Flex End ~ Seth DeValve ~ Princeton Tigers
6024/243
The Prototype would be about 6050/260 or so.
The "Tight Ends" whose Frames are better suited to be deployed in running Routes from all over the Formation, and who aren't especially renowned for their Blocking ~ though many are adept Chippers ~ I refer to as Flex Ends.
The Prototype would be about 6030/245 or so.
Those of either type who present legitimate Dual Threats ~ who can make a genuine Impact either as a Blocker or as a Receiver ~ are impossible to predict from Snap to Snap, and this renders them extraordinarily dangerous.
Conceivably even more dangerous and dynamic than either of these two types is one of my pet Positions: The WingBacks. I employ this ancient FootBall Term, one still in active use in many High Schools and Colleges, to refer to a Role so ethereal as to be almost imaginary: an Hybrid FullBack & Flex End ~ a Super Hybrid, if you will.
The Prototyped would be about 6000/250 or so.
The WingBack, optimally, would be a guy capable of Lead Blocking in the Run Game, Pass Blocking in the Passing Game, or splitting out and running Pass Patterns from SlotBack, Slot End, Split End, or Flanker. He could line up at any of those spots, or on either Wing, on the Line, or in the BackField. He could even go In Motion or run the Ball!!
Such a versatile, dynamic Player could have an explosive Impact on the Competitive LandScape.
The Game has reached a point in its Tactical History that is perfect for such a Player.
It awaits only for the NFL to realize the Opportunity.
***
Because Flex Ends operate as an Hybrid's Hybrid ~ part Tight End and part WideOut, with Blocking ~ the occasional Chip ~ being but a tertiary part of their Game ~ I break down their Attributes pretty much like I would those of a WideOut:
Separation: Getting Open. This encompasses Combat Skills & Fluidity to beat Press, Acceleration out'f the Blocks, Fluidity and Ricochet in navigating Traffic, Route Running Precision, the capacity to deceive Defenders, and Field Vision for Timing Seems and Open Zones. All other Aspects of a WideOut's Job Description are dwarfed by this one.
Catch Point Capacity: In Transit or Contested: Hands, WingSpan, Vertical Agility, Combat Skills, and Timing.
Yards After Catch are well and fine, but it seems to me that 90% of the Value of a Flex End and any WideOut is getting open and catching the Ball. Anyone who's read my Work extensively knows that I consider Blocking to be the Heart & Soul of FootBall, but that is a philosophical position, and I recognize that with most Philosophies, where it comes to Wide Receivers and Flex Ends...it's just Gravy. And so is Yards After Catch: Moving The Chains is What Wins.
Broken down into SubCategories, it'd go something like this:
Separation
* Combat Skills
* Fluidity
* Acceleration
* Ricochet
* Routing
* Deception
* Field Vision
Catch Point Capacity
Catch Point Capacity
* Timing
* Combat Skills
* Vertical Agility
* Hands
* WingSpan
Catch Point Capacity: Mediocre. Tracking & Timing are raw. Decent Combat Skills and decent Hands.
The reason that I'm writing Seth DeValve up ~ and doubtlessly the reason that he got drafted early enough to warrant my doing so ~ is of course his phenomenal Pro Day Numbers, where his terrific 3 Cone and Short Shuttle Numbers suggested tremendous Intrinsic Fluidity & Ricochet, and where his phenomenal 10 Yard Split and Vertical Numbers strongly suggested phenomenal Acceleration and Power, both of which his Tape hinted at.
Even I would have to drop Acid to capture the ethereal state of Mind that might possibly allow me to confidently extrapolate the likelihood of DeValve's Intrinsic Power, Agility, and Speed, juxtaposed against grainy and sporadic Tape against Ivy League Competition, translating into effective Impact on the Field of Battle...And even then, I'd be guessing!!
But even with so much uncertainty ~ Risk ~ involved in the Equation, there is clearly a lot of raw Talent to work with, here.
Grateful Thanks, as always, for the crucial Work done by the folks at Draft BreakDown!!
Market Value #138 | Yankee Grade 4th/5th Round |
None of this is even remotely a Complaint, mind you, but rather a Warning!! Caveat Emptor!!