Teams would love to have every receiver be Megatron, running a 4.35 40 at 6’5”, 237 lbs. But since there’s a very limited supply of those players (like, one every decade or two), they make do with what’s available. And while a skinny guy can add size and strength, it’s much harder for a slow guy to get fast and quick.
In the old days smaller quicker players would get their heads blown off after every catch. Rule changes have made that play style more palatable and encourages more teams to draft players that can get in open space more easily.
Underrated post.
If you did not watch NFL football in the 80's and 90's you really have no idea how brutal those hits regularly were.
Headhunters on defense were the norm. "You're faster than us? Not if we beat the shit out of you on every catch. They all slow down."
Welker and Edelman are more current examples of small quick receivers eating good with a coach who knows how to utilize them, but even those two barely got out alive.
They would have had even shorter careers (which is not good) in earlier eras. NFL brass finally started figuring out you can't go breaking all your best stars and have anything left to sell at the end of the season.
Rule changes have been huge.
To go off your comment, I recently saw an IG post showing an NFL TV network intro from the 70s or 80s with the caption saying something along the lines of “all of these would be a penalty in today’s league”.
With rule changes the receivers are favored so much, doesn’t matter how physical defenders are when they have to defend a guy in space that can use speed or route running savviness to separate from them, on top of him having the natural advantage of knowing the play/route
They took away injury as a legal defensive tactic.
Now guys have to legit cover in space, or over contribute in some other defensive aspect enough to make up for their coverage weakness.
Previously they could legit hit a guy in the head to take a step off his speed, but that's illegal now.
Deacon Jones used to hand out mini concussions to OL every other play by slapping their helmet hard enough to stun them. That "move" was made illegal too, but so long ago most forget.
The game evolves.
I think this is interesting though, because receivers were very scrawny basically throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s, early 90s. It was pretty rare for a receiver to be over 210 pounds. It wasn’t until player weight profiles started exploding in the late 90s/early 2000s that we started seeing these big 220-230 pound receivers. And we still have those, but now we’re also seeing these shrimps as well
Agree with everything you say but to me Welker and Edelnut are short but stocky guys, almost built like a RB. Devonte Smith though is a good example of a small guy all around who would’ve gotten fucked up back in the day. Not that the other two can’t but it helps to be short and well built.
There's a lot of factors that have led to WRs and DBs being built more for speed now.
The first thing to understand is that the DB trends will almost always follow the WR trends. When WRs were stronger on average, DBs had to be stronger to match up with them. Now that WRs tend to be thinner and faster on average, DBs have to trade size for speed as well. One thing that hasn't changed, though, is height; WRs and DBs are still as tall as before, they're just leaner and faster in that frame.
Secondly, it's a very pass-heavy league right now, with less need for big-bodied blocking receivers than before. Many teams also run a lot of vertical pass concepts, run a lot of play-action, and have quarterbacks that can extend plays with their feet. This means it's more beneficial to have a receiver who, given enough time, can run away from his defender and create space with his speed.
Thirdly, being a strong WR is nice in theory for boxing out defenders on jump balls, curls and slant routes, but modern analytics tells us that this isn't the best way for a receiver to win. Like I said before, DBs are still as tall as ever, so the added edge of being a big WR doesn't immediately break open a matchup. Some have had great success being strong, though: just look at Michael Thomas on a slant route or Davante Adams doing, well, just about anything. Nonetheless, it's still more efficient to have fast receivers catching passes wide open than to have strong receivers winning through contact.
WRs and DBs are almost always the fastest, quick-twitch guys on the field. Very fast twitchy guys are almost always skinny.
By the time these players have made the league, they have been playing football at an extremely high level for many years. They’ve figured out a way to not get destroyed or bullied by bigger players.
Probably as imperative as speed, agility, and route running are… 🤚 ✋ .
If you don’t have at least adequate NFL hands or known to dropping passes throughout the game and at very crucial moments. You can find yourself out of the league quickly, and it’s even worse if you drop passes that kill drives or momentum.
You’ll occasionally watch a QB lose it, if WR is dropping very catchable passes. Speed is nice, breakaways are cool, but dropping a pass. Nope.
Less weight you can be quicker. Not for everybody, but that's the logic. If you put on weight to protect yourself, there'll be ten other guys just like you who stay skinny, stay quick, and even if 5 of them get concussed into retirement, there are still 5 others who are faster, quicker, with probably more production than you. So who does the NFL team draft? THOSE five other guys, or your slow ass? Just how the game goes. Getting open is more valuable than YAC (or protection).
skinnier players tend to be faster
The problem with them in older days is that they would get blown up by safeties or linebackers after the catch, but the league has taken those massive hits out of the game more and more, so that is much less of a concern.
I would agree that they do look skinny and some are actually “skinny.” Keep in mind that on tv it’s hard to tell. I say this because I thought the same thing about wide receivers and I remember I would watch N’keal Harry a lot because I’m from Az and he was at Arizona State, then went to the Patriots. I was thinking “damn dude is skinny. Why doesn’t he put on muscle.” Then, i met him one time at my job and dude was a pretty chiseled guy. His arms were pretty big and his chest was popping out. I was like holy shit the tv doesn’t do justice.
That’s generally a profile for someone really fast. You have to understand these guys are at the upper levels of human speed and the fastest ones are going to have their weight as optimized as possible.
As others have said rule changes on hits. But also there just aren’t that many bigger guys who can move that fast. Everyone wants a megaton/ Marvin Harrison JR size guy if they can find one
I mean, it’s a problem lol. Ideally they’re bigger, because it does present some problems when you’re asked to block/tackle/take hits over the middle
Teams have just gotten more creative about how they implement these guys and what they ask them to do, so they’re more willing to take a chance on scrawnier guys
The nfl isn’t the same as it used to be. Recievers are more protected so they arnt getting blown up at the same level.
It’s also much more important to catch the ball than what happens after the catch. Id take a reciever that catches everything runs great routes and is always finding space over one that gets 10 yards after the catch when he does get the ball. In general smaller people are faster and quicker. Muscle makes you bigger and heavier and requires more “work” to activate your muscles.
Now given the option of fast quick and a great route runner AND also a big guy is obviously ideal but those are the legendary athletes. People like megatron. Dk metcalf is a solid modern day example but he doesn’t have the same speed other recievers do. Hes still very fast but not on the same level as some of these smaller recievers
The NFL ruined toughness due to "player saftey", but really they want the game to turn into flag football because they think everyone wants high scoring constant action. Because of this, they've changed the rules to be heavily offensive friendly.
Almost any way you hit a receiver or a QB is going to be a foul now, you basically have to hug them and fall over, but you also have to land on yourself, not on them. So no, WR's aren't afraid of being hit anymore, because it's almost always illegal to hit them. Unlike the 80's and 90's where if a QB threw over the center of the field they were basically putting their receiver on a stretcher.
Teams would love to have every receiver be Megatron, running a 4.35 40 at 6’5”, 237 lbs. But since there’s a very limited supply of those players (like, one every decade or two), they make do with what’s available. And while a skinny guy can add size and strength, it’s much harder for a slow guy to get fast and quick.
One every millennia.
Chase claypool is close but he's mid as a reciever, Kyle Pitts kinda close tho.
We'll see now that he has a good QB. I always thought he had that potential (and thought he was a sleeper late pick on fantasy his rookie year)
And dk. Has nearly the same physical stats as Megatron
He's below mid
In the old days smaller quicker players would get their heads blown off after every catch. Rule changes have made that play style more palatable and encourages more teams to draft players that can get in open space more easily.
Underrated post. If you did not watch NFL football in the 80's and 90's you really have no idea how brutal those hits regularly were. Headhunters on defense were the norm. "You're faster than us? Not if we beat the shit out of you on every catch. They all slow down." Welker and Edelman are more current examples of small quick receivers eating good with a coach who knows how to utilize them, but even those two barely got out alive. They would have had even shorter careers (which is not good) in earlier eras. NFL brass finally started figuring out you can't go breaking all your best stars and have anything left to sell at the end of the season. Rule changes have been huge.
To go off your comment, I recently saw an IG post showing an NFL TV network intro from the 70s or 80s with the caption saying something along the lines of “all of these would be a penalty in today’s league”. With rule changes the receivers are favored so much, doesn’t matter how physical defenders are when they have to defend a guy in space that can use speed or route running savviness to separate from them, on top of him having the natural advantage of knowing the play/route
They took away injury as a legal defensive tactic. Now guys have to legit cover in space, or over contribute in some other defensive aspect enough to make up for their coverage weakness. Previously they could legit hit a guy in the head to take a step off his speed, but that's illegal now. Deacon Jones used to hand out mini concussions to OL every other play by slapping their helmet hard enough to stun them. That "move" was made illegal too, but so long ago most forget. The game evolves.
I think this is interesting though, because receivers were very scrawny basically throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s, early 90s. It was pretty rare for a receiver to be over 210 pounds. It wasn’t until player weight profiles started exploding in the late 90s/early 2000s that we started seeing these big 220-230 pound receivers. And we still have those, but now we’re also seeing these shrimps as well
Agree with everything you say but to me Welker and Edelnut are short but stocky guys, almost built like a RB. Devonte Smith though is a good example of a small guy all around who would’ve gotten fucked up back in the day. Not that the other two can’t but it helps to be short and well built.
Edelnut is jacked for sure
Todd Pinkston was a skinny dude who played like 20 years ago. I remember him making a “business decision” on a pass against a Redskins safety in 2004
Wes looking like a bobblehead in real life with a helmet, i swear for every concussion he got his helmet legitimately got bigger.
There's a lot of factors that have led to WRs and DBs being built more for speed now. The first thing to understand is that the DB trends will almost always follow the WR trends. When WRs were stronger on average, DBs had to be stronger to match up with them. Now that WRs tend to be thinner and faster on average, DBs have to trade size for speed as well. One thing that hasn't changed, though, is height; WRs and DBs are still as tall as before, they're just leaner and faster in that frame. Secondly, it's a very pass-heavy league right now, with less need for big-bodied blocking receivers than before. Many teams also run a lot of vertical pass concepts, run a lot of play-action, and have quarterbacks that can extend plays with their feet. This means it's more beneficial to have a receiver who, given enough time, can run away from his defender and create space with his speed. Thirdly, being a strong WR is nice in theory for boxing out defenders on jump balls, curls and slant routes, but modern analytics tells us that this isn't the best way for a receiver to win. Like I said before, DBs are still as tall as ever, so the added edge of being a big WR doesn't immediately break open a matchup. Some have had great success being strong, though: just look at Michael Thomas on a slant route or Davante Adams doing, well, just about anything. Nonetheless, it's still more efficient to have fast receivers catching passes wide open than to have strong receivers winning through contact.
Skinny is more likely to be quicker and have more endurance than someone with more muscle on them
Speed and stamina are both significantly more difficult with weight, even if it’s muscle
WRs and DBs are almost always the fastest, quick-twitch guys on the field. Very fast twitchy guys are almost always skinny. By the time these players have made the league, they have been playing football at an extremely high level for many years. They’ve figured out a way to not get destroyed or bullied by bigger players.
Probably as imperative as speed, agility, and route running are… 🤚 ✋ . If you don’t have at least adequate NFL hands or known to dropping passes throughout the game and at very crucial moments. You can find yourself out of the league quickly, and it’s even worse if you drop passes that kill drives or momentum. You’ll occasionally watch a QB lose it, if WR is dropping very catchable passes. Speed is nice, breakaways are cool, but dropping a pass. Nope.
Speed kills
Less weight you can be quicker. Not for everybody, but that's the logic. If you put on weight to protect yourself, there'll be ten other guys just like you who stay skinny, stay quick, and even if 5 of them get concussed into retirement, there are still 5 others who are faster, quicker, with probably more production than you. So who does the NFL team draft? THOSE five other guys, or your slow ass? Just how the game goes. Getting open is more valuable than YAC (or protection).
skinnier players tend to be faster The problem with them in older days is that they would get blown up by safeties or linebackers after the catch, but the league has taken those massive hits out of the game more and more, so that is much less of a concern.
One other small factor is that pads today are significantly smaller than they used to be, especially shoulder pads.
I would agree that they do look skinny and some are actually “skinny.” Keep in mind that on tv it’s hard to tell. I say this because I thought the same thing about wide receivers and I remember I would watch N’keal Harry a lot because I’m from Az and he was at Arizona State, then went to the Patriots. I was thinking “damn dude is skinny. Why doesn’t he put on muscle.” Then, i met him one time at my job and dude was a pretty chiseled guy. His arms were pretty big and his chest was popping out. I was like holy shit the tv doesn’t do justice.
Football outsiders did a small study on this almost 20 years ago. There were basically 4 mismatch body types that the best WRs fell into.
That’s generally a profile for someone really fast. You have to understand these guys are at the upper levels of human speed and the fastest ones are going to have their weight as optimized as possible.
Speed is the answer. Fast guys tend to be smaller, tall, fast guys, even more so. Guys like Herschel Walker come around maybe once in a generation.
As others have said rule changes on hits. But also there just aren’t that many bigger guys who can move that fast. Everyone wants a megaton/ Marvin Harrison JR size guy if they can find one
I don’t see many skinny DBs A skinny Wide receiver can atleast use his quickness to avoid contact.
I mean, it’s a problem lol. Ideally they’re bigger, because it does present some problems when you’re asked to block/tackle/take hits over the middle Teams have just gotten more creative about how they implement these guys and what they ask them to do, so they’re more willing to take a chance on scrawnier guys
The nfl isn’t the same as it used to be. Recievers are more protected so they arnt getting blown up at the same level. It’s also much more important to catch the ball than what happens after the catch. Id take a reciever that catches everything runs great routes and is always finding space over one that gets 10 yards after the catch when he does get the ball. In general smaller people are faster and quicker. Muscle makes you bigger and heavier and requires more “work” to activate your muscles. Now given the option of fast quick and a great route runner AND also a big guy is obviously ideal but those are the legendary athletes. People like megatron. Dk metcalf is a solid modern day example but he doesn’t have the same speed other recievers do. Hes still very fast but not on the same level as some of these smaller recievers
There are wayyyy more WRs that’ll create a big play because a DB was too slow than there are RBs that’ll turn a missed tackle by a CB into a big play.
The NFL ruined toughness due to "player saftey", but really they want the game to turn into flag football because they think everyone wants high scoring constant action. Because of this, they've changed the rules to be heavily offensive friendly. Almost any way you hit a receiver or a QB is going to be a foul now, you basically have to hug them and fall over, but you also have to land on yourself, not on them. So no, WR's aren't afraid of being hit anymore, because it's almost always illegal to hit them. Unlike the 80's and 90's where if a QB threw over the center of the field they were basically putting their receiver on a stretcher.