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Some of those dudes are just plain HUGE!
If the long-held theory of “bigger, faster, stronger” will perpetuate a season rife with victories, things are looking up Lions fans.
Among the many favorable impressions I took away from my two mornings at the 2010 Detroit Lions training camp at the outdoor practice field in Allen Park was the “wide-eyed, child-like” wonderment of the big, fast, and even mammoth Lions players.
On the defensive line, it looks like the Detroit Lions have now sourced the personnel to fill out a quality NFL defensive front four.
The movement to the ball by the Detroit Lions’ first-string defenders was remarkable. The team appears to have defensive ends who can flat-out fly and get around the edge.
Yes–very encouraging, folks.
Again, just the sheer size of Sammie Lee Hill, especially when next to Corey Williams, is simply awesome. While there will be plenty of time for rookie DT Ndamukong Suh to impress fans, it was the combination of the “Williams Hill” that seemed to be most effective.
The size and speed that Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew and head coach Jim Schwartz wanted to improve upon appears to have arrived.
The Detroit Lions receivers are a tall group overall, with big targets in Calvin Johnson, Bryant Johnson, Bryan Clark, Eric Fowler, Tony Scheffler, and Dan Gronkowski. I like the potential mismatch opportunities that could land in the Lions favor as a result of such a big lineup.
It really is exciting to watch this new crew of receivers get after catching the ball, especially with their hands.
I think the addition of WR Bryan Clark will prove a very fruitful move before this season is over. I think Lions fans are really going to like workman-like attitude Clark brings to the receiver corps–he looks like a professional for sure, folks.
There is very good competition going on amongst the wide receiver group. Tim Toone has been highly competitive to say the least, and I think the young man from Weber State will find a way to make the 53-man roster.
With a “TOOOOOONE” on offense and a “SUUUUUUHHH” on defense, Lions fans will be creating quite a noise disturbance on Sunday afternoons in Detroit this fall!
Cheers!
HäMMëR
The Lions enter 2010 coming off another disappointing season. After going winless in 2008, the Lions managed just two wins in 2009 in Jim Schwartz’ first season as the team’s head coach.
The arrow is pointing up in Detroit, however. Especially on offense where the team has used the draft to add a number of solid skill position players over the last few years.
The Lions are hoping that second-year quarterback Matthew Stafford takes another step in his development and establishes better chemistry with talented wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
Too often in 2009 they were not on the same page, resulting in Megatron catching less than half the passes thrown to him.
Detroit added several pieces in the offseason, which should help jumpstart the offense in 2010.
Nate Burleson was added to provide a deep threat and take some pressure off Johnson. In addition, Tony Scheffler’s acquisition provides insurance in case Brandon Pettigrew isn’t 100 percent healthy at the start of the season. Rookie first-round pick Jahvid Best reduces the concerns about the running attack as Kevin Smith fights his way back from injury.
On the offensive line, physical left guard Rob Sims was acquired from the Seahawks, and the team is hopeful that right tackle Gosder Cherilus shows significant improvement in his third season, after a disappointing start to his career.
While the Lions offense can’t be expected to break out in 2010, they have been building a solid foundation. Look for them to finish in the middle of the pack offensively this year, but the pieces are in place for long-term offensive success in Detroit.
Stafford is coming off a decent rookie season in which he started 10 games and threw for 2,267 yards with 13 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. His completion percentage was a disappointing 53.3 percent, but in his defense, the performance of the Lions wide receivers in 2009 was simply atrocious.
Calvin Johnson missed two games and most of another with a knee injury, Bryant Johnson was a complete bust, and Derrick Williams did nothing as a rookie. With no threat opposite Johnson, he was double-teamed on almost every play, and the team’s other receivers failed to take advantage. Even when they did get open, too often they dropped catchable passes.
The fantasy world seems focused on Jets sophomore quarterback Mark Sanchez, but Stafford figures to produce more fantasy points in 2010. Consider him a low-end fantasy backup with upside if Johnson avoids the injury bug, and Burleson can take advantage of single coverage.
After the rookie draft, the consensus seemed to be that Best’s 2010 fantasy prospects in Detroit didn’t look promising. However, Best could put up good numbers this season.
Detroit’s offense is on the way up(not way up, mind you), and Best will get extensive playing time early in the season. Kevin Smith might not be ready on Opening Day and, if he is, figures to struggle from his injury recovery. That translates into opportunity for Best.
While Smith is a starting caliber back best suited for early-down work, Best seems to be most apt as the third-down, change-of-pace back, so this could be a committee situation by the end of the year.
Draft Best as a fantasy backup in redraft leagues. In dynasty formats, he offers excellent potential given the young talent Detroit’s offense features.
Smith appeared to be the Lions answer at the running back position after a solid rookie season in 2008. But he sputtered last year, was ineffective at times, and did not provide many big plays.
The Lions traded up to take Jahvid Best at the back end of the first round, so he figures to get an opportunity to play ahead of Smith. In addition, Smith is recovering from a knee injury suffered in Week 14 and may not be ready on Opening Day.
Once healthy, Smith figures to rotate in and get the goal-line work. He is worth taking a flyer on in the later rounds of most leagues, but avoid reaching for a player recovering from injury, particularly when his team has drafted a player in the early rounds to replace him.
Johnson was, without question, one of the largest fantasy busts at wide receiver in 2009, with less than 1,000 yards and only five touchdowns.
Johnson had various nicks and bruises that hindered his performance, and he was unable to beat double coverage as he had in 2008.
Matt Stafford figures to improve significantly in 2010, and hopefully Johnson can remain healthy for 16 games. If that happens, Johnson could return to his 2008 form of 1,331 yards and 12 touchdowns—a result more likely to happen if free-agent acquisition Nate Burleson performs well.
The Lions offense should be more explosive with the addition of running back Jahvid Best, and Johnson figures to benefit in the touchdown department. Coming off a poor 2009 season, Johnson could be considered a bit of a buy-low option.
Burleson moves to the Lions where he figures to get plenty of single coverage opposite Calvin Johnson.
He was the Seahawks top wide receiver in 2009, finishing with 63 receptions for 812 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games. In Detroit, he may have difficulty replicating that production because Calvin Johnson eats up the targets, so Burleson may not get as many passes thrown his way.
Look for Burleson to be more of a deep threat—a role he has played for most of his career. As with other receivers that run mostly deep patterns, Burleson has been extremely inconsistent from week to week.
Consider him a backup wide receiver in all fantasy formats, capable of filling in on bye weeks if a solid match-up presents itself.
Since leaving the Cardinals, Bryant Johnson has been a disappointment with the 49ers in 2008 and with the Lions in Detroit last year. Although he is a gifted receiver with speed, size, and decent hands, Johnson has been a tease, unable to turn his natural ability into production on a consistent basis.
The Lions signed Nate Burleson during the off season, perhaps the premier free-agent wide receiver on the market. His acquisition moves Johnson out of the starting lineup and likely off the roster due to his lack of ability on special teams.
The team employs Dennis Northcutt out of the slot and wants to find playing time for their 2009 third-round pick Derrick Williams, making Johnson a likely candidate for a new team in 2010. Johnson’s talent has never translated into solid fantasy production and it isn’t about to now.
Pettigrew was last year’s top-ranked rookie tight end, but is recovering from a knee injury and may not be fully healthy on opening day. Plus, he now has Tony Scheffler to contend with.
In a nutshell, the odds of him breaking out are pretty much zilch. That’s too bad since he was playing well before he was hurt (15 receptions for 165 yards and two touchdowns in the three games before his injury).
Scheffler goes from being a forgotten man in Josh McDaniels’ Denver wonderland to being a backup in Detroit. Makes you wonder what he did in his past life.
While he has undeniable receiving ability, Scheffler is a poor blocker and is unlikely to get much playing time ahead of Brandon Pettigrew if Pettigrew is ready to start the season. Scheffler’s fantasy prospects are basically tied to Pettigrew’s availability, and he is worthy of a late-round pick only in larger leagues.
Dave Stringer is a staff writer at FFToday.com , home of the popular Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy custom cheatsheet and draft tracking software.
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Have you ever wondered how much Jeff Backus gets paid to pad opposing teams’ sack totals? Or how much your favorite Detroit Lions player makes? Or who the highest and lowest paid player on the team is?
Well, you are about to find out, but let’s cover a few things first.
Once the NFL owners opted out of the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA), that immediately meant two things. First off, there is no salary cap in 2010. Second, there will be no football after 2010 if a new CBA isn’t reached.
As of right now, a new CBA has not been agreed upon and that does mean that a potential lockout is looming for 2011, but that is a totally different topic of discussion.
It’s no secret the Lions have been spending money this season. Just the additions of high-profile free agents Kyle Vanden Bosch and Nate Burleson alone cost the Lions a total of $51 million dollars over the next five years.
I have carefully researched the Lions’ salary cap for 2010. The complexity of an NFL salary cap is extremely hard to explain, and there are many different factors that come into play in a players total salary number.
For instance, each player has a base salary and a signing bonus. But some players also have other various bonuses in their contracts, most commonly for workouts and player stat incentives.
An example of an “incentive-based contract” would be the deal that Michael Vick got with the Eagles last year. Vick signed a two year deal that guaranteed him $1.6 million in 2009, and $5.2 million this season. He also has certain incentives written in that could add an additional $3 million over those two years, but that money isn’t guaranteed.
Incentives are different for each contract. In Vick’s case, since he’s a quarterback, maybe he has a clause that stipulates if he throws 15 touchdown passes he gets a certain dollar amount, or “incentive,” for reaching that mark.
In this article I’m only going to be listing each player’s total dollar amount they are set to earn in 2010, based on their base salary and signing bonuses. So if a player does have incentives written into his contract, and I know for a fact some of them do, the total could actually end up being higher than I have written here.
I’ll start with the offensive players and break it down by position form there.
Quarterback
Matthew Stafford: $12,980,000
Shaun Hill: $1,550,000
Drew Stanton: $ 1,052,000
Running Back
Jahvid Best: unsigned
Kevin Smith: $686,630
Maurice Morris: $2,050,000
De De Dorsey: $545,000
Aaron Brown: $420,095
Jerome Felton: $515,367
Wide Receivers
Calvin Johnson:$11,600,000
Nate Burleson: $7,125,000
Bryant Johnson: $3,000,000
Dennis Northcutt: 1,600,000
Derrick Williams: $585,333
Tim Toone: $328,833
Mike Moore: $323,000
Brian Clark: $520,000
Eric Fowler: $395,000
Contrevious Parks: $323,000
Tight Ends
Brandon Pettigrew: $3,536,625
Tony Scheffler: $1,176,000
Will Heller: $1,650,000
Dan Gronkowski: $320,000
Jake Nordin: $395,000
Richard Dickson: $323,000
Offensive Line
Jeff Backus: $8,773,176
Dominic Raiola: $3,200,000
Rob Sims: $1,176,000
Stephen Petermen: $2,425,000
Gosder Cherilus: $1,975,000
Jon Janson: $520,000
Manny Ramirez: $1,101,000
Dylan Gandy: $1,176,000
Corey Hillard: $545,000
Jason Fox: $430,302
Trevor Canfield: $320,000
Dan Gerberry: $320,000
Roy Schuening: $470,000
DEFENSE
Cornerback
Chris Houston: $550,000
Johnathan Wade: $545,000
Amari Spievey: $550,000
Dre’ Bly: $1,130,000
Eric King: $2,312,500
Dante Welsey: $775,000
Aaron Berry: $323,00
Jack Williams: $470,000
Safety
Louis Delmas: $2,065,250
Ko Simpson: $1,176,000
Marvin White: $1,101,000
CC Brown: $520,000
Marquad Manuel: $520,000
Johnathan Hefney: $320,000
Defensive Tackle
Ndamukong Suh: unsigned
Corey Williams: $7,800,000
Sammie Lee Hill: $514,500
Landon Cohen: $484,583
Joe Cohen: $395,000
Robert Calloway: $323,000
Leger Douzable: $470,000
Defensive End
Kyle Vanden Bosch: $10,000,000
Cliff Avril: $631,333
Jason Hunter: $1,759,000
Jared Devries: $1,700,000
Willie Young: $336,000
Turk McBride: $ 550,000
Chima Ihekwoaba: $323,000
Linebacker
Julian Peterson: $7,500,000
DeAndre Levy: $598,567
Zack Follett: $395,000
Landon Johnson: $520,000
Jordan Dizon: $853,333
Caleb Campbell: $325,000
Vinny Ciurciu: $520,000
Ashlee Palmer: $395,000
Lee Campbell: $320,000
Special Teams
Jason Hanson: $2,450,000
Nick Harris: $1,641,667
Don Muhlbach: $780,000
Aaron Pettrey: $320,000
All of the players’ salaries combined comes out to roughly $127,615,021 on the books for 2010. That is actually just under last year’s $128 million doallar salary cap.
Of course, that number will get much smaller once they cut the roster size down to 53 players, which is the active roster limit during the regular season. But the important thing to remember is that neither Ndamukong Suh or Jahvid Best has been signed yet.
While both rookies are expected to be signed before training camp, which begins July 30, Ndamukong’s deal will be much harder to get done.
After being the second overall pick in this years NFL draft, Suh is guaranteed a huge rookie contract. It’s not unfathomable to think he may make more than $14 million this year.
Okay, so now that you can see roughly what each player will make this year, I’m going to throw out some fun facts.
Daniel Bullocks would have made $1,176,000 this season with the Lions, but he was released on July 8th.
If Matthew Stafford throws 20 touchdowns this year, he will make roughly $649,000 per touchdown.
If Calvin Johnson ends the season with 85 catches, he will have made just over $17,846 per catch.
If Kevin Smith is able to rush for 500 yards, now that he has some legit competition for playing time with rookie Jahvid Best, he will earn roughly $1,373 per yard.
For the record, I’d be willing to strap a helmet on and go out there, get the ball, and fall over forward for a thousand bucks!
If Julian Peterson has 100 tackles, that comes out to $75,000 per tackle. But if DeAndre Levy manages to rack up 100 tackles, provided he doens’t have an incentive that kicks in at that point, he will have only made about $5,986 per tackle.
If Jeff Backus allows nine sacks, again (sorry I couldn’t resist), the Lions will pay him around $974,797 for each time. I’m more than happy to let people run right by me for half that.
If Kyle Vanden Bosch only manages to accumulate five sacks this season, he will be paid $2 million per sack.
If Dre’ Bly matches his total interception number form last year, which is just three, he will make about $376,667 per interception.
So there you have it, now you know how much money to yell at a player when you start screaming at the TV “you’re not worth what they pay you,” every time they make a bad play.
Remember, these are not the final dollar amounts for each player, it’s just their base salary combined with their roster bonus, no incentives were added in.
Ryan Steck is a Detroit Lions Featured Columnist with Bleacher Report. He is also the co-host and producer of the weekly radio show, “Detroit Lions Talk.” Along with writing for several websites, Ryan is the featured NFL Analyst in the segment “Man vs. Math” in which he goes head-to-head choosing NFL games against Harvard Statistical Analyst Dr. Adam Ramey Follow Ryan On Twitter!
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When asked how many games the Lions will win in 2010, the highest most fans will go is around 7.
Now I have my doubts about them reaching anywhere near .500, but it’s worth taking a look at how the Lions can achieve just that.
Which players are the Lions banking on to help lead them out of the den of darkness they have resided in for the past decade?
These players need to exceed expectations if the Lions have a chance at decency.
Two of the players Detroit needs to show up the most this season were acquired on the same day.
Defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch and wide receiver Nate Burleson were signed on opening day of free agency for specific reasons: to fill arguably the biggest holes on offense and defense.
Burleson could be the key to unlocking the door to stardom for Calvin Johnson.
His 800 yards last season were enough to gain the respect of defenses, but what if he can’t do it again? After all, he averaged under 500 yards a season between 2005-2008.
That’s not much better than Bryant Johnson, who he is supposed to be an improvement over.
As for Vanden Bosch, he appears to be on the down-swing. He has 7.5 sacks over the last two seasons. That’s not going to cut it on the new, revamped defensive line.
However, Vanden Bosch may have one more charge: mentoring rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. The veteran defensive end will surely receive some of the credit if Suh has a good inaugural season.
With the defensive line (hopefully) taken care of, the unknown quantity in the defensive front seven is at weak-side linebacker.
With the Ernie Sims trade, second year special teams ace Zack Follett is the favorite to win his spot.
Follett has to prove himself, otherwise there will be a gaping hole for the likes of Ryan Grant and Adrian Peterson to run through each play.
If Follett can be establish himself as a starter, the Lions will be a nuisance to run the ball against, leaving one great defensive weakness: the secondary.
Right now, the Lions have safety Louis Delmas, and a few decent veteran corners.
They need at least one surprise player to blossom.
Ask any Lions official, and they’ll tell you they want corner back Amari Spievey to make a major impact.
If Spievey, a rookie picked in the third round, can earn a starting role, the Lions will have a decent group of corner backs and a game-changing safety.
If one of the other safeties is serviceable, bad quarterbacks won’t reach 400 yards.
If Vanden Bosch, Follett, and Spievey do a good job, and the other defensive players continue to play well, the defense will be all right.
Matthew Stafford, Jahvid Best, and the rest of the offense need to continue growing. If Burleson has another career year, the offense should look good too.
If these players do what they were brought in to do, and the rest of the young players from recent drafts grow, the Lions could actually be as average as us fans hope.
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Last Monday, the Super Bowl contending Minnesota Vikings, lacking depth at wide receiver, quietly improved the team even more by claiming an obscure free agent, to many in the media and most fans, off waivers.
Marko Mitchell excelled at flanker at the University of Nevada-Reno. He caught 51 balls for 1,129 yards (21.3 average) and eight TDs in 2007, and 61 balls for 1,141 yards (18.7 average) and 10 TDs in 2008.
At the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine, he was measured at nearly six foot four inches tall and 218 pounds with long arms of 34 ½ inches and big hands of 10 ¼ inches.
He ran a 10-yard dash in 1.5 seconds, 20 in 2.53, and 40 in 4.46 (his 40s have ranged from 4.36 to 4.54).
He had a more modest vertical jump of 32 ½-inches and only nine reps at 225 pounds.
The scouting report lists his assets: a natural athlete, very tall, very fast sustained speed especially for his size, can catch the ball in traffic, will out leap defenders, a formidable target that can be open even when he’s covered, a knack for getting open, and can get behind and outrun defenders.
He also has good moves, elusiveness, can track the ball over his shoulder, nice hands on tough catches, and an ability to get yards after the catch.
His main flaw is that he needs to get stronger. He didn’t break many tackles or overpower smaller defenders often.
He also lacks concentration at times and drops too many catchable passes. His route running and blocking needs work, but you can teach these traits.
He has marginal football intelligence and needs a lot of repetitions to pick up the finer points. He will need significant coaching to learn offenses including the West Coast.
The scouting reports conclude Mitchell is a big time prospect as a possession and red zone receiver. He possesses the physical ability to excel in the NFL. He even shows flashes of some big-play potential and swagger.
If he continues to mature, Mitchell is expected to reach the upper echelon of the 2009 class of wide receivers.
In 2009, Mitchell was drafted in the seventh-round by the Washington Redskins. After an impressive showing in training camp, he made the Redskins’ opening-day roster.
He won over many Redskins fans. Veteran running back Clinton Portis said: “I think Marko’s just coming on strong. He’s that addition that we need, along with (Malcolm Kelly) and (Devin Thomas). We were looking for a surprise, and I think he’s it.”
During the season, he ended up dressing for 10 games. But much criticized Redskins head coach Jim Zorn gave him the opportunity to catch only four passes for 32 yards.
When Mike Shanahan replaced him, he wanted to increase the number of wide receivers from five to six for his West Coast Offense, but he has favored mostly veterans in an apparent effort to win now.
Their only proven wide receiver is veteran pro bowler Santana Moss but they are also trying to trade for the Chargers Vincent Jackson. Future projects, Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly, both second round draft choices in 2008, also appear to have roster spots locked up.
Veterans Joey Galloway, Bobby Wade, Roydell Williams, and Mike Furrey are competing for the remaining two or three spots.
Rookie Terrence Austin, a seventh-round selection, has a chance to make the team as a kick returner. It became difficult to justify keeping Mitchell for the fifth or sixth wide receiver spot because he isn’t a strong special team contributor.
On May 3, 2010, Mitchell was waived by the Redskins. The Vikings put in a waiver claim on Mitchell, but he was awarded to the Detroit Lions.
Mitchell was very impressive during the Lions’ organized team activities. He made several big catches, including a leaping touchdown catch over rookie corner Amari Spievey.
But the Lions, who will likely go with only five wide receivers, had only one roster spot left after reserving spots for veterans Calvin Johnson, Nate Burleson, and Bryant Johnson and also their third round draft choice Derrick Williams.
Undrafted Mike Moore appears to have been favored for the last spot mainly because he played college football with quarterback Mathew Stafford at Georgia.
On June 25, 2010, Mitchell was again waived. Rumor has it Mitchell wanted to get released so he could develop quicker under Vikings quarterback Brett Favre.
On June 28, 2010, the Vikings once again put in their claim. The Vikings were very lucky to get him since it is a rare for a team that finished as well as the Vikings did last year to be awarded a player from the waiver wires.
The addition of Mitchell gives the Vikings nine wide receivers heading into training camp.
All three of the Vikings starting wide receivers were former high draft choices: Bernard Berrian, a third round draft choice by the Chicago Bears in 2003, Sidney Rice, a second rounder in 2007, and Percy Harvin, a first rounder in 2009.
But Mitchell finally gives the Vikings some depth at wide receiver. Jaymar Johnson was a sixth rounder, but Greg Lewis, Marquis Hamilton, Logan Payne, Taye Biddle and Ray Small were all undrafted. (Darius Reynaud, who is being moved to running back, was also undrafted.)
This year, the Vikings drafted Joe Webb in the sixth round as a wide receiver, but he is considered a longer term project, due to his use as mainly a quarterback in college. The Vikings may even move him to quarterback.
Ht Wt 40 Drafted
Flanker
Sidney Rice 6-4 202 4.51 2007 Round 2
Marko Mitchell 6-4 218 4.46 2009 Round 7
Split end
Bernard Berrian 6-1 185 4.40 2004 Round 3
Jaymar Johnson 6-0 176 4.40 2008 Round 6
Slot receiver
Percy Harvin 5-11 202 4.34 2009 Round 1
Greg Lewis 6-0 180 4.41 2003 Undrafted
Slash
Joe Webb 6-4 220 4.43 2010 Round 6
Mitchell looks to play flanker behind Sidney Rice. Like most teams, the flanker receiver is the team’s top receiver and considered the classic wide receiver spot where a player has enough strength to work short and intermediate routes if needed, but enough speed to stress a defense deep as well.
The split end usually lines up on the weak side (with no tight end). Bernard Berrian and Jaymar Johnson are the more classic speed receivers working down the field in the longer routes.
Mitchell could also relieve Percy Harvin in the slot. Slot receivers have to be tough, physical, and fearless receivers because they consistently run routes in the high-traffic areas in the middle of the field.
When they catch the ball the contact is coming fast from bigger players like linebackers and defensive linemen at times against zone blitz defenses that drop the big guys into the passing lanes from time to time.
The slot receiver also has to have more quickness than raw straight-ahead speed. He has to make quick, sharp cuts to get himself open. The slot receiver also has to think fast, because the routes are shorter, the defenders are closer, and the ball comes quickly.
Last year, the Vikings carried six wide receivers, but used mainly only the three starters: split end Bernard Berrian, flanker Sidney Rice, and slot receiver Percy Harvin.
|
Statistics for Vikings Wide Receivers in 2009 |
|||||
|
Player |
Rec |
Yds |
Yds/Rec |
TD |
|
|
Sidney Rice (flanker) |
83 |
1312 |
15.8 |
8 |
|
|
Percy Harvin (slot) |
60 |
790 |
13.2 |
6 |
|
|
Bernard Berrian (split end) |
55 |
618 |
11.2 |
4 |
|
|
8 |
96 |
12.0 |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
9 |
9.0 |
0 |
|
|
Greg Lewis backed up both flanker and the slot and Jaymar Johnson was a back up split end, while Darius Reynaud mostly played special teams.
Greg Lewis is not really big or explosive enough for the slot. He also gets jammed by some defensive backs off the line and has a tough time winning physical battles.
Jaymar Johnson is also not a very physical receiver and must improve his route-running skills.
Marko Mitchell is a very talented wide out that could spell the height and athleticism of Sidney Rice from time to time.
He may also have an opportunity to replace Percy Harvin in the slot on third downs when he is moved to running back (Please read my article “Why Percy Harvin Should Be the Minnesota Vikings Third-Down Back”).
Moving Percy Harvin to running back on third downs would give the Vikings a much more dominant rushing attack ( Please read my article “Minnesota Vikings Get Dominant Rushing Attack With Specialization”).
Moreover, Mitchell has an excellent opportunity to become the Vikings’ fourth wide receiver.
Mitchell may finally give the Vikings enough high caliber wide receivers for four-wide receiver sets becoming common in the NFL.
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