It’s Saturday night. The “hay is in the barn” with NFL news for the week, and we’re ready for games again.
Before we step into the fourth mad Sunday of the year, let’s take a moment to pause and state an obvious yet often overlooked fact: Falcons receiver Roddy White is one of the five best receivers in football.
Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com had a great piece this week on how White remade his career which we highly recommend checking out. Thought to be a bust after two years, White turned things around with an improved work ethic and the help of such disparate characters as Paul Petrino and Joe Horn.
Here’s what White has accomplished the last three seasons and change:
2007: White put up 83 catches, 1202 yards, and six scores despite catching passes from Joey Harrington and Chris Redman.
2008: White recorded 88 catches, 1,382 yards, and seven scores despite playing on the second-most run-heavy offense in the league.
2009: 85 catches, 1,153 yards, and 11 touchdowns.
2010: 25 catches, 258 yards, and two scores through three games.
White is the total package. He’s the prototype, along with Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Johnson. White is explosive deep, but physical enough to handle any route underneath. He’s great after the catch and no longer struggles with drops like early in his career.
Yasinskas points to a story from early in White’s career. The team had buyer’s remorse on right away. An assistant coach “stood up in a meeting and said White simply wasn’t good enough to play in the NFL and there was no argument in response.”
Five years later, there’s no argument that White is among the very best wideouts in the league.