Corey Coleman: Love, Live, Laugh
@GonzoRatso88 asked for my impressions, so I'm going to keep this fairly brief while trying to be comprehensive. First, I have to say I lost faith in Baylor's system for creating NFL ready skill position players a few years ago. That has tainted my view of the Coleman pick,and I honestly didn't watch much Baylor this year. I did watch a decent amount in 2014, so I feel like I can write this without pulling anything out of my butthole in order to do so.
Love:
He can get the ball into the end zone, and the Browns don't generally do that. He makes defenders miss when he has the ball. He has great balance and a good center of gravity, allowing him to break tackles and make cuts. He has speed and unquestioned production... in a draft where receivers either don't have production or don't have speed. I hope they explore him as a return man. He is indeed tough. He can block, and that was a huge concern for me from the receiver position going into this draft. Hue is a guy who deserves the benefit of the doubt, so I'm positive he has a vision of how Coleman will be used rather than more of a true flanker, which was also on the board.
Live
His height doesn't scream outside receiver, neither do the routes he ran in college. I had him as a slot receiver, I was surprised when
@The Hill said he lined up on the outside at Baylor the majority of his plays. I must have seen him in motion a lot, like Harvin starts outside but then ends up more like a slot receiver when he goes in motion. Hue must know how he wants to use Coleman, and I want to see the plan.
Laugh
I didn't have Coleman as the top receiver in this draft, and the more I hear from the experts, there were a lot of NFL people who didn't have him in the top three either. The biggest reason for his lower ranking is he only ran three or four routes, and one of them was a bubble screen. Seriously, that isn't even a route. High school receivers all over the country have more experience with the mental games of the route tree against a cornerback. It's like they got the most raw receiving prospect who has a proven track record in the college game. I live with it because the offensive coaching staff is the best the Browns have had since the expansion. They can teach the route tree, as long as he is a student of the game. Don't judge him by his rookie year, begin the judging process his second year.
