Who are These Guys?

Halfway through the season and there are some players who are flying under the radar and aren’t getting enough credit for their plays on the field. First unknown we have is Mike Sims-Walker, who is a WR for the Jaguars. Sims-Walker is in his third NFL season and was a 5th round pick from Central Florida, he was also the roommate of Broncos all-pro WR Brandon Marshall. In this past off-season the Jags felt they had to sign an all-pro WR in Torry Holt, but little did they know, Mike Sims-Walker is leading the Jags in receptions through eight games with 36 catches for 554 yards and an 15.4 avg. with 4 touchdowns. Sims-Walker is big target at 6-2 weighing 214. He runs precise routes and it does help to have route running king Torry Holt on your team to learn from. Sims-Walker will have a long productive career in the NFL barring injuries.

Another WR who is taking the league by storm is Giants Steve Smith. Who would of thought a slot WR is his first couple of years would lead the league in receptions with 61 for 719 yards and 5 touchdowns. Coming out of USC Smith was projected to have a long career in the slot formation. But after the Giants released Plaxico Burress they felt that Smith could be that go to guy. What makes Smith so good is that who knows how to catch the football and knows where the first down marker is at all times. If Eli Manning wasn’t so inaccurate with some of his throws, this guy would probably have 80 catches by now. Smith runs precise routes as well and knows how to make defensive backs bite on some of his jukes he makes while running his routes. Smith is on pace barring any major in injuries to catch well over 100 receptions this year, which is superb for a guy who was thought to have a decent career in the NFL as a slot wide out.

Who is Jarius Byrd? Will someone in Buffalo tell me who is this DB? Bills fans definitely have something to cheer about on Sundays by watching this young kid make plays for a banged up Bills secondary. A friend of mine told me that Gill Byrd is his father. Why is Gill Byrd relevant well because i had him making plays on the game Tecmo Bowl when i was kid. Gill had tremendous speed on the game and in real life. I know see how Jarius inherited speed. Through seven games Jarius has 7 interceptions and 32 tackles.  There were a couple of games where he had back to back 2 interceptions games. Now Jarius please finish this season strong and don’t get caught up in all the talk that your one of the best free safeties in the game. The one thing I hate when young players like Jarius have one good year they tend to let their play slack off the next year or year after and then the media, fans, and coaches label and call them a bust.