St. Louis Rams fans only now getting over Pat Shurmur-ball have to be especially wary of the latest 2012 NFL Mock Draft aspersions being cast on Justin Blackmon: That he's a possession receiver, a second-banana without any of the first-round dynamism he was being granted earlier in draft season. For someone suffering from Shurmur-flashbacks you can offer no more terrifying prognosis; that's all Sam Bradford has known, thus far; nobody's ready for a third year of it.
Here's the thing, though—there are good and bad possession receivers, with bad, here, being relative to the No. 6 pick in the first round, anyway. Danny Amendola, as a potential first-rounder, is a "bad" possession receiver; he is literally a means for keeping possession of the ball, and nothing more or less. Two to eight yards through the air and a cloud of dust.
Blackmon is almost certainly not Amendola—he is, presumably, the Good Possession Receiver. He might not be The Great Possession Receiver, Cris Carter—who once caught 122 balls for (just) 1371 yards and 17 touchdowns, and who was good for 90-ish receptions for eight seasons in a row—but then, Michael Floyd probably won't be Jerry Rice, either. Average possession receivers are fungible; good ones are valuable.
More NFL Mock Draft coverage from the wide-receiver-obsessed souls at SB Nation St. Louis:
- The latest question is whether Justin Blackmon possesses something called "vertical explosiveness." Greg Cosell thinks he doesn't.
- Meanwhile, Peter King thinks the St. Louis Rams should and will be interested in Blackmon at No. 6.
- As for us, we're still figuring the odds each receiver you love will go to the Rams.