Using the Saints and how they spread the ball different is horrible to compare other receivers. The only player on this team that has produced '1st rounder numbers' since he was drafted was Colston. Even taller players we've drafted have not put up Colston-esque numbers.

Demaryius Thomas - averaged 417 yards a season before Manning came around. Hmm, correlation? He's also pretty massive and oh so huge compared to cooks.

Dez Bryant - was considered to be a top 10 pick, he fell for other reasons, not his athleticism. <600 yards his 1st season, <1000 yards his 2nd season

Green/Jones - top 10 so obviously they were drafted where they belonged. It isn't like they were the 20th overall pick.

Baldwin - 6'4 WR that was supposed to be one of the best receivers to come out that draft. I think prior to the college season he was ranked 3rd. Oh boy oh boy size means you'll succeed. Not.

Blackmon - 5th overall pick, elite athleticism, such a headcase and hasn't really put up many numbers has he...?

Floyd - 13th overall pick, <600 yards his 1st year and finally broke 1k this past year. Has arguably one of the elite WRs to play in the past decade on the other side to him.

Wright - 20th overall pick, now this is where things go against you. 5'10 191 lbs. Lines up along with a 6'1 guy (not that big in your description) and they both combine for just a few yards shy of 2k yards (Wright being 1079 and Washington being 919) on a horrible...HORRIBLE passing team. His 1st year he had 626 yards as well. Picking up the pace right, obviously he was a waste of a 1st round pick.. boohoo

AJ Jenkins - late 30th pick, no comment because he's done really nothing.

Tavon Austin - 8th pick and pretty much the exact same measures as Cooks, but cooks has the better production and combine #s, and more weight. Obviously he was drafted to be a playmaker on a team where the headcoach is a defensive minded coach that hasn't had atop 5 offense in...well forever. Losing their starting QB and offense just decides to run the ball a million times.

Puts up 207 receiving yards, 16 rushing yards in the first 9 games.

In his last 4? 211 receiving yards and 135 rushing yards along with a PR for a touchdown.

What other receiving options did they have? Chris Givens (who is 6'0) and Cook.

Seriously, that guy had absolute shite on his team and yet put up some good numbers to close out the season indeed.

Nuke Hopkins? - played opposite of andre johnson, 6'1 which is considered pretty small by your 6'3+ standards, and had only 1 game where he went 100+ yards.

Cordarrelle Patterson - some big receiver at 6'2, put up some nice numbers as a kick returner. Funny thing is, he's bigger than Austin, but yet his numbers weren't as good. And he was the #3 receiver on his team because the #1 receiver on his team was a 6'0 Jennings and #2 was a 6'2 guy Simpson.

So what you've taken is a small sample size. Lets go back to 2009?

Heyward-Bey - #7 overall, 6'2 dude. probably the worst of the group in the 1st round

Crabtree - #10, but was slated to go #4. Injury dropped him a bit. 6'1 dude, not as tall. I'm not even sure what you consider "tall" anymore since you seem to change your response to fit your argument, but in comparison to AJ green and Julio Jones, he's pretty short. Arguably the best in this lot.

Maclin - #19 6'0, 198lbs lined up next to a 5'10 DJax. He averaged 860.5 a season for 4 seasons before he tore his ACL. Unless you're trying to argue smaller players are more injury prone to tearing ACLs now?

Harvin - #22 5'11, 184lbs who has pretty much averaged 830 yards a season (taking away last season since he played literally 1 regular season game), not including his KR stats, and he's dealt with injuries/missed games...due to migraines and a labrum tear this past year. I mean of course, being so short and small you're more prone to migraines right doc? He was traded to seattle, even after being so short and stuff for a 1st, 3rd, and 7th.

Nicks - 29 6'1 208 lbs, has averaged a bit over 900 yards a season. delat with some injuries and an emergence of a WR by the name of Victor Cruz who is...6'0!

Britt - 30 6'3 223, must be a monster. massive, tall, he'll be great. tore his acl in 2011, rare for such a massive specimen. taking away 2011 and 2013 because he's an idiot, he has averaged <700 yards a season.

So what you're trying to say is...tall receivers are better than shorter receivers. But yet, it seems that if you don't exclude that 2009 class, short receivers do make a difference on a team as the 'x' factor/playmaker

ETA: 16 WRs >=6'2; 12 WRs <=6'1
6'3 - Josh Gordon
5'10 - Antonio Brown
6'5 - Calvin Johnson
6'3 - Demaryius Thomas
6'4 - AJ Green
6'3 - Alshon Jeffery
6'3 - Andre Johnson
6'0 - Pierre Garcon
5'10 - DeSean Jackson
6'3 - Jordy Nelson
6'4 - Brandon Marshall
6'3 - Eric Decker
6'2 - Dez Bryant
6'5 - Vincent Jackson
6'1 - Anquan Boldin
6'0 - Torrey Smith
5'9 - TY Hilton
5'10 - Kendall Wright
6'0 - Harry Douglas
5'10 - Julian Edelman
6'2 - Keenan Allen
6'2 - Michael Floyd
6'2 - Brian Hartline
6'0 - Victor Cruz
6'3 - Larry Fitzgerald
6'4 - Marques Colston
6'0 - Mike Wallace
6'1 - Nate Washington
5'10 - Golden Tate

Seems to me like short guys can play a big role.

This post was edited on 7/23/14 at 4:01 am