Skinfanjon
The UDFA
The reason why you see it on the returns is once he clears some defenders and has daylight he can go full speed. I have to rewatch him, I'll do it later. But off the top of my head, you'll see the speed in full force on end arounds when they give him in the ball in the backfield where again he has the space (lack of clutter) to do it.
When you catch the ball in traffic, you can't go full acceleration typically. You have to decelerate some. Stop and go. He's good at that. Tai Felton another dude who is really fast and is a good YAC guy but its not because he's at it at full speed.
But even if lets say you think he doesn't play as fast as he looks. His 40 time. And time speed in games is elite level. And 8.3 YAC makes it clear he puts it to use. So its not really a subjective call. It's clear he does play fast. And its clear that he's great at YAC.
The thing with him is similar to Felton in that for a fast guy with the potential to be a deep threat, he's not been that. Can he develop into that? But as a speed dangerous underneath guy, that looks slam dunk.
The clips you posted from the combine, no doubt, he looks fast AF there. Good mitts too and I love the measurement on them. And like you mention above, he bursts on end arounds once it clicks. Same on returns and also at WR. And I totally get your 2nd paragraph about when you can hit the gas and can’t. I get that.
The negative I see, and for sure could be wrong, is that he’s thinking too much during his routes. His route speed doesn’t look like it matches his fully committed speed. And I see a lot of notes saying he has long speed, which I’m not sure is quite right. To me it’s “fully committed” speed. I kinda see like a light switch go off at times and then it kicks. I don’t love that as a receiver trait, but perhaps it can be taught.
But it’s the 4th round. Totally fine with the pick. We need to be taking shots at WR because Terry probably has two seasons of truly elite play at best before age catches up. He should age well with his contested catches but he’s not going to be elite elite much longer.
