The Evolution of the Wide Receiver

they potentially are. I shouldn't say potentially. Kyler Murray, Yes, you. We did a segment on t A the other day. You threw some shade his way and I was surprised. Well again, you call it shade, Yams, but it's more of my expectations for that player are so high and I don't see him reaching those expectations. So I'm a little disappointed. Right, I'm a little disappointed. So it comes from a place of positivity. Let's say that still figure out a way to bring it, bring it full circle. Today,

we're gonna have some fun. We're gonna actually talk about one of the more explosive positions on the football field, that is the wide receiver spot. But I want to take you back November. Let that one sink in for just a second. Did you have any idea like why that is a significant date from a wide receiver's perspection? Okay, now that's just say it that way. I'm assuming there was something of kids don't on that day. There's the running back. Wait, actually, and Manning's gonna he won news.

Oh there's a flag how in the little Oh my goodness, you have to be kidding me. That is impossible. That is absolutely impossible. What he just did. That may be the greatest catch I've ever seen in my life. It's wow. Oh b J Handling Business Collins work said it maybe the greatest catch you ever saw. I feel like we're getting a lot of these more frequently. But when you saw it, what was your take? I was like, oh,

my goodness, that can't be for real. And then I was like, well, he had to be out of bounds. And to me, what made that O. B J catch so amazing is he scored. He scored a touchdown, so we actually put the ball across the goal line as well, not only just the catch, but got some points for seeing That's what made it amazing to me. All Right, So we played the audio for you. If you if you're a little on the younger side of our demo

who checks out this show, I encourage you. You can go on YouTube it like all the kids do the catch as m Rob just made reference to Eli Manning the quarterback h's the forty three yard reception with one hand, fingertips the whole thing. You know, there's a part of me and says, all right, dudes are skilled, and I get this. I got This is probably the second or third time I've made reference to him on this podcast. But Curtis Conway, good buddy of mine. Sea Way would

always say this to me. Oh man, those receiver gloves a little different than what I used to play. They're really sticky, and they actually have a bunch of them. I think they're just more sticky than the ones from back in the day. They are sticky. They are little bit more sticky than the old Newman gloves that I used to wear when I was growing up. But look, these guys if they're not making these catches because of

the gloves. Okay, the gloves help, yes, like Spider Man, alright, scaling walls with the way some of these gloves are. But you're outside catching with those gloves. There's not other defensive backs trying to tap you take your head off all of those things. The guys have to be skillful enough to still catch the football. And I think the reason why we're seeing so many of these crazy catches,

it's all revolving around the quarterback. And the more the quarterback has passing camps as he's a younger guy, the more the seven on seven camps that are happening, these quarterbacks on throwing to themselves when the wilde receivers that are out there. So these wide receivers are just getting more reps, and so the the opportunities for the great catches are just showing up a little bit more, do you now, Look, we see great catches on Sundays and

we made reference too. I mean Pickens had one, you know, a couple of weeks, you know, earlier in the season, he had great one. From a Steller's perspective, these things happen. I also wonder if social media plays a little bit of a factor and this whole thing has something to post everything trying to get those double tasks? Are you kidding me? Like, Like, I remember my son's birthday last year. He's about to be thirteen this year, and all he wanted was a background so he can post. That's all

he wanted. My times have changed. I wanted money. I wanted money, Uh you know, a belt of wrestling belt. I say, you know something. He's just wanted the background so he can take selfies. That's the generation we're in. So, yeah, social media does account for because not only are these young players, young football players and youth level seeing their favorite player go on social media. But I mean, obviously you want the likes you want. You want that gratification

for people looking at you. Should I should I be worried about the future. No, I believe our futures in good hands. But but there's a lot of selfies out there. There's a lot of selfies that in downtown Richmond, Virginia, we have a selfie museum. Okay, it's a real business and it makes money. Yeah. People come, they get a little bit different background, and they take selfies. That is the culture we are. And yes, yes, Mike, yes I always feel awkward doing it. Oh my god, I know

that was a thing. That's a thing. It's a selfie museum. Shout out to the people down in which movie to self the museum, Yes, Emrod bringing it as we made reference to today is all about the evolution of the wide receivers. Will sprinkle in a little more selfie conversation at some point, maybe even on a different episode. We're gonna break this down from every single angle, and I know I just brought up the gloves and then being sticky.

There's also a reason, not just the one handed grabs, but there's a reason why the position has evolved to the point where you can make an argument it is the most important position on the football field outside of the quarterback. We're going to go through some of the numbers, some of the data, but I think we should actually start back in nineteen seventy four and I was negative. That was negative about years. Like I was in the negative in in seventy four. My parents weren't even mar

right at that point. Just to put some contact. Damn, I'm feeling old. I'm feeling old. In response to what was called the bumping run coverage, defenders could no longer restrict wide receivers after three plus yards now. That was actually increased to five yards in nineteen seventy eight, and immediately you saw a spike and it makes sense right in passing yards from one hundred and fifty nine per game in seventy eight to a hundred and eighty the

following year. So it's by far the biggest spike in the Super Bowl era. Now, starting in two thousand two, I was very much alive. I was actually still in college. At that point, quarterbacks were more protected, with helmet to helmet hits becoming illegal, followed by a two thousand six rule that bart hits from below the knees on quarterbacks. And I think we can all agree on all of

that stuff. Man, Yeah, for sure is good. There's dudes who you know, when when guys start going low, I'm like, oh, like, I cringe a little bit when I see those moments. It doesn't two thousand four, defensive holding and illegal contact on wide receivers became a point of m the CISTS, and in two thousand nine, any hit on a player deemed a defenseless receiver was implemented, resulting in a fifteen yard penalty. Also, we saw these hits take place on

the college side where guys get injected. Look, I'm all for it because I do think it's important to keep all these players safe. But in your mind, if you're a dB, like, it's kind of hard to defend some of these dudes with some of these roles. From impossible, it is impossible. You'll see the top defensive backs Jalen Ramsey, um, who else? Give me another top day? J C. Jackson who just got paid? Yeah, all of these guys, they will tell you they're the days of the shutdown cornerback

are gone. There's no longer those guys walking the planet anymore because the rules don't allow it, the gameplay doesn't allow. The ingenuity of the offenses don't allow. Yeah, we live in a Western society, but the Western society is all about the offensive, right, and you can see it show up in our game. Passing plays, passing downs and and

throwing the ball through the air is exciting, right. I think in the early days of football, when it was more of a defensive struggle and running the football and two yards and a cloud of dust and all of those things, I think the people that ran our league was thinking, how can we make this more marketable? How can we get the fans a little bit more excited about their respective teams? And I think that's why you saw the explosion in the past game. That's why you

saw the rules kind of change a little bit. But it does take a different type of guy to be a defensive back in today's NFL. Yeah, you can be, you know. I think I was with the Pete Carroll way of thinking about defensive backs. Longer guys not necessarily the fastest guys in the world, but they're so long that they have that makeup speed by their limbs, right, they can make up because of how long they are,

I e. Richard Sherman and things like that. But it does take a unique individual, especially psychologically, and think about it. All the rules, all the things that go against defenses. You can't touch them, you can't hit them when they do get the ball, you can't hit the pastor you gotta let him and throw the football. Let him. I mean camp Chancellor hit Vernon Davis one time, and I think it was the NFC Championship. Oh man, it was awesome. He hit him so hard and runners, my guy, I

love verning. He hit Vernon so hard Vernon pats almost came off. I said, how are you gonna do so hard? His pants almost came off that that's how hard he hit him. And I remember Camp said, man, I went to the ref and the ref just looked at me and then through the flag and he said, why did you throw the flag? And the ref set that just looked too hard, that violent, he said. He didn't tell me anything that was wrong with the hit. It just looked too violent. So that is the environment our defensive

backs have to operate in. So they have to have from a psychological stampout. They have to have a short memory, and they gotta be wired differently, right. They can't. You know, when I say short memory, just because you had to catch on your two plays ago, you cannot let that effect the next play because more times than not, you're you're gonna get burned. Like in those moments you're the guy. Ten times out of ten you can get somebody catching

the football on you. That's just the way it goes. Okay, we see Jalen Ramsey, you know, arguably the best in the game at the cornerback position. When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were trying to come back last year, Tom Brady went after Jalen rams Earlier this season, he's been criticized. So again, it's tough to play defensive back in the National Football any truce to that old adage that their their wide receivers you just can't catch. That is true. If you're a wide receiver and you can catch, you

stay on the side. Serious business. Like my son. Always give reference to my son. My youngest boy be five, was going down. I know he listens. He listens every week, so I know he's gonna enjoy thee I hear him. He has his son was going and he listens to us. So it's all way taking selfies, taking selfies while he's doing it right with its stuff. You know. That's the young people. Uh, and you know um in today's game. But I tell my son all the time, everybody wants

to play wide receiver. Everybody the harder position to play in the position you get a lot of benefits of the doubt on is defensive back. Not a lot of guys want to go there because guys get toasted. Yeah yeah, not not necessarily the easiest thing, by the way, and the position, the way guys are paid, wide receivers now are cashing in in a big way. I know we've talked about that a ton on NFL Network, especially in

the off season with a lot of those contracts. But you know, we briefly mentioned before m rob quarterbacks, And just to add some context on the passing game, I want to go back to nine. That was the year after the initial illegal contact role was instituted. Dan Fouts led the league with two hundred and fifty five passing yards per games. Well that's actually the point, right, So you hear two fifty five and seventy nine? How about this in two so far through week five? That would

land him eighteen, just ahead of Russell Wilson. And let's be real here, Russ and shoulder. Yeah you could you feel bad saying it, but I don't feel bad. One other quick note here, by the way, Andy Dalton has more career passing yards than all but nine of the twenty nine Hall of Fame. Yeah, hey, research, is that for real? You mean to tell me Andy Dalton, a backup quarterback, already has more passing yards than twenty of

the twenty nine Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Yeah, you want to hear some of the names, Yes, please, dude, Troy Aikman, Okay, Steve Jim Kelly, are you kidding me? Andy Dawn's ahead of those guys? Just just context, Matt, Like you said, it and you said it, Well, it all is going more towards the offense and the popularity of the sport. People want to see some points being s four. Welcome back to the NFL Explained podcast. Now, the first thing to note actually is from nineteen seventy four to nine

eighties six, a wide receiver. This was shocking to me, lad the NFL in receptions in only two seasons. I'm gonna let that one sink in first second, Art Monk in eighty four, Dwight Clark in eighty two. So from nineteen eighty seven to twenty two, a wide receiver led the NFL and receptions every season, but one. Tony Gonzalez was that guy in two thousand four, and that was

just a ridiculous season. So let's take a closer look at the one thousand yard receivers versus the rushers and two thousand there were twenty three one thousand yard rushers in eighteen thousand yard receivers. Fast forward to twenty six wide house that actually reached that mark versus just seven rushers that hit the one thousand yard milestone. By the way, that was the same total. I almost feel like we

might not go back to the old school NFEL. I mean, hell, you want to talk about defense and how people don't want to see it. Remember that Thursday Night game a couple weeks back, Colts and Broncos twelve nine, And by the way, everyone's all bad game, bad game. I'm sitting here going, do you know how many great plays the defense made the game? And I'm sitting here going, all right, it's different, but defense is still a part of the game. I say that. And the wide receiver episode, I published

a table. I gotta sprinkle all of this in little bit for everyone. So not only are wide receivers really prospering, they're actually doing it at a younger age. So it used to take guys a couple extra years to get acclimated to the pro game. That transition is not always easy for a lot of players. But twelve receivers under twenty six when over a thousand yards, that's the most in NFL history, Right, Jamar Chase broke the same record, Justin Jefferson broke in for the most rookie receiving yards

in a season. How do you explain it? I know there's the LSU connection with the realities, like there's other dudes that are really putting up huge numbers. Yeah, that's crazy. Early on when you talk about that generation of the seventies and even before that, in the sixties, that was a running backs time. Most teams played with multiple running backs on the field. The fullback was a real position. Hell, people don't realize Frank o' harris's position was fullback, right,

But he ran the football. He caught the football. Tom Rathman in that West Coast system, that was a little bit later, he caught the football a little bit more, but it was a lot more running backs involved with the game. And I think that as the business of football, right, it starts in college the business of football. I can argue that the business football starts in high school, um, where coaches are having less patients from their superiors to

get the job done. And so coaches on the younger levels from the national football they they have to recruit. And when you recruit, you gotta promise young people certain things that they're gonna have when they come to university or your high school. And so I believe that a lot of the enginuity of these coaches wanted to get these players on the field earlier, so they devised plans

so that they can learn the game easier. For instance, some offenses try to hurry up right or try to hurry up, you know with the Chip Kelly offenses and things like that. Well, instead of having the huddle up, call a place or everybody knows what's going on, they just stayed at the line of scrimmage, put some signs up. Receivers look to the sideline. They are now knew their route.

It was a little bit more of efficient way to get to play to everybody so that you can gain an edge, so that you can gain an advantage, so the head guy can keep his job. I believe all changes came down to that. The fact that teams had to put these guys on the feel a little bit earlier. Coaches had to adjust, they had to be more efficient and play calling hints. These guys are getting more reps.

These guys are getting more opportunities to catch the football. Okay, I referenced some of the numbers from the seventies and the eighties. I will say this body types have also changed as well. We will get into that later here. In terms of the wide receivers and and some of the things that we are seeing measurables from the combine. Well, from a technical standpoint, the wide receiver position is getting better.

But if you ask a lot of former players, and I'm one of them, completely how the wide receiver fits into the offense, we believe they're becoming a little bit less relevant. And I say that by saying I believe in ten years, wide receivers are gonna be looked at as runners are looked at now, where you say we can find running back at any time of the draft, right, you have wide receivers. They're all running four twos and

four threes. They're all right, they all can catch. You can find Stefend Diggs in the second or third round. You can find a guy in the six or seventh round. I just believe that we're seeing the golden years of wild receivers now and at some point they're gonna be looked at like running backs, like you can get one at any time of the draft, because the running backs used to be the golden position back in the day, and now it has shifted. Well, we're gonna actually coming

up here and talk about some of those numbers. But if that's the case, then what becomes the value position is it defensive back, is it you know one of those d tackles, someone who are an edge guy that can get after the quarterback, can be disruptive. Does it go that direction? I believe in a football team, your offensive line right is the engine of your team. Your secondary is the battery. Like if you're using a car reference, you can't really win having a having real deficiencies in

both areas. So I believe the next wave of like star athletes or whatever, well revolve around the line of scrimmage. Your big time tackles, your big time pass rushers, the big athletic guys. We saw trade by Walker goes over one overall this year. And your defensive backs guys who we just talked about the diversity and receivers. We just talked about how it used to be a golden age

of running backs. Now you're gonna have to have a defensive bat who has the quickness and the speed to stay with guys like Tyreek Hill and the shifting needs to stay with Jamar Chase and guys like that. But you also have to have the pads and the aggressiveness to tackle running backs because you're gonna be in the on the field all the time. I just think the defensive players are in it. We're literally seeing them changed

before our eyes. Okay, So I think coming up here, and it's important to note here wide receiver sets and how they're being used also impacts the significance of this position a year ago. It can kind of actually explain some of the draft stuff that we're seeing. U. I shouldn't say year ago, because in two thousand and six, teams lined up with three wideouts just fourteen point two percent of the time. In one that's up almost ten percent,

actually exactly ten percent point two. So there is definitely a higher priority right now in terms of finding some of these guys in the NFL draft. They are they bigger though, Are they stronger? Are they faster? Tell you what? Like? Yeah, the answer shortly is yes. I'll take you through some of those numbers. And I also tell you this, do you need a big time watch receiver in order to win a Super Bowl? When the answer actually may surprise

that's still to come on the NFL Explained Podcast. Welcome back to the NFL Explained Podcast. You dropped general manager. Those are the dudes who kind of handle business and putting together these teams they have been going crazy looking for wide receivers. How about this last year, six wideouts went in the top eight team picks, and the last three drafts have seen at least five taken them in

the first round. And there are some dudes that we have seen really perform very well in their rookie season sophomore campaigns, like they're making a big impact. It was the first time in the Super Bowl era that there have been at least five wide receivers taken in three straight seasons in the first round their ballers. Now, between twenty the average number of first round receivers was just

three point seven. So you think that the boom would actually be you know, more physical traits for some of these wide receivers that had improved. Let's take you through some of the combine numbers since two thousand three. We'll start with the forty. Nothing better than watching these dudes around the four by the way three Q Wilham the rookie corner. I would love to see him in a foot race with Tyreek Hill. Oh my goodness, did you see me? Hell end up scoring, but he tracked takes

them Hill down in five steps. He was there. Taysom Hill had a five yard lead. I'm like what, I'm like, that's why we focus on the fourting in the combine. It is kid is fast. It was awesome, alright. So getting back to the numbers here would sort fascinating is from two thousand three to two thousand and five that average was four point five five seconds fast forward. You're actually talking to present day about a decrease of five hundreds of a second, which is sort of kind of

like one of those but not really. When you talk about professional athletes, and I mean the highest of the height that the National Football League NFL players, Okay, that's just the the advantage that you could possibly need to get you and your team over the hump. So yeah, that's big. That's a big. Height has actually increased exactly one inch from seventy two point one inches to just over six feet seventy three point one inches, which is six one Weights have basically remained stable at two d

and two points seven pounds. Vertical leap also stayed mostly the same at thirty five point five inches. There's a lot of different ways though, to be successful and rob you play with so many dudes who just did it differently. At the wide receiver spot. Is there specific characteristic that makes a wide receiver were successful in the NFL? Well, I think the number one characteristic is to wide receivers ability to just catch the football. That is the number one.

So it doesn't have to be a DV exactly, so we can stay on the good guys side of the football right, the offense right, and at the end of the day, that's your number one job description your wide receiver. When the ball is in the air, your job is to be able to catch the football. And for me, number two would be catch radius to be able to protect the quarterback, meaning the quarterback can sit on his

back foot and understand. Yeah, I don't necessarily have to be the most accurate on this past but I can throw it and know that my guys gonna have enough catch radius to be able to pull the ball in, catch it with his hands, and also protect the ball from an interception. Um the ability to separate at the top of routes. Um a guy that we use on our air raves. Mammanuel Sayties I thought was was awesome.

Matt Is Steve Smith Senior also awesome that separating and really that's your ability to create space from the defender. Defenders are real hands that they like to grab and whatever, and they have these little tricks or how they get to cheat and all those things. We can get in that on a whole another episode. But the ability of a wide receiver to make a defensive back think he's doing something opposite then what he's really doing is something

that's very important. And I don't this isn't the biggest factor. But I'll tell you one thing you can't teach this, and that's just speed. That's I mean, just going out there, the ability to pick them up, put him down, the ability to throw the ball to it's how we kill in the flat in his ability to make everybody miss, run around the defense and go a d to me, that scares defensive coordinators. Okay, so you can explain this

because I don't know the answer to it. But I've been told from other NFL dudes that even if you're not the fastest guy, you can make up the difference in terms of how you run around. Absolutely. I learned how to run routes when I was training in Arizona, when I played in the National Football and that's where

I lived for the entire nine years. I was in the league and a guy trained with was ant Kwan Bolden, And I remember Q used always kind lead the group when we would do I receive the drills, and I would always wonder, like, damn, Q ain't running that fast. It's like, cute, how fast are you? Bro? He'd be like, Man, I mean I ran a four six. But I can tell you now I have never ran full speed on the football field. I said, what, You've never ran full speed?

He said, yeah, Bro, like our knees and stuff are our tendons aren't built to like slow down this body from going that fast. So why would you do that so much on your body? You want to feel good, right, But it doesn't feel good to get chase down. I'm telling said, bro, it don't. It don't feel good like getting chased down the tackle or looking slow on tape. He said, Look, man, it's all about controlled movements, he said.

I run most of my routes at fifty. When I get to the top of the break, I give it sixty to separate. I might not get the full speed unless I'm in the open space. I got the football in my hands and I know I'm racing to the end zone, and that that led me to think of something. I started watching how the Great Ones ran their route to play with a guy by the name of Isaac Bruce, and he could always tell me, like Mike, it ain't

about wunning fast, man. You need to make him think you're going deep by your arms pump and not necessarily by your legs moving their fast. And so when I noticed that, man, this isn't just a full speed thing like I see on TV. You know, you think these obviously was a running full speed, but they're not. To me. What makes a great route runners the ability to control their speed, get in and out of break smoothly, and

not take false steps. And I think you look at a guy like Steve Smith, senior, guy that works with us, works for me on Thursday night football, he probably is one of the best in history of doing it. Yeah, it's it's fascinating to me to hear the speed thing because we do make a lot of forty and speed is something that you can't teach and I'd rather have it than not have it. But for the dudes who maybe don't have it, like you know for three, actually

can still have a lot of success. I had asked the question before about do you need a top end wide receiver in order to win a championship. There's some keynos there, and I think for recent football fans will be like, yeah, man, like Cooper Cup. He's a dude, right, a third round guy by the way, who's still sort of shocked if you know his story, that he's been able to make it the way that he has. But

we'll start with Cooper Cup. He became the first ever to win a Super Bowl after leading the league and receiving since Jerry Rice, the goat back in now since two thousand thirteen, of the forty four teams, which is about thirty percent that played in the Super Bowl, had a wide receiver who was in the top five and receiving yards in the NFL that season. Only four of one rank Marvin Harrison, Greg Jennings who was a dude, Victor Cruz thank you very much as a Giants fam

and of course Cooper Cup. Super Bowl fifty six between the Rams and the Bengals was the first Super Bowl where each team had a wide receiver who was top five in receiving yards in the NFL that season. Since Super Bowl forty six, the last first round draft pick to win a Super Bowl. Nelson Agholor and Philip Dorse said, neither of whom like the dude of dudes. Um, you know it's still playing in the league, and you know it's kind of you know, league exactly, not those dudes.

So check this out. Brown general manager at the time was Ray Farmer. He actually downplayed the importance of having a superstar wide receiver. He said, I would say, how important are those guys? Name the last big time receiver to win a Super Bowl? Name that last mega guy. So keep him mind. Cooper Cup has done a he's a mega dude. Farmer, by the way, two years after he made those comments, not there, and he did draft Johnny Football Johnny Manzell. Do you tell me man like,

does he have a point though? I mean, because the numbers do sort of scream you might not need Cooper Cup to go and win a chip. Yeah. I believe he does have a point. I believe that you throw to get into playoffs, but you played great defense and run the ball to a championship. Now you can argue about last year's Rams. You can argue about the Kansas City Chiefs. I think in the nineteen season when they won their Super Bowl because they did throw the football.

But I do believe that there were times in last year's playoffs and in that Kansas City Super Bowl run where they had to run the football and be physical. And I think what makes Cooper Cup so different is, yeah, he was on the Super Bowl winning team. Yes, he he led the league, and he was the Triple Crown runner from a receiver standpoint, But he also has the baddest player regardless of position or side of the ball

on his team, and that's Aaron Donald. And if you think about that Super Bowl, your lasting impressions and lasting memories of the Super Bowl when the Rams won last year is Aaron Donald making his plays, Aaron Donald making the sack. And oftentimes you don't see uh big time offense have a dominant defensive player like you saw in and Donald. So I still believe defense wins championships. I believe if it wasn't Faron Donald in that defense and

Von Miller, day wouldn't have won that championship. But Cooper Cup, in particular, to me, what makes him so specialist. He does the dirty work Yams to meet Cooper Cup is he leaves blocks. Sometimes he is the backside cut off, he's cutting off defensive ends. He never comes out of the game. The guy has stamina like no other. He runs fifty yards down the field, jogs all the way back, run.

I mean, he never comes off the field. And I think that's what And he's with a creative play caller and Sean McVeigh who understands how to focus on him in the passing game and put speed around him so he can get open. I think that's some of the issues with the Rams offense this year. They're missing that speed. But Cooper Cup is a little bit of a different situation in other wide receivers. But I don't think you need a big time number one guy to win the Super Bowl. It just be nice to have him. It

would be nice. I mean, look at when I want to Super Bowl in Seattle. Maybe people called our obviously was Doug Balling, Jamaic curse. People act like they didn't know who those guys were. Now, after the Super Bowl those guys became pretty good names, but beforehand they weren't.

You know, it's fascinating because you can make the argument, and you are making it that you might not need the top flight wide receiver, but at the same time I think about the dollars in this free agency pre that have been disseminated to guys who play that position, it's almost like the league is saying, no, no no, no, like I need those dudes. Yeah, I think that the league is saying. I think the younger coaches and general managers who don't always have the historical approach or lens

when looking at these players. Again, when you look at some of the top organizations, they understand when to go get a hot out, They understand how to address the offensive line, how to address the defensive line, how to address the secondary. At the end of the day, I just don't think you need one of those guys to win a Super Bowl because again, you passed to get

into the playoffs. You run and play great defense to a champions to get over the hump, and maybe it's just get me there and then we'll figure it out. Ask Joe Burrow in Cincinnati. All right, just want to add to this conversation, just because we mentioned sort of youth football, high school. On the college level, what we've seen in terms of one thousand yard receivers in one they were third. Were actually surprised me. I thought the number would be higher one thousand yard receivers in Division

one football. In thirty nine there was thirty eight, so kind of a marginal jump. But if you go back to two thousand, it was twenty. So we have almost seen double in about a twenty year period in terms of one thousand yard receivers. Seventy five catch guys. By the way, in two thousand they were seven, they were thirty five. I think that also speaks to the scheme that you were discussing as well. And I think to take it a step further in youth football, you told

me about a selfie museum. I know about these one handed grabs. Like in my mind as we're putting it together here, it becomes almost like the sexy position in football. Dare I say, like right up there with the quarterback. Yeah. And again I think social media has a lot to do with as I think we just started to show with the Odell Beckham catch, uh, you know, the media and the entire world kind of blowing that catch up has helped as well. And again it's a very skillful catch.

But I believe that especially in all if our listeners can just go to the you know, the urban area in the in the places that they live and just go to a park and just watch young kids play football. You're gonna see these catches. You're gonna see the most dynamic player in the field, usually as the quarterback. To me, that's where the spread system and the running quarterbacks that

it came from. It came from your football coaches just sitting there saying, you know what, I don't really know how to coach this particular schame, but I do know one thing. This kid is the best kid out there. I want to find a way to put the ball in his hands over and over and over. And to me, that style of calling plays, that style of coaching has made it to the National Football League. You know that there are generalizations that we hear about position groups in

the NFL. Um diva's is it a fair label to put on wide receivers? I was. I would say that, and and diva doesn't necessarily mean negative, man Like we have a negative connotation on the word DVA necessarily mean negative, I mean little whiny. Sometimes I wouldn't want to be called I wouldn't want to be called it DVA either.

But let's just think about it. The success of a wide receiver exclusively depends is on the protection of his quarterback, the abilities of his all everything about his position depends on somebody else. So you kind of gotta be a diva, right You kind of gotta make sure that you're able to create the reality you want. You're able to to get the conditions the way that you wanted so that you can go be the best version of yourself out on the football field. So, yeah, they're a little bit

of a deep. Are they the most athletic guys on football field? No? Who don't believe that are the most I don't believe I received that the most athletic guys on on the football field. Um, I believe honestly. Defensive lineman on whoa to be that big, to be that athletic, to run that fast? You're going to be three hundred fifty pound man. Oftentimes they outweigh you by twenty and thirty pounds. You gotta figure out a way to get around them. You can't land on the quarterback. You gotta

make understand your strike zone. I mean so many, I mean to me, Chris Jones, Aaron Donald, Jeffrey Simmons from the Tennessee Titans. What these guys some of these guys can dunk. Yeah, come on, man to me that the level of athleticism is crazy. I've heard the smartest guys that on the football fielder, offensive lineman. I could go to the center, I would say, it might have been a center. Who told me that it might have been It had to be a center, I would say, the

smartest guy quarterbacks. Obviously you have to be there as well, but they don't fullbacks. Just just just sprinkling a little for the for the fullbacks as well. All right, I know I made reference to it a little bit earlier. I am in having a blast. I hope you have as well. I'm Rob doing this show. We love getting those questions continue to slide into my my TM at Mike Underscore. Yeah, you can follow um Rob at Real Mike Rob. I don't know. Maybe maybe if you ask

them a football question, maybe I'll get back. I have no idea, but once you can always appreciate you guys checking us out. Tell a friend about this episode, and of course fire off those questions. It's the evolution of the wide receiver spot explained