No offense meant...But as an amateur scout for 30 plus years (most of them right here on TSW) I can promise you there were plenty of people standing on their soapbox's declaring DK Metcalf a can't miss prospect. And I was one of them... Basically the entire group over at The Draft Network was as well...I had plenty of DM conversations with Joe Marino about Metcalf leading up to that Draft...No one that I trust (and I don't trust many)...had him anything less that the #1 WR prospect in that Draft, and at the very least a top 15 overall prospect. Admittedly, some who loved DK (like Joe) disagreed with me and had Oliver as a better prospect overall...
The fact that NFL GMs passed on him means nothing to me. It's only further proof that there are a lot of Front Offices out there that are clueless, or that suffer from paralysis from over-analysis. Plus there are the teams with little to no WR need at the time. Keep in mind we are talking about a kid with VERY high character and work ethic. That was never questioned. He had some injuries but they could be easily explained. He was in amazing shape at the combine. A kid with athletic ability that was off the charts. And everyone gets caught up on 3 cone drills? Give me a break...Put in the tape and watch it! He was a dynamic athlete on the field with the ability to to get off the line using awesome hand technique, and he got to top speed fast. Not everyone is going to run routes like Diggs. And EVERY WR has to deal with the NFL learning curve. But only a very small handful of WR prospects come with the physical package Metcalf wakes up with every day. To me he was about as can't miss as they come.
I'm certainly no expert. I'm not an NFL GM, and I'm not perfect. However, somehow I knew Pat Mahomes was the #1 Prospect in the 2017 Draft. Somehow I knew Josh Rosen would be a bust. Somehow I knew that Chris Jones would be a dominate NFL D-Lineman and a better NFL player than Shaq Lawson. And somehow I knew that if given the chance I would have taken DK Metcalf over Ed Oliver 100 out of 100 times...And it's really nothing against Ed...It's just how can't-miss I felt Metcalf was.😎