Why is Travis Beckum not considered at WR?

[irvin4evs]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK9t...3C8206D2&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=68

The more I think about it, I really want us to draft this guy. He's probably the best receiving tight end in NCAA history, but he played as a WR for the most part.

At the Wisconsin pro day, only about 80% recovered from a leg fracture he suffered late in the year:

6'3", 243 pounds
4.58-4.63 forty
28 reps
41" vertical

You let him drop his weight down to 210-220 or so and he is running in the 4.5 range easily.

He has all-time great hands, and his ability to work in traffic and make tough catches would work well with Romo's backyard style of play. With his size, jumping ability and hands he would be a MONSTER in the redzone.

I'd really love to see us land him, but he might not even fall to our first pick.

edit:

By the way, his sophomore and junior year stats:

2006: 61 catches, 903 yards, 5 TDs (this was his first year playing TE! He was a DE/LB recruit!)
2007: 75 catches, 982 yards, 6 TDs

Those are HUGE numbers for playing at Wisconsin, a school that hardly throws and is horrible at it when they try.

He was hurt for basically the entirety of his senior season.

 

[irvin4evs]

Bump. People are talking about James Casey for pages and no one is interested in Beckum?

6'3 243

4.6 forty at 80%

41" vertical

28 reps

 

[SDogo]

It's probably a durability issue. I think if he was no tinjured people would be taling about him as a second round pick not a third or fourth.

I'm not sure I agree with your idea of converting him to a WR. He gained 20 pounds to help his stock as a TE. I don't think anyone see's the route running ability or the speed and agility to make the conversion. With that said, I don't like the idea of drafting Travis in the 2nd or 3rd round in part for the same reason I don't like the idea of Casey although Travis is 3x the blocker Casey is.

I would not mind either of them in round 4 or later but neither will be there.

 

[BAT]

It's probably a durability issue. I think if he was no tinjured people would be taling about him as a second round pick not a third or fourth.

I'm not sure I agree with your idea of converting him to a WR. He gained 20 pounds to help his stock as a TE. I don't think anyone see's the route running ability or the speed and agility to make the conversion. With that said, I don't like the idea of drafting Travis in the 2nd or 3rd round in part for the same reason I don't like the idea of Casey although Travis is 3x the blocker Casey is.

I would not mind either of them in round 4 or later but neither will be there.

See, stuff like this undermines the rest of your analysis. Beckum is not only known as injury prone, he is also considered soft_not a very physical player at all.

Moving him to WR might be the best way to optimize his success at the next level.

 

[SDogo]

See, stuff like this undermines the rest of your analysis. Beckum is not only known as injury prone, he is also considered soft_not a very physical player at all.

Moving him to WR might be the best way to optimize his success at the next level.

He could be as soft as a down feather pillow and still be 3x the blocker Casey is but that's neither here nor there because he is far from soft.

He was recruited to Wisconsin as a LB. A very good one at that. Not to many "soft" kids get recruited to play LB in the big 10. Granted his interior blocking is not of that with the top TE's in this draft but he did play the H-Back role a good amount at Wisconsin and is a very smart football player that can read defenses very well.

He has shown he will go any where and do anything to get a ball even if that includes taking the big hit over the middle which often leaves him exposed.

Don't get injured and soft mixed up for the sake of argument to make Casey look better.

 

[irvin4evs]

Beckum is certainly not soft, and he didn't even have injury issues until last year. He had a hamstring injury that he came back from too soon, and then he broke his leg. Horrible luck is what that is.

Anyone who says he's soft hasn't watched him, straight up. As the last post mentioned, he takes big hits over the middle and plays with no fear.

 

[BAT]

He could be as soft as a down feather pillow and still be 3x the blocker Casey is but that's neither here nor there because he is far from soft.

He was recruited to Wisconsin as a LB. A very good one at that. Not to many "soft" kids get recruited to play LB in the big 10. Granted his interior blocking is not of that with the top TE's in this draft but he did play the H-Back role a good amount at Wisconsin and is a very smart football player that can read defenses very well.

He has shown he will go any where and do anything to get a ball even if that includes taking the big hit over the middle which often leaves him exposed.

Don't get injured and soft mixed up for the sake of argument to make Casey look better.

LOL. Read what was said in context. We were discussing BLOCKING. Beckum is, at best, an uninterested blocker. He does not like blocking, AT ALL.


Lindy's, PFW and NFLDRAFTCOUNTDOWN, among others, share the the same observation/opinion.


As an H-Back, not so crazy about him, but as a WR, much more attractive IMO.