Dallas Cowboys Should Wait Until 2nd Round to Draft Receiver

Wide Receiver is known to be the position that is hardest to project from college to the NFL.

Receivers usually take years before making an impact, and, like quarterback, the earliest picks are usually not the most productive.

This year’s draft class is filled with players who have major flaws.

That is why, in 2008, drafting a receiver in the first round is done at your own risk.

Limas Sweed and Malcolm Kelly have long been considered the top of the class.

However, in recent weeks, concerns have come up about their speed.

Sweed runs a 4.5, and Kelly was closer to a 4.7. Both of these guys are big receivers, and their slow times make them look like strictly possession receivers.

Kelly has spent more time during the last weeks blaming Oklahoma’s track than actually trying to work on that 40 time, raising questions about his character.

The big mover this year has been Michigan State’s Devin Thomas.

Who?

Devin Thomas appears to be a case of a guy who has put up good workout numbers and is getting overrated because of it. Thomas has 13 starts in college. And you want to take him first? The concerns around Sweed and Kelly are pushing Thomas much higher than he should be.

Two more big name receivers that I would not draft in the first round are Mario Manningham and DeSean Jackson.

Jackson is 167 lbs. His height and weight are the same as my height and weight. His only chance to make an impact in the league is as a return man and, maybe, a situational slot receiver. That doesn’t sound like a first round pick to me.

Manningham is too inconsistent. He drops as many easy passes as he makes great catches. Also, he lied to teams about his use of marijuana in college. His size also puts him in a similar category with Jackson, although Manningham is 20 lbs. heavier.

If you ask me, Sweed is the only one in this group that should even be considered in the first round. However, his speed makes me think his ceiling is around the Keyshawn Johnson level. That would be fine somewhere in the second half of the first round.

After Sweed, I wouldn’t touch any of these receivers until the second round.

But, with the Cowboys, Bills, Broncos, Bears, Buccaneers, Redskins, Titans, and 49ers all having wide receiver at the top of their list of needs, Sweed will not be the only receiver taken in the first round.