The Need Is There

A “steal”? What exactly is a “steal” in a draft? Well, a “steal” is the selection of a player that is unknown, has great potential (that pans out), and is selected in a round of good to great value. For countless years, there have been requests from the New England Patriots fan base for a down field boundary receiver.

The team has attempted to draft a few guys such as: Chad Jackson, Bethel Johnson, Brandon Tate, most recently Aaron Dobson and Taylor Price. All of these draft picks eventually became draft busts. The track record for the Patriots drafting wide receivers is definitely grading out as a flat “F”. Heck, they even traded for the likes of Chad Ochocinco and that was an utter fail. The best way to maximize the twilight of Tom Brady‘s career, is to give him the help he truly deserves. I am here to explain how Keyarris Garrett can be a “steal” for the Pats.

This off-season can be described as a success in my eyes and in most of the fan base eyes as well. The Patriots went out and became aggressive with the trading of defensive end Chandler Jones for an extra 2nd round pick and Johnathon Cooper. They also traded for tight end Martellus Bennett from the Chicago Bears and the signing of former Buffalo Bills wide receiver, Chris Hogan.

The need for a capable big-bodied receiver is still apparent. Keyarris Garrett is listed at 6’3, 221 lbs, 9′ inch hands, and has 34 1/2 length arms. That is great size for a team that has been notorious for trotting out in Tom Brady’s words “Pygmies”. His pro day workout stats were pretty good for a bigger bodied receiver. He ran a 4.53 4o-yd dash, jumped 36.5 in the vertical, 128.0 in his broad jump, 3 cone drill was 7.30 secs, 4.33 20 yd shuttle, and benched 14 reps of 225 lbs. There are good abilities and some bad abilities to every prospect in every draft. Let’s dive in on KG’s abilities.

His abilities

As I previously stated, Keyarris is a big body receiver with athleticism that the Pats need on their roster. If you look at the clip below it shows the great catch radius that Keyarris brings to the table, for whatever team should draft him.

In the first clip Tulsa’s QB threw a hail-mary to close out the half and to cut the lead back down to 7-pts. I must give the QB credit on this throw because he definitely had perfect placement on the pass, but it was the catch radius of Keyarris that caught my attention. He went up and plucked the ball out of the sky (even though it was a double catch). KG finished this game against Oklahoma with a stat line of 14-recs for 189-yds and a touchdown.

In the next clip, KG ran a stop-and-go route against a good man-cover corner in Zach Sanchez. He sells the stop route and accelerates up-field past Sanchez. The thing I loved the most in this clip, KG did not turn to look for the ball or put his hands up until the very last second. That is a veteran move, it keeps the defender on ice because he does not know where the ball is to make a play on it. When speaking of the Patriots, there isn’t a current receiver that can make those types of plays on the boundary down the sideline on the roster. Yes, I know you have Rob Gronkowski and now Martellus, but when does it become a must to give Brady a guy that he can throw the ball up to, that isn’t a tight end?

Needs Work

KG is a physically imposing receiver that has a huge catch radius, but he does need to work on his craft a little more. He is a big-long receiver, and that can cause him to round off his routes, instead of cutting into the route. In the Oklahoma game, it seemed that KG was supposed to be running a slant route and Zach Sanchez was playing off coverage. KG did not break into the route, instead he rounded the route, and Sanchez read the route for a near interception.

On another occasion against New Mexico, KG ran a stop route (Curl route) but he rounded it off. Because of that simple miss, he could not come back to the ball in time. That play as well, almost resulted in an interception, as the corner jumped the route. In the NFL you cannot round your routes like that due to the ability of the DBs. You must break down on your routes, if KG broke down on the stop route, it would have given him more momentum and a better chance to make a play on the ball. KG you must work on your craft young man, if not you will not reach the potential you have.

Conclusion

So far, we have discussed the Patriots need of a bigger bodied receiver and the pros/cons of Keyarris Garrett. This young man has the potential to be a steal for the Patriots in the 3rd or 4th round. He can instantly give Brady the boundary threat he needs. Does he come with some risks? Of course he does, every draft prospect does, when they enter the NFL. Adrian Peterson had risks, due to injury concerns and Kelvin Benjamin had risks, due to his lack of speed. There are similarities between him and KG’s route running ability or lack there of. I used those players as examples of guys who had specific risk values, but so far in their careers, they have made the best of their opportunity. The NFL Draft begins Thursday night April 28th at 8pm EST. Let’s see where the chips fall that weekend!!!!

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Damian Parsons is an Analyst for Couch Rider Report. Follow him on Facebook and Follow/Like us on Facebook or twitter.