LORK 88
Wreck'em Ŧech!
Marcedes Lewis Is As Good As Vernon Davis
By Brad Lorkovic
4.38 seconds. Thats all it took Marylands Vernon Davis to run 40 yards which is a faster time than all but 3 Wide Receivers. Not only that, but that is the fastest time a Tight End has ever run at the combine. He also set the bar for Tight Ends lifting 225 pounds 33 times. To top it all off, he had a 42 inch vertical and had the longest broad jump (108) by almost 10 inches. At combine workouts, no other Tight End looked more impressive during workouts or perhaps raised his stock quite as high as Davis has. He is expected to be a top 10 lock now after the month of February. However, is he the best VALUE at Tight End?
The easy and oblivious answer to this question is of course! Any idiot can look at these numbers, put 2 and 2 together, and tell hes got everything you look for. However, as any football fan knows, the position goes a lot deeper than simple tests of athletic ability. There are certain abilities that effect how well you play the position that cant be tested: toughness, red zone presence, blocking ability, and several other key factors. Several other factors like these put some of the other Tight Ends up there (if not over) Vernon Davis. For this and several other reasons, I feel Marcedes Lewis is the best value at Tight End.
My 1st argument for saying Lewis is a better value than Davis is based on where these two players were drafted. With the 6th overall pick in the 2006 draft, Vernon Davis became a San Francisco 49er. In fact, he is only the 4th TE in the past 20 years to go top 10 overall (Kyle Brady in 95, Rickey Dudley in 96, and Kellen Winslow in 04 being the other two). While you may be thinking that he is definitely worth that pick, out of those 3 above, none have made the pro bowl with the exception of Kyle Brady who was a 1st alternate in 2001. Now, compare that to Marcedes Lewis who got drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the 29th pick in this years draft. In other words, there is a lot more pressure to statistically out-do Lewis by a great deal of yardage, but based on college production, this brings me to my second point, production.
Now you may be asking yourself, why did I bring up draft grades? Obviously Lewis and Davis got those grades for a reason! However, like I briefly mentioned above, Marcedes Lewis and Vernon Davis had very identical stats in college. In 2005, Lewis had 58 catches for 741 yards and 10 TDs while Davis had 51catches for 871 yards and 6 TDs. Lewis had more catches and TDs while Davis had 130 more yards. However, what jumps out most to people is the difference in TD totals, a crucial part of being a TE. Now days, Tight Ends are most known for being red zone targets and safety blankets over the middle. In fact, out of the top 25 leaders in TD receptions last year, 5 of them were Tight Ends.
Okay, well Davis is still a physical freak compared to Lewis! While he did post faster times, and bench press 225 more times (which is a test that still has very little football relevance), part of it boils down to potential. Davis at the combine came in at 63 253 pounds while Lewis came in at 66 256 pounds. Currently, Davis is listed at 63 253 pounds still while Lewis is at 66 262 pounds. In a matter of about three months, Lewis jumped up 6 pounds while Davis stayed the same. While this still might not seem like much, the point Im trying to make is that Lewis has great size potential while Davis has peaked out. He can get bigger, faster, and stronger while it will be hard for Davis to do any of these things.
The final piece to this puzzle has to do with where these players where drafted. Like stated earlier, Davis went to the 49ers, while Lewis went to Jacksonville. Jacksonvilles offense finished a respectable 15th overall while being 19th in passing. Davis new team the 49ers finished last in total offense and passing. Not enough evidence you say? How about the fact that Jacksonvilles QB Byron Leftwich has never had a QB rating lower than 73 for his career, while Alex Smith (San Franciscos QB) had a QB rating of 40.8 while posting a TD to INT ratio of 1 to 11 last year. In fact, Alex Smiths rookie QB rating of 40.8 is one of the worst in NFL history. While Davis may help Smith out, Lewis obviously has the better QB. He also has more talent around him so he can go unnoticed and wont get double teamed like Davis probably will.
So why did I do this? Am I a Vernon Davis hater extraordinaire? A hardcore Marcedes Lewis fan? To be honest, its neither. I just personally feel that because of the reasons listed above, Lewis will be just as great as Davis. Its nothing personal against Davis, I just dont agree with all this hype about him being all-world, kind of like Reggie Bush already being called a Hall Of Fame Player without having taken an NFL snap. And to think I call myself a Texan fan . . .