Thursday night, Evan Silva of Rotoworld had some top-notch analysis as he pointed out the Pittsburgh Steelers current top-three wide receivers are all under six foot tall.
Combine measurements of #Steelers current top 3 WRs: Antonio Brown 5'10/186, Markus Wheaton 5'11/189, Lance Moore 5'9/182.
— Evan Silva (@evansilva) March 27, 2014
Silva is obviously trying to tell us that the Steelers absolutely have draft a “tall” wide receiver in May if they want to win it all in 2014.
Silva, however, must have a very “short” memory as the Seattle Seahawks proved back in February that teams can win the Super Bowl with wide receivers shorter than 72 inches.
Last season, Golden Tate (64 receptions) and Doug Baldwin (50 receptions) were the top two wide receivers on the Seahawks roster, and based on their combine measurements, both were well under 71 inches tall. The two combined to catch 72.6% of all catches made by Seahawks wide receivers during the regular season.
Did the Seahawks have a few “tall” wide receivers on their roster last year? Sure they did, but six-plus-footers Jermaine Kearse, Ricardo Lockette, and Sidney Rice all combined to catch 42 passes during the regular season. Kearse, unless you can’t read the table below, had 22 of those catches and you guessed it, he is the shortest wide receiver of the three at just under 73 inches.
Before I forget, the Seahawks also had a height challenged wide receiver named Percy Harvin that caught just one pass last year during the regular season.
Now, there’s nothing to prevent the Steelers from drafting a “tall” wide receiver in May and based on the draft class this year, there’s a good chance that they will select one that measures in at 72 inches or more. However, when it comes to Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert, I’m pretty sure that size doesn’t matter.
Over the course of the next few days, I’m sure Silva will let us know that teams that don’t have a quarterback at least 72 inches tall won’t be able to win it all in 2014, either. Oh wait, that also just happened back in February.
As you can see, Silva’s analysis of the Steelers wide receivers comes up “short”.
2013 Seahawks Wide Receiver Stats
| PLAYER | HGT | REC | YDS | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Tate | 5102 | 64 | 898 | 5 |
| Doug Baldwin | 5096 | 50 | 778 | 5 |
| Jermaine Kearse | 6007 | 22 | 346 | 4 |
| Sidney Rice | 6034 | 15 | 231 | 3 |
| Ricardo Lockette | 6021 | 5 | 82 | 0 |
| Percy Harvin | 5111 | 1 | 17 | 0 |
