soxfan121 said:
Please show your work. Some possible sources you could search can be found in the Research Requests thread pinned to the top of the forum.
It would be interesting to prove or disprove this hypothesis. I look forward to your argument having a factual basis instead of an unsupported assertion.
David Givens career stats: 166 rec, 2318 yds, 12 tds
Decided to look at 3rd rd and lower drafted WR between Givens draft year and 2012 since 2013/14 are still TBD.
WRs drafted 3rd rd or lower between 2002-2012 to equal or better those stats:
OAK - Ronald Curry: 193/2347/13
NYJ - Jericho Cotchery 450/5716/30
NYG - Kevin Walter 356/4379/25
SFO - Arnaz Battle 178/2150/11
CHI - Justin Gage 201/295816
CHI - Bobby Wade 244/2858/9
SFO - Brandon Lloyd 388/5728/35
STL - Shaun McDonald 220/2490/11
STL - Kevin Curtis 253/3297/20
MN - Nate Burleson 457/3560/39
DAL - Patrick Crayton 247/3650/25
JAX - Ernest Wilford 156/2145/15
CHI - Bernard Berrian 288/4122/24
NO - Marques Colston 619/8522/64
SFO - Delanie Walker 205/2353/17
DEN - Brandon Marshall a lot more
PHI - Jason Avant 307/3736/13
ARZ - Steve Breaston 255/3387/9
GB - James Jones 331/4577/39
ATL - Laurent Robinson 167/2110/15
HOU - Jacoby Jones 197/2622/14
BUF - Stevie Johnson 315/406/29+
IND - Pierre Garcon 369/4573/26
SF - Josh Morgan 203/2521/11
NYG - Mario Manningham 211/2849/19
ATL - Harry Douglas 219/2696/9
CHI - Earl Bennett 185/2277/12
NE - Julian Edelman
PHI - Brandon Gibson 211/2481/12
MIA - Brian Hartline 275/2930/11
PIT - Mike Wallace a lot more
PIT - Antonio Brown a lot more
TAM - Mike Williams 222/3081/26
PHI - Riley Cooper 108/1639/13
ARI - Andre Roberts 192/2258/12
DEN - Eric Decker 236/3274/35
PIT - Emanuel Sanders 186/2634/11
CAR - Brandon Lafell 177/2550/14
NJY - Jeremy Kerley 144/1808/7
OAK - Denarius Moore 138/2114/17
JAX - Cecil Shorts 130/1846/12
IND - TY Hilton 154/2235/12
Believe that is 42 WRs listed and a handful more will probably make the list from the 2011-2012 drafts.
Teams should roughly expect 1.3 WR from this class of player on their team during this period. I guess NE can claim success with both Edelman and Givens on this list but as already pointed out they are the only team not to use a 1st rd pick on a WR so chances are good they have spent more draft capital in later rds than average teams. Someone else can confirm this if they want.