Outside of the quarterback class, there may not be another position that is as hard to determine than that of the three-headed prong at wide receiver.
There’s Clemson’s Mike Williams, Western Michigan’s Corey Davis and Washington’s John Ross. On any given mock draft, those three names can be interchangable as to where they are slotted. For Philadelphia Eagles fans, this has caused quite the headache in figuring out not only who will be available at No. 14, but who exactly the Eagles would favor if all three are there.
Former Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., now an NFL Network analyst, doesn’t think there’s a wrong answer between any of the three.
“They’re all three different types of receivers,” Smith said. “Williams is such a taller receiver compared to John Ross, but Ross is faster than all of those guys put together. Corey Davis is a long guy who is physically put together more than those guys. I think it’s unfair to stack those guys against each other because all three of those guys are so different.
“If I could build a team around any one of those guys, I don’t think you could go wrong with any of the three.”
Fellow NFL Network analyst Charles Davis expressed his love for Corey Davis, believing he’s the No. 1 receiver in this group. That being said, Davis likes what he sees in Williams.
He compares him to Carolina’s Kelvin Benjamin.
“He’s a bigger guy, but that ability to uncover late and win those 50-50 balls, use your body like a basketball player, that can work for you downfield,” Davis said in regards to concerns about Williams’ ability to separate.
Davis said he’d “rather have a guy wide open” which would be someone like Corey Davis and his quickness out of breaks, but doesn’t think it’s a one-way street. Benjamin was doubted coming out of the draft for his lack of separation and has since churned out a 1,000-yard season as a rookie and 16 touchdowns in two full seasons.
Mike Mayock also expressed his interest in Corey Davis, while putting to rest the biggest knock on him — the level of competition he faced.
“If you look at Corey Davis, if you look around the league starting with Antonio Brown [Central Michigan] and look at all the MAC receivers going back to Randy Moss [Marshall], I have no problem with MAC wide receivers. That level of competition is fine with me.”
In regards to Ross, he has been linked to the Eagles for quite some time now dating back to his electric 40-yard time. ESPN’s most recent mock has him as the guy at No. 14. He even recently told reporters the team brought up DeSean Jackson’s name during their meetings, an indication as to what the Eagles foresee in the speedster.
So which of these three guys will pan out the best? There’s no way of determining that. There’s the size (Williams), the speed (Ross) and the all-around (Davis) receiver. The Eagles may very well have their choice at No. 14 if they so choose to go with a playmaker in the first round.
At the very least, the experts believe that all three guys will be impact players, and any of the three would provide a boost to a revamped Eagles offense.
