Buccaneers Draft Comparative: Corey Davis and John Ross
Hands
The last thing the Buccaneers need is another receiver who is going to drop the ball more times than any pro receiver should.
Mike Evans went through some deserved bashing from the fan base for the drops he had in 2015, although the level of bashing went above and beyond in my opinion.
This year, he was still up there amongst the league leader in drops, but I think fans have come to appreciate the load the former Texas A&M giant carries for his franchise.
When you look at the game tape of Ross, one things pops out almost immediately, and that is his lack of hands use when he’s catching the ball.
Look up any highlight or game film and he almost never uses his hands exclusively to make a catch. Even on deep passes where he flashes his great ability to track the flight path of the ball, it tends to bounce off his hands into his chest and arms where he secures the pass.
In the NFL, these passes are normally met with a defensive back’s hands raking at the receiver’s arms meaning if the ball is bouncing around in there, it’s going to get knocked out.
Davis on the other hand (no pun intended), uses his two to secure the ball on most of his routes, but also tends to let the ball get into his body on deep routes instead of reaching up and plucking it out of the sky.
Neither man had to deal with too many jump balls in their time, an aspect of the game Davis’ coaches will certainly ask him to work on, but one which Ross will not have to deal with for the most part.
At the end of the day, the fact Davis uses his hands for his short and intermediate catches is a plus while Ross’ use of his chest to field most of his catches is a definite draw back considering the regularity with which bang-bang plays occur at the pro level.