Golden Tate Looks Good At Notre Dame Pro Day

I’m not going to throw out the race card as an accusation or anything, but rather point out that there’s a documented subconscious phenomenon about positions and race. It’s most prevalent at the high school level, where for years coaches steered black players to corner, wideout, etc. and white players to linebacker and quarterback. And when people see a black quarterback, they usually think he’s an athletic, mobile guy, and I still meet people all the time who think that about Byron Leftwich. By the same token, people who see a white safety who plays like Ronnie Lott are much more likley to compare him to John Lynch than to Lott. By the same token, people are much more likely to compare Jordan Shipley to Wes Welker than to Harrison, even though Shipley’s skill set is much more like Marvin’s. It’s natural, I guess, and I don’t mean anything negative by it, but rather want to illustrate that the stereotype doesn’t always hold up. Shipley’s one of those guys. He came into UT as an all-everything speed receiver and accomplished sprinter, and while he lost a little speed as he struggled with injuries for the first couple years of his collegiate career, he has excellent acceleration, makes extremely athletic cuts, and runs the best routes. He gets separation even when he doesn’t have a footspeed advantage over his coverage. He finds holes in the zone, and a disproportionately high percentage of his catches the past two years have been across the middle.

Jordan’s not a perfect WR prospect by any stretch, because he does have an injury history, and is more suitable for the slot because of vulnerability to the jam, but my point is that his athleticism is underrated. I think that if he and every other prospect were bluescreened for the scouting film, people would be a lot less hesitant to consider him one of the top five receivers. As it is, I see a lot of lists with Brandon Lafell, Marshawn Gilyard, and Arrelious Benn ahead of him and Eric Decker, whic h they should not be.

But I think he’s definitely a good consideration at 36.