Houston Texans Still Need To Address Wide Receiver Early In The Draft
By Travis Oquin
Aug 31, 2013; Morgantown, WV, USA; William & Mary Tribe wide receiver Tre McBride (3) makes a pass reception behind West Virginia Mountaineers safety Karl Joseph (8) during the second quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Tre McBride (3rd – 4th round) 6’0”, 210 – William & Mary
For our last selection, we’re going with a slightly under the radar guy with William & Mary’s Tre McBride. Although playing at a lower level than some of his competitors, McBride dominated the level, even when playing against a fairly high level D-1 school like here against West Virginia.
Aug 30, 2014; Blacksburg, VA, USA; William & Mary Tribe wide receiver Tre McBride (3) during the game against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Lane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
McBride has said that he has patterned himself after Victor Cruz but ironically McBride is built relatively similar to few fellow small school receivers Pierre Garcon & Cecil Shorts both out of Mount Union College in 2011, though his build and combine numbers mirror that of Garcon more.
Although he ran a 4.41 40 at the combine, McBride uses primarily excellent route running to get separation. He is also outstanding at highpointing the football with excellent body control and hand-eye coordination to track and go up and get deep balls.
McBride is not afraid of contact and for a his size is solidly built. Some scouts are concerned about separation at the next level. You may think that’s fair but the the thing about smaller school receivers is that they aren’t just going against smaller school defensive backs but they also have smaller school quarterbacks throwing to them.
Tre McBride is also an intelligent, well-spoken player, originally recruited for academics by Harvard. Here is an interview from the East West Shine All-Star game this year.
The child of a long time military family, McBride comes across as a well-grounded young man who understands that he will have to continue to work to make it at the next level and he seems poised and ready to do so.
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McBride is also a kick & punt returner adding to his value and ability to stick on an NFL roster while making the transition to that level.
At the NFL level, I expect McBride to be very much a multi-purpose back similar to Cecil Shorts that can play inside at the slot or on the outside. The 3rd round may be a bit high for him, but if the Texans find themselves going other positions in the top three rounds, I would take a shot on a kid like McBride in the 4th.
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