Donnie Avery WR Houston
STRENGTHS
Donnie is another one of these quick, fast WR’s that can
impact for your team without touching the ball that many
times in a game. He has decent size and strength and looks
to be a very hard worker. Donnie can play receiver in the
slot or on the outside and his speed will open up the
running game when he is on the field. He will impact your
special teams return game and that alone could be enough.
NEEDS TO IMPROVE
Donnie does not look like his frame can handle the needed
bulk that he would need to be a starting WR in the NFL. He
also is a very sloppy route runner because at the college
level, his speed was all he needed. I’m not sure he has
very good balance when he runs and is easily knocked off
stride. He needs to be more consistent in catching the ball
and he shies away from contact.
TALENT BOARD ROUND 5
Donnie looks to be a hard worker, but the fact he shies away
from contact now most likely means this will be an issue for
his entire career. That old saying about “you can’t teach
speed” rears its ugly head when someone talks about drafting
Donnie and it is true. He has speed. But what I say is you
may not be able to “teach speed” but you do have to teach a
player how to “use” that speed. I suspect the reason Donnie
is running sloppy routes is because he anticipates contact
and that makes him run his routes differently. Donnie,
right now, is a fourth or fifth receiver who may help you on
special teams if he does not fumble. It is true that with
his speed and size that most scouts are going to think that
with better coaching they can make Donnie into a starting WR
in the NFL because he has speed and speed is the main
ingredient to a successful WR in the NFL. This is a trap
that everybody in the entire football universe falls into
every time we have a draft. It’s just flat out wrong to
rate a player with speed higher than a player who has less
speed, but can, and does, play the game better. Donnie has
the talent he just needs to get tougher mentally and
physically, but until he does he will just be an good
prospect who has excellent speed.
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