A record number of white WR's?

[referendum]

By my count there are now 23 white wide receivers on NFL rosters or on IR. This includes IR players Gonzalez, Hass, and Finneran. It also includes recent call ups Bergeron and Giguere. On the one hand it hasn't been a great year for overall statistical performances outside of Welker and Collie, and injuries and whitelisting have sidelined Gonzalez, Curtis, and Matt Jones. Also, I'm worried about the futures of Finneran, Furrey and others.
OTOH, this has been a great year for white WR's being called up from practice squads. Increidible, actually. Long, Bergeron, Hass, Standeford (who was later cut however), Martin, Amendola, Grisham, and now Giguere. Of course in a fair world they would never have been on the PS to begin with and would be more than backups. Still, this may show that white WR's are breaking down anti-white barriers at this position, unlike whats happening at running back.
Also, who knows how many of these unheralded WR's will even be on teams next year, as a new wave of can't miss black WR's will be drafted in the spring. Still, I'm glad to see these players at least get on rosters, and gradually, as in the case of Amendola and Long (sort of in his case) work their way up the depth charts.

 

[Jack Lambert]

I think Grisham will have a good chance of sticking with Pittsburgh. His main competition right now is Limas Sweed and Grandpa Galloway.

 

[Don Wassall]

Kevin Walter is in danger of being phased out of the Texans' offense next year; Jerheme Urban was phased out this year after being perhaps the best 4th receiver in the league last year.

 

[whiteathlete33]

I am also guessing Kevin Curtis will no longer be the starter in Philly even if he is healthy. Maclin will get the nod because of he had a decent season. Such is the life of a white receiver today.

 

[Toby Hillis]

You're right whiteathlete, Curtis is done as an Eagle. He never got the respect he deserved in Philly. I remember even during his breakout season, I would listen to sportsradio here in Philly and the DWFs would say "hes adecent number 3 receiver, but a number 1 or number 2...NO WAY!!"Sadly, the Eagles see Jackson, Maclin, and Avant as their present and future 1-2-3 punch.

BTW-Did you count Woodhead on the list of 23 or did you list him at RB?

 

[referendum]

No, I wasn't counting Woodhead, and yes I agree that Curtis, Walter and Urban could face some challenges next year either starting or getting playing time.

 

[whiteathlete33]

The Eagles signed Curtis to a 6 year $32 million dollar contract in 2007. I wonder what they are going to do with him now. They may possibly try and trade him but because of his injuries and skin color no team may want to take him especially with that big contract.

 

[Freethinker]

Kevin Walter is in danger of being phased out of the Texans' offense next year; Jerheme Urban was phased out this year after being perhaps the best 4th receiver in the league last year.

Walter is a free agent at the end of the season. Either Houston can pay him "big" money to stay or Kevin can hopefully go to a team that will give him more of an opportunity. Although he has been a starter in Houston he has been stuck behind heavily targeted Andre Johnson and Owen Daniel.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Houston will not pay Walters big money to stay. Like Don said they will probably try and make Jacoby Jones the starter.

 

[Don Wassall]

The Eagles signed Curtis to a 6 year $32 million dollar contract in 2007. I wonder what they are going to do with him now. They may possibly try and trade him but because of his injuries and skin color no team may want to take him especially with that big contract.

NFL contracts aren't guaranteed but the Eagles might take a salary cap hit if they cut him. Curtis, assuming he can get his troubled knee healthy again,will probably hook on somewhere as a backup for not much more than the NFL minimum after this disastrous season.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Curtis is probably on his way out of the league or close to it. The positive is that we have a lot of white receivers who will get drafted in 2010. Chris McGaha, Jordan Shipley, Eric Decker, Kerry Meier, Riley Cooper, and Blair White should all get drafted. Plus Ryan Wolfe may get picked up as a free agent. That's the only reason I am not so upset about Curtis.

 

[Don Wassall]

It's possible Curtis could still "surprise" some team by being a steal over the next couple seasons if he's healthy. He's only 31 and has been mostly a backup so he should still have a lot left. He could start somewhere as the fourth receiver and maybe end up as a heavily used slot receiver, even though he's a deep threat. He's definitely better off out of Philly, as he won't play much there again barring injury to their young receivers.

 

[JReb1]

I think Curtis could definitely help a lot of teams as the slot receiver if he's healthy and I expect that he'll get a shot since he still has blazing speed. With the success that Welker, Stokley and Chrebet have had in the last decade, NFL Caste masters are starting to see that White WR's can be extremely successful at least as the slot WR. We still have a lot of work to do to convince them that a White athlete is more than capable of being the #1 or 2 WR though.

 

[whiteathlete33]

I don't know about his blazing speed anymore. He looks a bit slower than when he was on the Rams or even the 2007 season when he went over 1,000 yards. We will see what happens but he must be healthy next year or it will probably be the end of the road for him.
Edited by: whiteathlete33

 

[JReb1]

Curtis may have lost a step but he's still capable of being a sure handed slot receiver but he must stay healthy. Maybe the Pats will take a chance on him to spell Welker some.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Curtis has been clocked as fast as 4.21 at Utah's Pro Day so he was one of the top 5 fastest players in the league. He probably still has above average speed but the question is will any team give him an opportunity.

 

[Thrashen]

Several years ago, during the short period in which Kevin Curtis started for the Rams in place of the injured Bruce, I remember him scoring on a long TD (against the Panthers?), during which he exhibited outrageous speed and burst. It was probably one of the greatest examples of pure speed I've ever seen on a football field. If it were a black man, they'd be attempting to "calculate" his MPH, ala Reggie Bush during that generic punt return on MNF.

It was so breataking that Troy Aiken or Joe Buck said "Mike Martz told us in an interview that Kevin Curtis was the fastest WR he's even seen play football."

I'm sure that speed has partially faded as a result of a myriad of leg injuries. Nevertheless, I'm sure he could still burn tons of midget black CBs if given half a chance. His main "competition" is Jason Avant, who has great hands and leaping ability...but is only a half-step faster than the DWFs in the crowd.

I could see Curtis getting out of Philly and starting again, even as a #2. I could name the dozen or so teams that have blatantly pathetic WR corps (most of which are injury-prone, giving him and even better chance), but why bother. Edited by: Thrashen

 

[whiteathlete33]

He was and probably still is a legit deep threat. Getting out of Philly will be the key at this point in his career.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

I'm excited to see Riley Cooper "stun" DWFs at the NFL combine. My guess is he'll run even faster than Matt Jones did. He could run as fast as high 4.2s. Jones ran a 4.37. Shipley could be as fast as high 4.3s, but I'm guessing high 4.4s. There are loads of great college white WRs this year declaring, but Rivals and Tom "he's a" Lemming have one and zero whites on their top H.S WR lists out of 90 and 25 prospects respectively...What a joke!

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i've posted this before in another thread, but Florida's wide receivers coach has stated on several occasions that Riley Cooper is the fastest (not the quickest) wideout on the Gators. he said the other, smaller guys have an edge on him in the short burst stuff, but Cooper blows them away on pure speed.
in fact, he said he'd bet his money on Cooper every time on any race 60 yards or more. suffice it to say, that's impressive for such atall, physicalreceiver.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Does Kevin Jurovich have any chance of being drafted? Most mocks have him as a free agent but I am thinking if he runs well on ProDay( low 4.5 range or better) he could be a 6th or 7th round pick.

 

[rajuncajun]

The big question is how many guys will get invited to the combine so that they can prove that they have the speed to be considered true deep threats, not just "possession receivers". We need at least 4 guys there in my opinion to truly begin the process of removing the racism that exists in the league.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Chris McGaha, Jordan Shipley, Eric Decker, Kerry Meier, Riley Cooper, and Blair White should all get invited to the combine.

 

[celticdb15]

Well Decker won't be able to participate, but the rest of the athletes you mention are all good candidates. I always forget about McGaha and Jurovich(WestCoast)b\c I have never seen them play!

 

[whiteathlete33]

We also can't forget about Ryan Wolfe. Marc Mariani, and Brett Hamlin who have chances to catch on as free agents.