Twelve months after one of the most impressive debuts imaginable for a collegiate quarterback, Jameis Winston struggled somewhat in his debut as a sophomore. Winston had the highlight play of the game when he ran in a touchdown from distance, but he was fortunate to avoid more turnovers than the two he did have with his pass attempts.
As his quarterback struggled, wide receiver Rashad Greene adopted the responsibility of carrying his team’s passing attack.
Greene caught 11 of Winston’s 25 completions for 203 of his 370 yards and his only touchdown pass of the game. When wide receivers play with a seemingly special quarterback, they can often be overlooked. However, anyone who paid close attention to Greene last season shouldn’t have been surprised by this display.
The young receiver was an integral part of the FSU offense that led the team to the National Championship last year. He didn’t receive the same levels of praise that Kelvin Benjamin did, but now that Benjamin has departed he will be pushed further into the spotlight. Benjamin became a first round pick in the NFL draft because of his size and athleticism to make plays on Winston’s passes.
Greene doesn’t possess that size and athleticism, instead he has exceptional ball skills that allow him to adjust to his quarterback’s throws quicker than the defensive back covering him. Because Winston isn’t a precision passer, there were plenty of opportunities to view Greene’s ball skills last season. In the first week of the 2014 season, those ball skills were what stood out again.
For his first reception of the game, Greene ran a simple curl route. He showed off impressive quickness to create a small window of space against the defensive back who was playing man coverage, but more importantly he showed off the comfort to quickly react to a slightly high pass. Too often NFL receivers will wait for this ball to arrive into their chest. Greene does what every receiver should and extends his arms away from his body to catch it with his hands.
As soon as Greene pulls the ball into his chest, the defensive back arrives to try and punch it away from him. Because Greene caught it with his hands and has the strength to protect it, the defensive back can only look to tackle him after the catch has already been completed.
Beating man coverage is important for every receiver who wants to play in the NFL. While Greene wasn’t being aggressively pressed at the line early in this game, he was showing the ability to create separation with his route running.
Just a few plays after his first reception, Greene lined up on the opposite side of the field to run a slant route. The defensive back was initially lined up in a press position, but Greene was two yards off the line of scrimmage so as he released the defender bailed out. The defensive back turned his back to the near sideline and backed off to the point that he was showing Greene inside. This was ideal for Greene to run his slant route, but he wasn’t going to rush it.
The receiver released parallel to the line with his first step, but began to curve towards the defensive back with his second. He arrived at the chest of the defensive back, forcing the defender to hold his position and stop. After a moment of hesitation, Greene sharply cut inside by planting with his outside foot.
He was wide open for a moment, but Winston’s pass was late and low so the receiver was forced to adjust and that caused him to slow down in his route. Greene continued moving forward, but he was forced to settle for a Third-and-Short when an accurate pass would have allowed him to maintain his stride for a first down.
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The slant route is an important weapon for any quick receiver who has ability to create yards with the ball in his hands. Quick slants typically require no setup, instead the receiver just needs to immediately run at the inside shoulder of the defensive back covering him when the ball is snapped. On slower developing slants, the receiver needs to set the defensive back up to find space infield.
On this play, the defensive back is in a press position but doesn’t engage Greene at the line of scrimmage. Greene releases inside and the defensive back isn’t aggressive in response. That gives Greene inside position on the defender immediately. Greene continues to work up field for a few steps, so that he is again in the defensive back’s chest when he plants his outside foot to cut infield.
This neutralizes the defender’s positioning through the break of the route. The defensive back has no chance of getting to the football, even when Winston throws high and behind Greene.
Again, Greene comfortably adjusted to a poorly placed pass but he was forced to slow down in his route. This allowed the defender to tackle him immediately after the catch was made. Having the quickness to run quick slants is one thing, but having the precision in route running to run slower developing slants makes Greene significantly more difficult to cover.
Having multiple ways to create separation is an invaluable trait for any receiver. Greene’s precision in his route running permeates through his play no matter what area of the field he is working in, but he also has the raw speed to simply run away from defensive backs. It’s very difficult to find a receiver who can combine those traits and still excel at the catch point.
As each of his receptions from this game showed, Greene is very comfortable catching the ball away from his body and he consistently recognizes the flight of the football very early.
The only remaining concern is his ability to work over the middle of the field in traffic.
In 2013, Greene didn’t show any frailty working over the middle of the field. He didn’t take his eyes off the ball when defensive backs were in position to hit him and he possessed the spacial awareness to evade hits while adjusting to passes in tight areas. For his first touchdown reception of the 2014 season, Greene showed off his willingness to work the middle of the field.
While looking back at the quarterback and running across the middle of the field, Greene is putting himself in a very precarious position on this play. He can’t see where the other defensive backs are on the field. He can feel the defender who is trailing him, but he must also understand that he is running into an area of the field where safeties can drive on the ball and land a big hit on him. This is the last place on the field where you want to be unaware of other defenders and it’s definitely the last place on the field where you want to completely turn your back to the secondary.
In order to make what would prove to be an important play, Greene had to turn his back to the secondary. He had to reach back and catch a pass from Winston that arrived between he and the defensive back trailing him. Greene’s early recognition of the flight of the ball and his excellent catching ability allows him to beat that defensive back to the ball.
This seems like an obvious play to make, but Greene had a built-in excuse to let this ball go and not risk his health. Winston had missed the pass, an incompletion or interception would be blamed on him, not Greene.
Even though Greene turned his back for a moment, he didn’t waste any time in turning that backpedal into a spin. His speed within that spinning motion not only allowed him to quickly run into space for the touchdown, but it would also have aided him if a defender had lined him up for a big hit.
It was a record-setting day for Greene, a player who decided to stay in college for four seasons when it is something that can negatively affect a prospect’s draft stock.
That is one of the few things that can be nitpicked with Greene. He is not the kind of player who carries any glaring weaknesses and he isn’t limited by not having any specific strengths either. Greene is a very well-rounded receiver who has the ability to win in different ways. The biggest knock against him will likely be his size.
Height has become somewhat of a polarizing aspect of the wide receiver position in recent years. Because physical freaks such as Calvin Johnson, A.J. Green and Julio Jones are all excelling at over 6'2” right now, a thought process has emerged that suggests receivers need to carry that kind of size to be amongst the best in the NFL at their position.
Being tall can be both a positive and a negative. Taller receivers are typically better in jump ball situations, but they are also typically more limited in how they can win in different situations because of the frame they must carry.
While bigger receivers are excelling right now, that doesn’t mean that the NFL won’t eventually return to being dominated by smaller receivers. Just 10 years ago Reggie Wayne, Isaac Bruce, Marvin Harrison and Steve Smith were considered amongst the best receivers in the NFL. Smith and Wayne are even still playing to varying degrees of success.
From a sheer talent perspective, Greene has the ability to follow in the footsteps of those receivers. He doesn’t have the same physical presence that Sammy Watkins had last season, but his frame isn’t significantly different from that of Odell Beckham who went in the top 16 of the draft. Like Greene, Beckham was a technically sound receiver who had exceptional ball skills and enough explosiveness.
If Greene continues to perform like he did in the first week of the 2014 season, it will be very difficult for even the most ardent of naysayers to doubt him.
