Why the dislike for Beckham Jr., if you don't mind? I personally view him as a prototype No.1, one of my favorite prospects in that class. Lee possibly performed the best of the skill players on Jacksonville this season, with Brandon Linden playing the best on offensive, but that's in great deal a bigger indicator of how much the offense struggled. It's tough to state that Lee pulled away from Hurns given that Hurns was either limited with or missed time with a shoulder/neck injury, a concussion, and a hamstring injury. I doubt they'd immediately bench Hurns given that his last healthy season was a very good one. But Lee at least performed well enough in relief to be given an opportunity to pull away. That being said, with all due respect to Lee, they're arguably in two separate categories. Both are capable route runners, with Beckham Jr. being among the best in the league, both have been strong in YAC (Catch and contact), although Beckham Jr. likely gets the nod. Here's a detailed article about the latter (
Link). However, their hands in comparison are worlds apart. Whereas Beckham Jr. consistently plucks the ball and is perennially outstanding in traffic, Lee consistently seems significantly uncomfortable in this facet. This unfortunately isn't a new development given that it showed up in his college games.
That's what made the difference in my original assessment. When I first came across Lee, it was via highlight tapes of his sophomore season, and I thought he was outright remarkable. I assume most would've have. Once I delved into the tapes, however, I was somewhat soured by the fact that he seemed to mostly be a body-basket catcher and it affected his timing and effectiveness on 50-50 balls. With the focus drops present as well with the inconsistent catch radius, the pair of concerns are potentially due to limit his potential. Take into account this season; he cut his drop rate average of 15.3% from the prior to season to almost half, and that's still 58th in the NFL. In the games I've seen from this season, Lee had most of his trouble in throws outside the hashes with a body around him. I believe I saw a single successful reception of a back-shoulder attempt. This was it (
Link). Most of the other attempts outside of the hashes in contested situations ended in the following ways (
Link1,
Link2,
Link3,
Link4,
Link5). He did reel in an attempt out of bounds against Houston that earns partial credit. But in multiple games, most of his incompletions came in the final drives. The other physical traits are present, yes. But this is why it's difficult to be all in on Lee as a future No.1 WR caliber WR. Perriman, in comparison, despite being physically gifted as well, has been very capable in such scenarios. Even before that ridiculous first NFL catch against Stephon Gilmore, it was a visible strength of his at UCF. He did (and does) suffer from the same focus drops as Lee, but his catch radius was never limited. And the latter issue absolutely be a ceiling cap. I'm rooting for both to succeed, obviously more for Perriman given the team he's on.
