Every NFL team would love to have a receiver who is big, fast and strong.

With the NFL Combine this week, longtime NFL coach Jerry Sullivan offered some insight while explaining to Omnisport other things teams hope to see in the 58 wideouts on the field Saturday in Indianapolis.

Receivers need more than just speed to succeed in the NFL. They need ankle flexibility (yes, ankle flexibility — to precisely get in and out of their routes). They have to know how to use their hands to get off press coverage and understand route trees. But most important is being instinctive.

Sullivan, who recently retired after five years with the Jaguars, knows a thing or two about wide receivers. He spent 24 of 25 years in the NFL as a receivers coach; he was the Cardinals offensive coordinator in 2003. He’s been working with receivers since his first coaching job at Kansas State in 1971.

Sullivan, 72, left the Jaguars in January and has been working with 2017 NFL Draft prospects Mike Williams (Clemson), Isaiah Ford (Virginia Tech) and Corey Davis (Western Michigan) as they trained in Phoenix for the combine. Sullivan thinks Williams and Davis will be the first two receivers taken in April.

Here's more of what Sullivan had to say about what NFL-hopeful receivers need to show.

MORE THAN HEIGHT/WEIGHT/SPEED

Sullivan cited Julio Jones as an example of an elite receiver who is more than just a height/weight/speed guy.

“As great of a receiver as Julio Jones is, sure he has elite speed, but he has the instincts to go to the ball,” Sullivan told Omnisport. “He’s able to come out of his routes. Instincts go along with all of the other attributes like size and speed.

“A guy can run well, but if he doesn’t have good ball skills, you have a strike against you.”

Sullivan said Anquan Boldin, who was a second-round pick of the Cardinals in 2003 while Sullivan was the offensive coordinator, is a player who had a stellar career despite not having top-end speed.

“He went to the combine and didn’t time very well. Here we are, 14,000 yards later and he’s still rolling,” Sullivan said of the three-time Pro Bowler who won a Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2012. “He has great football instincts, great awareness. He’s getting up in age, so he’s slowed down a bit, but he’s always had great anticipation and quickness, good initial acceleration. He didn’t have great long speed, but those are things you look for in guys.”

COMPLETE RECEIVERS (THINK: LARRY FITZGERALD, ISAAC BRUCE)

Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald, whom Sullivan said is like a son, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame when he’s done playing. Sullivan said Fitzgerald is another complete receiver who does everything well. Sullivan also coached former Rams receiver Isaac Bruce during Bruce's final season, in San Francisco.

“I love the guy. Was he ever that fast? He was a 4.5 guy,” Sullivan said of Bruce. “He’s one of the top five receivers in the history of the league. He was very sudden, very quick, very elusive, good skills running with the ball. Was he super-fast? No. But he played faster than anyone and was never caught.”

FOOTBALL IQ OVER SPEED

Most recently, Sullivan had Jacksonville’s duo of Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns.

Robinson was a second-round pick out of Penn State in 2014. After an underwhelming rookie season, Robinson had a breakout season in 2015 with 80 catches for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“He was a big-time receiver, good size; he had a great vertical jump,” Sullivan said of the 6-3, 209-pound Robinson who ran a 4.6-second 40 at the combine. “He led the league in catches of 20 yards or more.

“Speed gets looked upon as the ideal thing, but you have to be able to play the game. If the game was all about how fast people are, all the track guys would be playing football and the football players would be sitting in the stands.”

Hurns was undrafted out of Miami in 2014 but has caught 150 passes for 2,185 yards and 19 touchdowns over three seasons. He caught Sullivan’s eye at the combine, where Hurns didn’t put up dazzling numbers but ran through the drills well enough to make Sullivan want to learn more about him.

“The first thing I always do when I get back from the combine, the guys I like, I ran in to look at film of them,” Sullivan said. “Looking at the tape, you justify it. I saw this guy run fast at the combine, but does he play football well. You have to see that.

“When you see how a guy performs in a game, that gives you a lot more insight.”

THE NEXT JULIAN EDELMAN

Hurns was undrafted and Patriots receiver Julian Edelman was overlooked until New England took a flier on the former Kent State quarterback in the seventh round of the 2009 draft.

“Does he have great long speed? No, but he’s catching 100 passes a year from, obviously, a great quarterback,” Sullivan said of Tom Brady’s favorite target. “He does a lot of things that are not measurable. He’s quick; he’s sudden; he anticipates; smart. Those are all things that enable you to be a better player.

“As you go to the combine, those are things I look for in a guy.”

And what NFL teams hope to find this week in Indianapolis.