Jamison Crowder Could Be the NFL's Top Breakout Player of 2017

Earlier in the offseason, looking up and down the Washington Redskins' wide receiver depth chart felt like the final moments in line for some rickety carnival ride: There was a lot of excitement and a healthy dose of crippling anxiety.

Sure, the ride in either case will be fun and fast. But can you be certain all the parts will function together and the whole contraption won't fall apart?

When DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon signed elsewhere, the Redskins lost 214 targets from last year's club. Terrelle Pryor and Josh Doctson have lots of speed and will do their part replacing them.

But although Pryor has drool-inducing talent, he's only entering his second season as an NFL receiver. And Doctson, a 2016 first-rounder, comes with plenty of promise, but he doesn't have much experience after playing just two games as a rookie because of an Achilles injury.

Still, given the talent of their leading returning receiver, Jamison Crowder, it would be understandable if the Redskins are quietly excited, keeping any public optimism in check. But Crowder has a way of making coaches gush.

He doesn't have Doctson's first-round pedigree or Pryor's shine after the former Ohio State quarterback's high-profile college career and unique story following his position switch. But Crowder does have the acceleration and quickness to blow apart your ankles when just watching him, and the elusiveness to remove defenders from their undergarments.

Oh, and the overall skill set to quietly ascend in 2017 as the NFL's next top breakout player.

"He's an excellent player, a dynamic player. He just continues to prove every day why we like him so much," Redskins head coach Jay Gruden recently said to John Keim of ESPN.com. "He can run just about anything you ask him to run. He gets himself open because he's got a great feel. He's got quickness in and out of his breaks."

Nick Wass/Associated Press/Associated Press

The reason to believe in Crowder's expected swift rise in production is simple: He'll get more opportunities and capitalize on them.

The 24-year-old will start and play in two-wide receiver sets, as Keim noted, and then slide inside to the slot in three-wideout sets. That will translate to a sharp increase in snaps and targets. By extension, it'll give Crowder a chance to juke, swerve and dazzle more often.

He did all three in 2016 while typically acting as the third option in the passing game, or fourth when tight end Jordan Reed was healthy. Crowder finished third with 99 targets, with Jackson just ahead at 100 and Garcon leading the Redskins with 114.

Crowder pushed the 1,000-receiving-yards plateau even with a modest target volume that ranked tied for 50th. He finished with 847 yards on 67 catches with seven touchdowns.

But Crowder's yards after the catch set him apart in 2016 and will help him stand out in the future.

He accumulated 386 yards after the catch, an average of 5.8 yards per reception. That ranked 25th in the league in terms of total YAC, which seems merely respectable at first.

It becomes exceptional when you realize who was around Crowder among the yards-after-catch leaders in 2016. Take a look at the target column below and note how far Crowder is behind the other receivers listed:

Receiver	Targets	YAC
Davante Adams	121	389
Julio Jones	129	388
Jamison Crowder	97	386
Julian Edelman	158	385
Brandin Cooks	117	384

Crowder tallied 20 fewer targets than the Saints' Brandin Cooks on the low end and was a cavernous 61 targets behind the Patriots' Julian Edelman on the high end.

In fact, the gap between Crowder and the Dolphins' Jarvis Landry, who led all wide receivers in yards after the catch in 2016, also isn't that wide when targets are considered. Landry finished 2016 with 207 more YAC, but on 34 more targets. The same can be said for the gap between Crowder and the Lions' Golden Tate (588 yards, 135 targets), and the Giants' Odell Beckham Jr. (524 yards, 169 targets).

Crowder is efficient with his yards after the catch gains because he's beyond joystick or banana-peel slippery. Instead the former Duke standout is bathtub-without-a-mat slippery when in space.

One of the best examples of his ability to create missed tackles in 2016 came from a short dump-off that had no business being a catch.

Crowder doesn't need his touches manufactured and is capable of separating deep. But the Redskins often drew up screens and quick tosses for him, knowing Crowder—who doubles as the their primary punt returner—can get creative with a sliver of daylight.

In Week 12 the Redskins trailed the Dallas Cowboys by 12 points with a little more than four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Washington had the ball just past midfield, and it was desperation time. It faced 3rd-and-11, and at minimum needed to get in range of a makable fourth-down conversion attempt.

That's where Crowder's nimble feet came in. Quarterback Kirk Cousins swung it to him to the left just past the line of scrimmage. The throw sailed low, though, and Crowder needed to scoop it up just before the ball kissed the turf.

It seemed like any opportunity to make a defender miss was gone. Crowder was low, vulnerable and stationary.

Credit: NFL GamePass

Two defenders closed in while Crowder gathered himself. He didn't have time to build forward momentum. Turns out he didn't need any.

From that prone crouching position Crowder squared up, and his instincts did the rest. He spun instantly to send cornerback Brandon Carr skidding by with a dose of fresh embarrassment.

Credit: NFL GamePass

And then he juked to his right as linebacker Damien Wilson whiffed, too.

Credit: NFL GamePass

That all took place not in a phone booth, but rather in a shoe box. The button-mashing combination of a spin and juke was executed within two yards, and Crowder's movements were fluid. He then sprinted forward for 10 yards, and the Redskins converted on the next play. Eventually, the drive Crowder kept alive ended with a touchdown.

He's much more than a gadget option in space, though, or a punt returner who sometimes looks like a receiver. Crowder has success deep with surprising efficiency, and he doesn't look like he's just 5'8" and 182 pounds.

"He plays a lot longer than his size," Gruden told Keim. "He has got really long arms. He goes up and gets balls. Sometimes he plays bigger than a taller receiver because he uses his height, and he's got great jumping ability and times the jumps extremely well. Some tall guys you see, they misjudge it and they don't jump. But Jamison, he times them perfect and makes big plays."

Height and overall size are only part of the equation in the battle to win jump balls. The receivers who separate themselves have a strong sense of timing and an innate feel for what's around them. There's a certain rhythm at play, along with body control.

The most reliable deep-ball receivers can come out on the right end of a rapid calculation that answers these questions: How fast is the ball descending? How many more strides before I elevate, or can I just run through the ball? And how do I optimally position my body to block out the defenders around me?

Crowder has a natural sense for how to use every inch of his undersized frame, which is why that lack of height hasn't been a barrier. In 2016 his catch rate of 63.9 on targets that traveled 20-plus yards through the air ranked third, according to Pro Football Focus, and Crowder was the shortest player in the top 10. He also converted 57 percent of his deep targets into touchdowns, again per PFF, which ranked second.

Crowder is among a group of talented young players with breakout potential in 2017. That list includes Los Angeles Chargers tight end Hunter Henry, New York Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard and Saints wideout Michael Thomas.

They'll all likely have standout seasons. But Crowder can rise above with the skill set to be used both outside and in the slot, and to generate yards any way he pleases, whether it's through separating deep or slithering through tackle attempts.