true. Interviewing 501, not so much. The difference is that most complaints about one's last job boil down to "I don't like working".
DPJ might have a point in whatever he said (we don't know what he said), but if he had anything critical to say about Harbaugh, his inability to consistently get open makes it far less compelling.
April 27th, 2020 at 12:30 PM ^
He's thought of as a high character guy solely because he said he wants to be a doctor. The fact that he left school early without getting a degree should tell you how serious he was about that.
Yeah apparently there was a rift in the WR room and there was also friction with Harbaugh.
I know everyone is shitting on DPJ lately, but I think just focusing on football as a job will do wonders for him.
From what I understand, Higdon soured on Harbaugh in part because Harbaugh gave the 2018 Offensive MVP to DPJ. And now DPJ has it in for Harbaugh, too? What a cluster.
What is the story with this? I’d like to hear more.
DPJ definitely didn’t appear to improve from his second to third years on the team.
I don't know if people are overall dumping on him, but to be fair, it's hard to believe that a 5-star talent didn't have a single 100 yd game while at Michigan.
True, it's not entirely his fault. But part of it is.
Nico must not hate Harbaugh?
He has a real connection with him through music. They are both huge Gordon Lightfoot fans.
I'd be disappointed in never playing with a QB that could hit a receiver in stride too!
Maybe he was ready to get the NFL part of his life started so he could get it out of the way and move on to being a doctor. Different people place different values on different things.
Does he have his undergraduate degree? What was it in?