WR, Missouri
Rankings: 25th-ranked wide receiver by Pro Football Weekly. Six drafted wide receivers were ranked behind him. Graded as a 7th-round prospect with a better-than-average chance to make an NFL roster.
Scouts Inc. ranked him a late-round, "diamond-in-the-rough" prospect. 27th-ranked WR.
NFLDraftScout ranked him 46th at WR, 396th player overall.
Biography/Honors: Mizzou's all-time receiving yards leader with 2,778.
2009: Second-team All-America. First-team All-Big 12. 113 receptions for 1,781 yards (15.8 ypc), 14 TD. All three of those stats were single-season school receiving records. Led nation in receiving yards.
2008: 26 receptions for 329 yards (12.7 ypc), 5 TD.
2007: 37 receptions for 417 yards (11.3 ypc), 2 TD.
2006: 15 receptions for 251 yards (16.7 ypc), 1 TD.
Major: not listed.
Injuries:
2010: Injured left knee during Senior Bowl week. Had surgery in February to fix a cartilage defect. This was a separate issue from his ACL surgeries.
2008: Doctors had to go back into his left knee again in the spring after discovery that the original ACL graft had re-torn. Missed the first two games and was never really 100% the entire season.
2007: Missed three-plus games due to a wrist injury that required surgery. Tore ACL in left knee in Big 12 Championship Game, requiring surgery, and missed the Cotton Bowl.
Note: Alexander indicated at a press conference yesterday that his left knee has been operated on four times, though there's only media accounts for three that I could find.
Pro Day stats: Alexander reported a 4.4 40, 4.12 20-yard shuttle and 41.5" vertical leap at an open Pro Day in Houston at the end of July. February's knee surgery kept him out of the NFL Combine and any college pro days. Jacoby Ford was the only WR at the Combine to break 4.4. 41.5" would have tied the best vertical leap by a WR. His shuttle run would have been among the top times.
Positives: Would be one of the tallest receivers in the NFL. Smooth player with big frame that helps him get separation. Excellent size and body length. Finds soft spots in the zone well. Good concentration, catches well over his head and doesn't drop many. Strong hands. Adequate speed. Good jump-ball and red-zone threat, excellent leaper. Not afraid to go over the middle and does his best work over the middle. Can overpower defenders for YAC. Good field vision. High character player, mentally and physically tough. Very good blocker. Can develop into a possession receiver and red-zone threat for a WCO.
Negatives: Left knee has been operated on FOUR times, for sure two ACL re-constructions. Has little burst. Looked very uncomfortable against press coverage Senior Bowl week. Used to the clean breaks off the line he got playing in Mizzou's spread system. Looked stiff and wasn't physical enough to beat the jam. Also had a number of dropped passes that week and had difficulty with passes that weren't right to him. Takes too long to get up to top speed and in and out of breaks. Will struggle against tight man coverage in the pros. Fights the ball some, too frequently lets it get into his body, too frequently double-catches it. Has to improve route-running; telegraphs his moves. Won't outrun anybody for YAC. Won't make defenders miss.
Compares to: PFW says Marcus Monk, a 7th-round draft pick of the Bears two years ago. I would have said Malcom Floyd of the Chargers. (Did you know Malcom Floyd has a brother named Malcolm?)
Fun facts: Danario's nickname in high school was "Dust Mite," though he got it when he was a 105-pound freshman defensive back. He didn't crack the 6-foot-tall mark until his junior year. Danario's bad injury luck runs in the family. His brother Ali, also a wide receiver, broke his ankle at the start of his senior year of high school. OK, maybe that's not so much a "fun" fact. But did you know Malcom Floyd has a brother named Malcolm?
RamView: The Rams are trying to manage and downplay Alexander's expectations right off the bat, an effort I hope works. There is a ton of buzz around him locally because he played at Mizzou and is a big receiver coming off a highly-successful college season, and the Rams clearly need receivers. But. Alexander is obviously a huge injury risk. Also. While his Senior Bowl week injury woes are well-known, his struggles during practices there aren't. His draft stock was falling even before his most recent knee injury. He clearly has a lot of adjusting to do to attune to the pro game, and it's fair to say he won't do it in time for the home opener. This is where I wish the Rams coaching staff still had Charlie Baggett, who is terrific at developing big receivers. The good news, though, and why Alexander is still a savvy pick-up for the Rams: they'll have a year to get him up to speed, which I expect him to spend on the practice squad. If it took this long for the NFL just to sign Alexander for a training camp, none of the teams are going to risk the full-time roster spot it would take to steal him off the Rams' PS. I fear that St. Louis fans think they've got a 2010 starter in Alexander, as opposed to a 2010 practice-squad player. He's a fine signing, but for 2011.
Sources: Pro Football Weekly 2010 Draft Preview, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, University of Missouri athletics site, rotoworld.com, Columbia (Mo.) Examiner, FFToolbox.com, Scouts Inc., bleacherreport.com, Columbia Missourian, CNNSI.com, Pro Football Talk
No comments:
Post a Comment