Position Preview: Wide Receivers

To get ready for this weekend's draft, we're looking position-by-position at who could go in the first round. Click here for the rest of the breakdowns, beginning with quarterback.

Michael Crabtree (Top 10 pick), Jeremy Maclin (Top 15 pick), Darrius Heyward-Bey (mid-first round), Kenny Britt (late first round), Hakeem Nicks (late first round), Percy Harvin (who knows?)

Five years ago, tight end Heath Miller was expected to go in the middle of the first round. But a sports hernia injury that limited his pre-draft workouts caused him to slide all the way to pick No. 30. He was fully healthy before training camp, and has not been bothered by the injury since, but the injury concerns helped ensure a solid talent slid to later than he should have fallen.

Now we're likely to see the same thing happen to Crabtree. If not for a stress fracture that has kept him from doing any pre-draft workouts, he would likely be viewed as the No. 1 player on most team's boards. Instead, there is a chance that he could slide to the back end of the top 10, and might not even be the first wide receiver drafted.

Crabtree's injury is good news for Maclin, who has moved up to battle him to be the first wide receiver taken. But after that, it will likely be a little while before the next wide receiver is popped. Heyward-Bey could move into the middle of the first round, but there will likely be a run on wide receivers late in the first round as the Vikings, Dolphins, Ravens, Giants and Titans are all in the market for a wide receiver. Not all of those teams will take a wideout, but enough may to leave the Giants and Titans the choice of either taking a wideout with a second-round grade or passing on a significant need.

Harvin will likely be the best talent on the board late in the first round, but news of his positive drug test following on the heels of other concerns about his makeup and his injury history could lead him to slip out of the first round.



Brian Robiskie.

Robiskie isn't very flashy, but he is more NFL ready than most of the receivers in this year's class, and that may help him sneak into the back of the first round. Even most first-round recievers need a year or two to adjust to the speed of the NFL game, but Robiskie has some advantages over most other recievers--his dad is the wide receivers coach for the Falcons.


The top and the bottom of the first round are filled with teams who could use a wide receiver. Most of the teams in the top 10 are likely to pass on receivers since there aren't many wideouts deserrving of a top 10 pick. But at the back of the first round, we could see a run of receivers come off the board.

1.Detroit Lions		12.Denver Broncos		23.New England Patriots
2.St. Louis Rams	Strong Need	13.Washington Redskins		24.Atlanta Falcons
3.Kansas City Chiefs	Need	14.New Orleans Saints		25.Miami Dolphins	Need
4.Seattle Seahawks	Strong Need	15.Houston Texans		26.Baltimore Ravens	Strong Need
5.Cleveland Browns	Need	16.San Diego Chargers		27.Indianapolis Colts	Slight Need
6.Cincinnati Bengals	Strong Need	17.New York Jets	Need	28.Buffalo Bills (from Philadelphia)
7.Oakland Raiders	Need	18.Denver Broncos (from Chicago)		29.New York Giants	Need
8.Jacksonville Jaguars	Need	19.Tampa Bay Buccaneers		30.Tennessee Titans	Need
9.Green Bay Packers		20.Detroit Lions (from Dallas)		31.Arizona Cardinals
10.San Francisco 49ers		21.Philadelphia Eagles		32.Pittsburgh Steelers	Slight Need
11.Buffalo Bills		22.Minnesota Vikings	Need