William Fuller Scouting Report ~ 2016 NFL Draft

Flanker ~ William Fuller ~ Notre Dame Fighting Irish ~ 6000/186

Regarding FlankerBacks

Most Fans don't know that WideOuts can generally be broken down into 3 Categories, based on traditional Roles, and that those Roles naturally enough call for 3 distinctive Skill Sets, based on the classic X, Y, and Z Positions:

Split Ends are usually the bigger, taller WideOuts who line up in the X Position, on the Line of Scrimmage.
SlotBacks are usually the quicker, smaller WideOuts who line up at the Y Position, off the Line.
FlankerBacks are usually the faster WideOuts who line up at the Z Position, off the Line.

The Split End prototype would be about 6030/225 or so.
The Flanker prototype would be about 6000/200 or so.
The SlotBack prototype would be about 5010/195 or so.

However a given Coach chooses to deploy the Soldiers at his disposal is of course entirely up to him, and most WideOuts will see Snaps at multiple Positions and in multiple Alignments, but I believe that it is valuable to categorize WideOuts in terms of classic Skill Sets, to better define the differences in the kind of Impact they might wield at the next level.

This is how I break things down when I'm evaluating Split Ends, Flankers, and SlotBacks:

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

William Fuller Scouting Report

Separation: Competitive. Against Off Coverage, his tremendous Acceleration is a terrific Weapon, and his phenomenal Long Speed is a Threat on every Snap, but against Press Coverage his deficient Core Power will probably always give him big Problems. DownField, his Acceleration and Long Speed render'm extraordinary, but the rest of his Game is inconsistent and shaky. His Agility is only mediocre, as indeed is his Route Running.

Catch Point Capacity: Marginal. Impressive Tracking & Timing, but he manifests an intense Aversion ~ perhaps even an Hostility ~ towards FootBalls, having buried an entire Generation of'm. Mediocre Vertical Agility, and his impressive Mechanics are undermined by his Lilliputian, FootBall-Retardant Hands and WingSpan.

William Fuller Prospectus

I'll admit it: As soon as I read that a WideOut ~ or any Prospect, for that matter ~ has printed a blazing 40 Yard Dash, I become immediately suspicious about his Agility. There is too strong an Historical Correlation to ignore.

And I believe that William Fuller provides a classic Case In Point of that Correlation that I perceive: That those who can run extraordinarily fast in a straight line are often far less impressive in changing directions.

I tend to come down hard on Zoomers, even though I am myself one. No Self Hatred or anything Freudian, I hope. It's just that in a Tactical Situation, the ability to change directions with Speed is, I believe, far more important that the ability to speed away in a straight line...And I must confess to a level of Sarcasm when I bring it up.

When I pore over Tape of William Fuller, the impression that I get is of a guy who is neither physically nor mentally adept at carving out the Short and Intermediate Routes that Move The Chains. In EarthSpeak: Both his Agility and his Route Running are mediocre, as I perceive it, which dramatically narrows his Utility to a Passing Game.

I would not presume to suggest that he lacks either the capacity or the Will to develop those Skills...Only that he has shown little indication of such capacity, so far ~ to my perception, anyway ~ and that drafting him therefore entails a great deal of Risk, because if he fails to develop them, he will have a very narrow, specialized Role in the Years to come.

As such, I grade William Fuller considerably lower than The Market does.

Grateful Thanks, as always, for the crucial Work done by the folks at Draft BreakDown!!

Yank Rank: Soldier ~ Highly OverRated!!

Market Value

1st Round

Yankee Grade

3rd Round

Please do Note: This and all Evaluations issued by this Site are produced by a ludicrously unqualified Amateur, privy to not even the tiniest fraction of Coach's Tape, Scouting Expertise, Face to Face Interviewing, Experience, or Inside Information enjoyed by the Professionals. As such, anything put forth is certainly misinformed, euphonious, derivative Tripe, and should be rejected out'f hand and indeed shunned by all men and women of Good Will!! I'm trying to discern Power, Agility, Combat Skills, and far more abstract, esoteric Concepts such as Processing Speed and Motor, and I'm trying to do so based almost entirely on a fascinating fusion of Tape, Combine Numbers, and Pro Days, while trying to attenuate my findings based on Allowances for Competition Level, Scheme, Concept, Context, and, above all: Trajectory!!

None of this is even remotely a Complaint, mind you, but rather a Warning!! Caveat Emptor!!