The truth about a wide receiver is written not with a 40-yard dash time but with pure production and the eye test. The stopwatch myth consistently has been exposed by the likes of Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin and Larry Fitzgerald.
Though some football folks have been slow to accept this, the new Oakland Raiders clearly do, which is why they drafted a “slow” wideout named Juron Criner.
Among the dozens of rookies with the Raiders for the team’s first workout under rookie coach Dennis Allen, Criner is capable of not only making the team but also earning considerable playing time.
And if fully focused, he could generate some impressive highlights.
Criner entered his senior season at Arizona as conceivably the best wideout in the Pac-12 and one of the 10 best in college football. He was projected to be taken no later than the third round. Yet he was still on the board for Oakland to take with its compensatory pick at the end of the fifth round, No. 168 overall, the 24th wide receiver selected.
The late availability could be blamed on several factors. There was the mysterious ailment that required Criner to miss some practice time. There was the sick mother at home in Las Vegas. And, of course, there was the pedestrian 40-yard sprint time, which at the NFL Combine fell in the dreaded 4.6-second zone.
None of these elements dissuaded general manager Reggie McKenzie or Allen.
“When you watch the tape, the guy is productive,” Allen said. “And he’s been productive at a high level. The Pac-12 is a good football conference. Usually when a guy is productive at a high level in college, they tend to be the same way in pro football.”
Video of Criner’s act, for the curious, can be found on YouTube, which features him in several highlights, a few of which I originally saw while watching Pac-12 games.
Criner sometimes runs away from defenders, but more often he outwits them or ignores them. If that’s not enough, the former basketball star at Canyon Springs High in Las Vegas uses his 6-foot-3, 220-pound body and 39-inch vertical leap to physically assert control.
His lack of world-class speed suddenly becomes irrelevant.
“I feel 40-time speed is straight line speed,” Criner said. “And it’s rare that you’re going to run in a straight line on the football field. Football speed is different. It’s about having a sense of urgency, having the ability to break down and make cuts while keeping your speed.
“I’m pretty agile for a guy my size, with pretty good body control due to my basketball history. Plus, I can block – and I think I’m pretty good in the red zone.”
Even as he dealt with those personal issues, Criner managed to catch 75 passes for 956 yards as a senior. He caught 82 passes, for 1,244 yards as a junior. He snagged 11 touchdowns in each season.
All of which suggests he has a good chance of cracking a Raiders receiving corps without an established No. 1.
When asked if he saw an opportunity to contribute, Criner didn’t hesitate.
“I would say so,” he said.
He’s right. Oakland’s most impressive receiver, Denarius Moore, is entering his second season. Darrius Heyward-Bey, who developed well enough in 2011 to lead the team in catches, must show continued improvement; he may have to battle Jacoby Ford for the role of primary deep threat. Louis Murphy and Eddie McGee also are in the mix.
It must be noted, too, that Criner is the kind of player that likely would have been bypassed by the Raiders in previous drafts, when the late Al Davis was calling the shots. Davis was noted for his fondness of speed, sometimes at the expense of skill.
Different shot-callers bring a different mentality.
“What’s important to us is this: Can the guy make plays? If the guy makes a lot of plays, that’s a guy we want on this team,” Allen said. “There’s a line – height, weight, speed – where you don’t make too many exceptions. But this guy made a lot of football plays in college, and we expect the same thing in the pros.
“He’s a big, physical receiver that knew how to run routes. He was a big target and caught the ball well. People talk a lot about his speed, but when you watch him play, he seems to be able to separate from people.”
Criner is the most intriguing offensive player among the draftees. He’s a lot more intriguing to those who place more value on production than on a stopwatch that, as we should know, can’t always be trusted.
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©2012 The Oakland Tribune (Oakland, Calif.)
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