The Jets signed Corey Davis in free agency, and I had some interest in him. New York had an opening for a No. 1 wideout, and they've seemed to be a team heading in a good direction, building up their offensive line and selecting one of the draft's top quarterbacks. Maybe Davis would finally live up to once being a top-5 overall pick.
But Davis apparently landed hard on his shoulder at OTAs yesterday, and is dealing with a shoulder strain. It's not even June yet so no reason to get too concerned, but it's one of those little things that will come to mind when making choices between similar wideouts.
Davis, to be frank, needs to have a good preseason to prove he's ready to be a No. 1 wideout. He didn't do it in Tennessee, never having a 1,000-yard season in his four years there, even when the team got its passing game in gear the last couple of years. (While A.J. Brown, of course, was an immediate superstar.)
One of the area's Davis has been lacking is as a scorer. In four seasons, mostly as a starter, he's caught 0, 4, 2 and 5 touchdowns. That total of 11 over the past four seasons is one of the worst among all wideouts with at least 300 targets. (Search tools at pro-football-reference.com used for this table.) The only guys with fewer touchdowns over that timeframe are Danny Amendola (a notoriously awful scorer) and DJ Moore (that one is more surprising).
WIDE RECEIVER TDS, 2017-2020 (300+ TARGETS) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD |
Davante Adams | 562 | 383 | 4642 | 46 |
Tyreek Hill | 466 | 307 | 4798 | 41 |
DeAndre Hopkins | 647 | 430 | 5522 | 37 |
Mike Evans | 501 | 294 | 4688 | 34 |
Adam Thielen | 451 | 308 | 3992 | 33 |
Marvin Jones | 375 | 234 | 3366 | 32 |
Stefon Diggs | 504 | 356 | 4535 | 31 |
Tyler Lockett | 383 | 284 | 3631 | 30 |
Antonio Brown | 401 | 254 | 3369 | 29 |
Amari Cooper | 452 | 294 | 3988 | 27 |
Keenan Allen | 591 | 403 | 4780 | 26 |
Calvin Ridley | 328 | 217 | 3061 | 26 |
JuJu Smith-Schuster | 443 | 308 | 3726 | 26 |
Chris Godwin | 355 | 244 | 3540 | 24 |
Cooper Kupp | 407 | 288 | 3570 | 24 |
Nelson Agholor | 343 | 213 | 2763 | 23 |
Michael Thomas | 536 | 418 | 4813 | 23 |
Jarvis Landry | 549 | 348 | 3977 | 22 |
Robby Anderson | 440 | 260 | 3568 | 21 |
Kenny Golladay | 315 | 183 | 3068 | 21 |
Brandin Cooks | 422 | 268 | 4019 | 20 |
T.Y. Hilton | 390 | 234 | 3499 | 20 |
Julio Jones | 543 | 351 | 5286 | 20 |
Robert Woods | 483 | 322 | 4070 | 19 |
Tyler Boyd | 398 | 267 | 3140 | 18 |
Cole Beasley | 363 | 250 | 2731 | 17 |
John Brown | 319 | 168 | 2532 | 17 |
Jamison Crowder | 363 | 232 | 2709 | 17 |
Larry Fitzgerald | 454 | 307 | 3103 | 17 |
Allen Robinson | 400 | 256 | 3168 | 17 |
Golden Tate | 370 | 250 | 2862 | 17 |
Odell Beckham Jr. | 341 | 199 | 2708 | 16 |
A.J. Green | 324 | 168 | 2295 | 16 |
Emmanuel Sanders | 369 | 245 | 3018 | 16 |
DeVante Parker | 374 | 216 | 2974 | 15 |
Julian Edelman | 300 | 195 | 2282 | 12 |
Mohamed Sanu | 303 | 209 | 2248 | 12 |
Sterling Shepard | 364 | 248 | 2835 | 12 |
Corey Davis | 338 | 207 | 2851 | 11 |
D.J. Moore | 335 | 208 | 3156 | 10 |
Danny Amendola | 331 | 228 | 2514 | 4 |
Again, it's a little early to be too concerned about a shoulder strain. Most likely Davis will be fine for training camp, and he looks like the best bet as the team's No. 1 wideout. The other candidates are Denzel Mims, Jamison Crowder and Elijah Moore, and Crowder might be a cap casualty at some point.
But it also takes a leap of faith to think Davis, in year 5, is suddenly going to zoom up to 1,000-plus yards and 8-10 touchdowns. Not while working with a rookie quarterback, and not with his own history.
--Andy Richardson