North Carolina Tar Heels: Ryan Switzer and the Comparisons
The current receiving record holder for the North Carolina Tar Heels, Ryan Switzer, would like you to keep an open mind. Should he?
The North Carolina Tar Heels have some guys down in Mobile, AL for the Senior Bowl trying to improve their NFL Draft stock. One of those guys is wide receiver and punt returner Ryan Switzer. Switzer just finished his career at Chapel Hill as the all-time leading receiver at the school. He also was close to the career NCAA punt return touchdown record and would have had it if not for special teams penalties.
Switzer has one huge knock for NFL scouts. He is not quite 5’9” tall. His lack of size hinders his value in the minds of NFL general managers that believe all receivers need to look like Julio Jones. Switzer is also white and that means the comparisons also get limited to white receivers.
Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports took the time to ask Switzer and Cooper Kupp of Eastern Washington about that stigma. Both receivers were kind of sick of it. Yet they overlook something in their complaints about how limiting the comparisons are. Those comparisons mean that kind of player can succeed in the league.
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Take Switzer for example. His smaller size and race make natural comparisons to Wes Welker, another speedster. Welker built his reputation by catching everything at spread offense heaven Texas Tech, and then he continued to do it in the NFL. Paired with Tom Brady, Welker had some the best seasons by a wide receiver ever. To be compared to Welker would be no crime in my book. The same goes for Julian Edelman, Welker’s replacement. Both are productive NFL stars.
Switzer himself acknowledges that the Patriot duo are not bums when he is compared to them. He just thinks it gets old, and perhaps does not tell anything he did not already know. Switzer preferred to compare himself to Randall Cobb and Doug Baldwin, both bigger receivers. Cobb was a college running back for a time so perhaps that is natural for the West Virginia star high school running back to do.
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The best 5’9” receiver that I can think of played right here in Charlotte. That would be Steve Smith. Smith combined speed with caginess and will to become the best on the Panthers during the existence of the franchise. I can understand that Switzer might take more solace in being compared to Smith rather than Welker, but Switzer seems to be missing that extra gear.
That does not mean that Switzer can’t get open. He has outthought the Senior Bowl corners that he has been matched with. He has plenty of highlight reels. He reads blocks and is dangerous in open space. He is projected as a mid to late round pick, but Welker (that name again) was undrafted.
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Edholm perhaps paid Switzer a higher compliment by comparing the receiver to Duke’s Jamison Crowder. Crowder has flourished for the Washington Redskins after two seasons. Crowder was also a mid-round guy who was too small and had a returner background after setting records at Duke. The point should be not to underestimate Switzer.