Rodney Smith

[Eli]

[J. Kapp 11]

The biggest difference I see between Smith and Simpson is that Simpson almost never wins in a battle for the ball. Smith not only seems to win, but to dominate. No surprise there. He's 6-5', and look at the photo Eli posted. He's ripped. Simpson is fast, but he's skinny and weak. He almost never comes down with the back-shoulder throw.

Somebody mentioned Sidney Rice. That's a great comparison. In Rice's big 2009 season, he seemed to come up with every contested ball. It was my favorite thing about him. I see some of those same characteristics in Smith.

I'd be fine if Smith made the team over Simpson.

[losperros]

Rodney Smith is yet another example of the talent that's currently in the team's WR corps.

If Cassel and/or Bridgewater get good pass protection this year, I see the Vikings putting a formidable passing game on the field.

Again, good pass protection is a must. Got to win those battles at the line of scrimmage!

[mondry]

I bet it was Bill Belichick from New England showing interest in him last year and that's why we eventually promoted him to the actual team mid season. I just have this feeling that if we don't keep Smith he'll be picked up immediately over there and go on to have a 1000+ yard season with 7-8 TD's with Tom Brady.

[Reignman]

The TD grab was nice, but I thought his most impressive play was just a few plays before that when Teddy was short on the deep ball and Smith made a nice adjustment to come back and make a nice grab with the DB running through him. So nice hands, nice foot work, decent speed, strong, tall, maybe route running has been his Achilles heel?

[DK Sweets]

He definitely looked the part on that last drive. Shoot, our entire offense looked the part. I have been a big supporter if Simpson and what I think he could do with better QB play, but if I had to cut one if our top 6 receivers, it would be him.

I hope Kain Colter makes the practice squad, too. He had a nice sideline catch, and he's new to the position.

[jackal]

it will be interesting so if Smith can make the team...

I would rather him him than some of depth at TE ...

[J. Kapp 11]

The TD grab was nice, but I thought his most impressive play was just a few plays before that when Teddy was short on the deep ball and Smith made a nice adjustment to come back and make a nice grab with the DB running through him. So nice hands, nice foot work, decent speed, strong, tall, maybe route running has been his Achilles heel?

Good question about Smith -- why has he not made more of an impact?

Here's an interesting read:

Outside of the combine, Rodney Smith had a lot of questions to answer about his on-field play. Though evaluated by Matt Waldman in thorough fashion, Rodney didn’t make Waldman’s top 45 receivers coming out of the 2013 draft. He argued that Rodney didn’t play with power that befits his size, had poor vision as a YAC threat and was one of the worst blocking receivers in the draft. Beyond that, he highlighted Smiths’ tendency to drop passes after contact and placed Smith as one of the poorest route-runners in the draft.

Also:

More often than Adam [Thielen] falling in route to allow an interception (twice) has been Rodney misaligning and drawing the ire of the coaches. Rodney started out the first week of camp in rough shape because of this, and only recently improved his game.

Read the full story.

For reference, Matt Waldman runs a draft evaluation service and is paid for his analyses.

Kind of answers some questions about why Smith hasn't shone until last Saturday.

[Texas Vike]

Good question about Smith -- why has he not made more of an impact?

Here's an interesting read:
Also:
Read the full story.

For reference, Matt Waldman runs a draft evaluation service and is paid for his analyses.

Kind of answers some questions about why Smith hasn't shone until last Saturday.

Nice post. Thanks for the info.

[DK Sweets]

Excellent post! I think we're seeing him develop out of those negative habits, but it's going to take some plays against better competition to know for sure.

[Reignman]

Yeah thanks for the info. I figured it had to be something that wasn't readily apparent from watching the games. As DK and others have pointed out, he sure looked the part on Saturday. Hopefully it's all finally coming together for him.