Not even close to the same player. White was a one year wonder JUCO transfer who got tongues wagging at the Combine with his size and 4.3 speed. Unfortunately he came in as a rookie not knowing a route tree from a maple tree.
Pssst.....Kevin. Here's a cheat sheet. The maple tree has red leaves in autumn. Can't miss it.
Yep. Which is why he was a terrible pick, unforeseeable injuries notwithstanding. Would have been a reasonable choice at #77 but was an awful one at #7. If you’re gonna take a WR (or a G or a TE or a S) that high in the draft, he better be a helluva lot more “pro ready” and “high floor” than Kevin White was.
I think one can argue that Ryan Pace was very careful in this years draft to not repeat that mistake which has definitely left some egg on his face.
Well then there would have been egg on a lot of GM's faces because White was the consensus number 2 receiver in the draft. Again, this is from his draft profile:
DRAFT PROJECTION Round 1 (top 10) NFL COMPARISON DeAndre Hopkins BOTTOM LINE He's not just a product of West Virginia's system -- he's talented. White showed off 23 reps on the bench press and a blazing 4.35 40 at the combine, proving he has the top-end speed to go with the size and strength. White came into West Virginia with very limited confidence, according to team insiders, but when he left, he had realized his rare talent. White lacks the polish of Amari Cooper, but some teams already believe he has the best upside of any wide receiver in this draft.
And from another site: "In the 2015 NFL Draft, White is worthy of being selected in the top 10. He should hear his name called quickly on Thursday night."
Saying that he was a terrible pick is nothing more than hindsight in my opinion.
Yep. Which is why he was a terrible pick, unforeseeable injuries notwithstanding. Would have been a reasonable choice at #77 but was an awful one at #7. If you’re gonna take a WR (or a G or a TE or a S) that high in the draft, he better be a helluva lot more “pro ready” and “high floor” than Kevin White was.
I think one can argue that Ryan Pace was very careful in this years draft to not repeat that mistake which has definitely left some egg on his face.
Well then there would have been egg on a lot of GM's faces because White was the consensus number 2 receiver in the draft. Again, this is from his draft profile:
DRAFT PROJECTION Round 1 (top 10) NFL COMPARISON DeAndre Hopkins BOTTOM LINE He's not just a product of West Virginia's system -- he's talented. White showed off 23 reps on the bench press and a blazing 4.35 40 at the combine, proving he has the top-end speed to go with the size and strength. White came into West Virginia with very limited confidence, according to team insiders, but when he left, he had realized his rare talent. White lacks the polish of Amari Cooper, but some teams already believe he has the best upside of any wide receiver in this draft.
And from another site: "In the 2015 NFL Draft, White is worthy of being selected in the top 10. He should hear his name called quickly on Thursday night." Saying that he was a terrible pick is nothing more than hindsight in my opinion.
Let's just call him a risky pick made by an inexperienced GM in his first draft and what I bold faced is why.
1) The pick was made based almost entirely on his upside and I believe that if Pace had that choice he would have drafted Amari Cooper and not White. His #2 ranking as a WR still doesn't justify the #7 overall pick for any player who lacked Whites lack of readiness. IMHO a greater need at WR drove the pick over players who were more NFL ready.
2) The same lack of confidence White displayed when he arrived at WVU was IMHO also in evidence once he reached the NFL and in addition to his injuries I believe that has haunted him and to a degree it still does. Contrast his demeanor and inability to learn the route tree with Miller confidence and we can very easily see another factor which separates them.
I'm not gonna debate a one year college career at WVU over four years as a walk on at Memphis. Both are considered excellent Div. I football programs and both have produced their share of NFL players.
White's injuries have obviously played a major role in our disappointment with him as fans but it also goes beyond that to his lack of progress adapting his enormous physical skills to the NFL. I will say that even if he had not been injured as frequently as he has been he still would be somewhat of a disappointment for a #7 overall pick. JMHO
Well then there would have been egg on a lot of GM's faces because White was the consensus number 2 receiver in the draft. Again, this is from his draft profile:
DRAFT PROJECTION Round 1 (top 10) NFL COMPARISON DeAndre Hopkins BOTTOM LINE He's not just a product of West Virginia's system -- he's talented. White showed off 23 reps on the bench press and a blazing 4.35 40 at the combine, proving he has the top-end speed to go with the size and strength. White came into West Virginia with very limited confidence, according to team insiders, but when he left, he had realized his rare talent. White lacks the polish of Amari Cooper, but some teams already believe he has the best upside of any wide receiver in this draft.
And from another site: "In the 2015 NFL Draft, White is worthy of being selected in the top 10. He should hear his name called quickly on Thursday night." Saying that he was a terrible pick is nothing more than hindsight in my opinion.
Let's just call him a risky pick made by an inexperienced GM in his first draft and what I bold faced is why.
1) The pick was made based almost entirely on his upside and I believe that if Pace had that choice he would have drafted Amari Cooper and not White. His #2 ranking as a WR still doesn't justify the #7 overall pick for any player who lacked Whites lack of readiness. IMHO a greater need at WR drove the pick over players who were more NFL ready.
2) The same lack of confidence White displayed when he arrived at WVU was IMHO also in evidence once he reached the NFL and in addition to his injuries I believe that has haunted him and to a degree it still does. Contrast his demeanor and inability to learn the route tree with Miller confidence and we can very easily see another factor which separates them.
I'm not gonna debate a one year college career at WVU over four years as a walk on at Memphis. Both are considered excellent Div. I football programs and both have produced their share of NFL players.
White's injuries have obviously played a major role in our disappointment with him as fans but it also goes beyond that to his lack of progress adapting his enormous physical skills to the NFL. I will say that even if he had not been injured as frequently as he has been he still would be somewhat of a disappointment for a #7 overall pick. JMHO
Most picks are made with upside in mind. Yeah, Smith was a "safe" pick this year, but he was also the best player available and he has tremendous upside. I'm not going to debate the route tree thing again with you...we've been over it a million times. We can argue as to whether a school in the Big 12 faces better competition than a school in the AAC. Whites injuries have played a major role because you can't develop if you're not on the field, if you're injured...you're not on the field.
Let's just call him a risky pick made by an inexperienced GM in his first draft and what I bold faced is why.
1) The pick was made based almost entirely on his upside and I believe that if Pace had that choice he would have drafted Amari Cooper and not White. His #2 ranking as a WR still doesn't justify the #7 overall pick for any player who lacked Whites lack of readiness. IMHO a greater need at WR drove the pick over players who were more NFL ready.
2) The same lack of confidence White displayed when he arrived at WVU was IMHO also in evidence once he reached the NFL and in addition to his injuries I believe that has haunted him and to a degree it still does. Contrast his demeanor and inability to learn the route tree with Miller confidence and we can very easily see another factor which separates them.
I'm not gonna debate a one year college career at WVU over four years as a walk on at Memphis. Both are considered excellent Div. I football programs and both have produced their share of NFL players.
White's injuries have obviously played a major role in our disappointment with him as fans but it also goes beyond that to his lack of progress adapting his enormous physical skills to the NFL. I will say that even if he had not been injured as frequently as he has been he still would be somewhat of a disappointment for a #7 overall pick. JMHO
Most picks are made with upside in mind. Yeah, Smith was a "safe" pick this year, but he was also the best player available and he has tremendous upside. I'm not going to debate the route tree thing again with you...we've been over it a million times. We can argue as to whether a school in the Big 12 faces better competition than a school in the AAC. Whites injuries have played a major role because you can't develop if you're not on the field, if you're injured...you're not on the field.
White wasn't considered a risky pick at the time either. Only by those that wanted Beasley was he considered a risk. White was considered not day 1 ready, but after learning the route tree(probably a year) a player w/great upside. The injuries have derailed him, but there is nothing in his draft profile about injury concerns.
The most you can complain about is creating the hole needed to be filled by white by moving on from Marshal; which if not done would have allowed you to take another player(possibly but not guaranteed to be beasley). But then you don't get floyd the next year and possibly not Smith this year; it creates a rippling effect that cannot be understood. And Marshal, after the previous year had to go, the entire roster was tired of him and as we've all spoken about the point of bringing in Fox was to fix the locker room; no way for him to begin that process w/a guy like Marshal in there.
Most picks are made with upside in mind. Yeah, Smith was a "safe" pick this year, but he was also the best player available and he has tremendous upside. I'm not going to debate the route tree thing again with you...we've been over it a million times. We can argue as to whether a school in the Big 12 faces better competition than a school in the AAC. Whites injuries have played a major role because you can't develop if you're not on the field, if you're injured...you're not on the field.
White wasn't considered a risky pick at the time either. Only by those that wanted Beasley was he considered a risk. White was considered not day 1 ready, but after learning the route tree(probably a year) a player w/great upside. The injuries have derailed him, but there is nothing in his draft profile about injury concerns.
The most you can complain about is creating the hole needed to be filled by white by moving on from Marshal; which if not done would have allowed you to take another player(possibly but not guaranteed to be beasley). But then you don't get floyd the next year and possibly not Smith this year; it creates a rippling effect that cannot be understood. And Marshal, after the previous year had to go, the entire roster was tired of him and as we've all spoken about the point of bringing in Fox was to fix the locker room; no way for him to begin that process w/a guy like Marshal in there.
Without going into what took place downstream in ensuing drafts maybe the lesson learned is that drafting physical freaks based on upside is a risky way to spend a top ten pick. That's my only point and Pace seems to have embraced this as well or he may have taken Edmunds in place of Smith.
Players, other than QBs, who are not expected to be Day 1 ready should not IMHO be top ten draft picks at all.
FWIW we've gotten far more production from at WR from players who were never even 1st round picks let alone top ten picks. White was not the 2nd coming of Julio Jones and there a pretty good chance a 7th round pick may even take his job away. Injuries aside White was still somewhat of a risky pick.
And unless White magically turns into that player he was drafted to become and I end up eating crow this is also the end of this discussion about White.
White wasn't considered a risky pick at the time either. Only by those that wanted Beasley was he considered a risk. White was considered not day 1 ready, but after learning the route tree(probably a year) a player w/great upside. The injuries have derailed him, but there is nothing in his draft profile about injury concerns.
The most you can complain about is creating the hole needed to be filled by white by moving on from Marshal; which if not done would have allowed you to take another player(possibly but not guaranteed to be beasley). But then you don't get floyd the next year and possibly not Smith this year; it creates a rippling effect that cannot be understood. And Marshal, after the previous year had to go, the entire roster was tired of him and as we've all spoken about the point of bringing in Fox was to fix the locker room; no way for him to begin that process w/a guy like Marshal in there.
Without going into what took place downstream in ensuing drafts maybe the lesson learned is that drafting physical freaks based on upside is a risky way to spend a top ten pick. That's my only point and Pace seems to have embraced this as well or he may have taken Edmunds in place of Smith.
Players, other than QBs, who are not expected to be Day 1 ready should not IMHO be top ten draft picks at all.
FWIW we've gotten far more production from at WR from players who were never even 1st round picks let alone top ten picks. White was not the 2nd coming of Julio Jones and there a pretty good chance a 7th round pick may even take his job away. Injuries aside White was still somewhat of a risky pick.
And unless White magically turns into that player he was drafted to become and I end up eating crow this is also the end of this discussion about White.
For what its worth...Julio Jones never topped 1000 yards receiving until his last year in college when he had 1100. In fact his sophomore year he had barely over 500 yards receiving.
Saying that he was a terrible pick is nothing more than hindsight in my opinion.
I've said it before and I'll say it one more time. I never doubted White's talent and potential. He was indeed the best receiver in the draft and unlike others I didn't (and still don't) believe he was hurt the day we drafted him.
With that being said, I still believe it was a bad pick simply because we got rid of Marshall who was already a proven #1 WR and then needed to fill the unnecessary hole Pace had created instead of just keeping him and drafting Beasley.
Saying that he was a terrible pick is nothing more than hindsight in my opinion.
I've said it before and I'll say it one more time. I never doubted White's talent and potential. He was indeed the best receiver in the draft and unlike others I didn't (and still don't) believe he was hurt the day we drafted him.
With that being said, I still believe it was a bad pick simply because we got rid of Marshall who was already a proven #1 WR and then needed to fill the unnecessary hole Pace had created instead of just keeping him and drafting Beasley.
That assumes we would have drafted Beasley instead. Who knows what we would have done instead.
I've said it before and I'll say it one more time. I never doubted White's talent and potential. He was indeed the best receiver in the draft and unlike others I didn't (and still don't) believe he was hurt the day we drafted him.
With that being said, I still believe it was a bad pick simply because we got rid of Marshall who was already a proven #1 WR and then needed to fill the unnecessary hole Pace had created instead of just keeping him and drafting Beasley.
That assumes we would have drafted Beasley instead. Who knows what we would have done instead.
That's always been my point. If the Bears were really enamoured w/Beasley they could have kept Marshal around for 1 more year. They could have just as easily taken Wayne, Gurly, Shelton, Flowers or Peat. That team has so many holes it was absurd.
I've said it before and I'll say it one more time. I never doubted White's talent and potential. He was indeed the best receiver in the draft and unlike others I didn't (and still don't) believe he was hurt the day we drafted him.
With that being said, I still believe it was a bad pick simply because we got rid of Marshall who was already a proven #1 WR and then needed to fill the unnecessary hole Pace had created instead of just keeping him and drafting Beasley.
That assumes we would have drafted Beasley instead. Who knows what we would have done instead.
Well he was the next player drafted and we did need a pass rusher so it's really not much of stretch to imagine he was the alternative had White not been available.