Wes Welker: A Portrait of His Greatness

Wes Welker makes you want to write about him.

Because, as they used to say in the old movies, “Just look at him.”

Indeed, the thing about Welker is that his greatness is irresistible. He does so much with relatively not as much.

There are many great athletes, but they are selfish, carefree or unreliable—so much so that you wish they would just go away.

Antithetically, Wes Welker is magnetic, as you see him use his developed gifts to deliver.

When he churns, whirls and feints on a football field, it is especially attention-getting because you suspect he's using every ounce of his ability.

In watching Welker work, there is an awesome, rewarding drama.

It all starts at the line, before the snap. You see he's got all the confidence in the world. And the acumen.

What's he's doing in those precious pre-play seconds is dissecting the defensive design. He's the best at doing this.

Admits Welker: "I...[always] enjoyed the scheming part of it, the figuring out of plays right there at the line of scrimmage." 

Following the frozen figuring, the plays begins and Welker unleashes his incredible leg and hand action, the two things which propel him on his route. No cornerback known to man can stop this propulsion consistently.

Then, running the most precise patterns in the NFL, Welker inevitably gets to where he's going.

Moreover, Welker is peerless in creating receiving space, giving MVP quarterback Tom Brady the breadth and area to hit him with less anxiety attached.

Just this Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys tried every trick in the book to keep Welker in check. Doubling him, punishing him at the line, disguising coverages. Still he scored the New England Patriot's first touchdown—in a typically breathtaking way, diving toward the flag.

The Cowboys shadowed him the way Marshal Dillon of Dodge City might shadow an outlaw. Yet for the game, Welker wound up with six catches and about a 10 yard average.

Needless to add, so much marking of Welker ultimately allowed his wide out teammates to prosper in the eventual 20-16 Patriots' victory.

Say Wes Welker and a million adjectives explode from the heavens: diligent, dynamic, cunning, clutch, studied, steadfast, unstoppable, immovable, ardent, acute. And so on.

Being thus so descriptive makes him impossible for defenses to cope with.

This is why he is currently the NFL's leader in catches and yards.

And, despite his acknowledged “lack of natural talents,” Welker often shines spectacular, executing sensational artistic, acrobatic and "aerialistic" receptions.

He is the total package, body in sync with mind.

An addiction to soccer before football has helped, but mostly it is that Welker has mastered the mechanics of his craft.

Today, while in a Seattle cafe watching the Patriots-Cowboys game, our waiter, a transplanted Bostonian, passionately explained: "You know, about five or six years ago, he [Welker] used to play for the Dolphins. He wasn't any good. Then one Sunday he killed us. Coach [Bill] Belichick said 'Who's that guy?' The next year he picked him up.”

Yes, it is a kind of astonishing desire that has brought Wes Welker to the top.

But that fervor rocking inside of him is the pulsating beat of a champion. It allows him to be one of the five premier pressure players in the league.

The unique self-motivation of Wes Welker endlessly attracts us to him.