The addition of WIll Fuller gives the offense more getup-and-go and puts defenses on high alert.
Fuller’s speed can’t be coached, making the rookie hard to defend
From Pop Warner to the NFL, football has a widespread fascination with speed. • Other than track and field, the need for speed is more prevalent in football than any other sport. • Speed thrills fans. • Speed kills defenses. • “It’s nerve-wracking, to say the least,” Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer said as the Vikings prepared to play the Texans on Sunday. “All guys with speed bother defensive backs. That’s the first thing they look at when they (turn) on the tape. How fast is a guy?”
Minnesota’s defense is one of the NFL’s best. The Vikings have to figure out how to stop DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller, who are different types of receivers.
Hopkins, the veteran, is smart and physical and has picked up some tricks of the trade in his fourth season. He has strong, Velcro hands and outstanding ball skills. Fuller, the rookie, is fast and making progress as a multifaceted receiver the coaches can count on.
“He’s a big-play receiver, and he’s doing a great job,” Zimmer said of Fuller.
Every year, the most popular event at the scouting combine is the 40-yard dash. In February, Fuller recorded the fastest time. He ran a 4.32 and followed with a 4.28 at his pro day.
Fuller’s speed is a huge reason general manager Rick Smith traded a sixth-round pick to move up a spot in the first round to select him.
“Speed can’t be coached, and it’s hard to find,” quarterback Brock Osweiler said. “Speed is important to an offense because not everyone has it. Speed allows you to do a lot of different things. It allows you to stretch the field (horizontally). It allows you to stretch the field vertically. “When you find it, it’s a special deal.” Osweiler should know because Fuller (6-0, 180) is the Texans’ leading receiver through four games with 19 catches for 323 yards (17yard average) and two touchdowns. His 67yard punt return was the winning touchdown against Tennessee last Sunday.
“I picked up speed in college,” said Fuller, who averaged 20.3 yards on 62 catches at Notre Dame last season. “When I was in high school, I wasn’t as fast as I am now.
“I really don’t know what happened. Looking back at some of the people that were faster than me then is pretty weird. Now people talk about (speed) more, and I just try to take advantage of it.”
NFL scouts and coaches always have been enthralled with speed. But blinding speed — Olympic sprinter speed —skyrocketed into a different dimension in 1965 when the Dallas Cowboys drafted “Bullet” Bob Hayes from Florida A&M.
Hayes won a gold medal in the 100 meters in the 1964 Olympics. His take-your-breath-away speed captivated fans and media, frustrated defensive coordinators and bamboozled defensive backs.
Important breakthrough in game
Hayes was so fast — averaging 20 yards per catch during his 10 seasons with the Cowboys — that zone coverage and press coverage became more sophisticated because of him.
Hayes and Jim Thorpe are the only goldmedal winners enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Hayes’ impact prompted coaches to demand stopwatch speed and scouts to blanket the country trying to find it.
Texans defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel has formulated game plans for fast receiv-
ers for more than two decades. Rare is a receiver like Fuller who can crack a 4.3 40 and be so productive defensive coaches have to focus on him.
“Generally, you take your best guy, and you try to put him on that (receiver), and, hopefully, it can be an even deal,” Crennel said. “What you try to do is not to give up big plays to the speed.
“You know the guy has speed, and if you don’t have any speed to cover it, then you better get back.”
In other words, the cornerback better play off coverage and have a safety over the top to provide help.
That double coverage doesn’t always work. It’s up to the play-caller to find ways to get the receiver the ball, and he has to beat double coverage.
“Will has done such a great job because of his work ethic,” Osweiler said. “From the day he got here, Will has worked his tail off every day. He hasn’t taken a day off.
“A lot of players leave during the summer, but he stayed here. That says a lot about him as a person. His success is a product of his work ethic.”
Texans receivers coach Sean Ryan is teaching Fuller how to play the position. Fuller studies defensive backs to pick up their strengths, weaknesses and tendencies.
Big learning curve for rookie receivers
Fuller is learning how to play proper technique against different types of coverages and different types of defensive backs. He’s learning how to get off the line and beat press coverage, how to run precise routes and how to make quick cuts to not sacrifice speed.
“When Will makes a cut, it’s like he doesn’t even slow down,” Crennel said.
But there is so much more to a receiver’s success than merely speed.
“If you have a guy that can just run straight ahead and run go routes, that’s one thing relative to a guy that can do that plus have a pretty expansive route tree,” coach Bill O’Brien said.
Receivers have to learn all kinds of routes — post, corner, post-corner, slant, out, comeback, curl, wheel, dig and flat, among others. And they have to learn from different formations, which is one reason so many receivers don’t do much as rookies.
“In my experience, it has been very difficult for rookie receivers to be productive right away,” O’Brien said. “There are a lot of factors that (contribute) to that.
“No. 1 is the guy himself. Will’s a very bright guy, a hard-working guy (who) really understands football. He’s an instinctive player. He’s done a good job of taking care of his body. Being able to be out there at practice every day. I think Notre Dame trained him very well in how to practice and how to do things off the field. “The key is for him to continue to improve.” The more successful Fuller is, the more attention he’ll get from defensive backs.
“Hopefully, you have speed that can line up against it and combat it,” Crennel said.
Triple-headed corner coverage
Tennessee had a cornerback over Fuller and a safety to double him. The Vikings will rotate their corners. He’ll go against a larger, physical corner like Xavier Rhodes (6-1, 218), an experienced corner like Terence Newman (14th season) and a former first-round pick whose game is about speed and finesse, Trae Waynes.
If the cornerback tries to press Fuller and he gets by him, the safety better be prepared to take over. Corners watch tape of receivers to see when to come out of their backpedal.
Cornerbacks have to be able to turn and run with the receiver, knock him off his route, be fluid out of their backpedal, don’t bite on play fakes, don’t look into the backfield, possess makeup speed, know where the ball is and be able to read the receiver’s eyes and play his hands.
“Along with speed, you’ve got to be able to have nice footwork, transition and some instincts,” Crennel said. “If you can get your hands on him, you’ve got a chance to run with him.
“But if you get up on him and don’t get your hands on him, he’ll run by you. Really, you have to look at what you have and what your guys can do and then figure out what you need to do to defend that kind of speed.”
As Texans offensive coordinator George Godsey points out, speed can impact more than the passing game.
“It does a lot, not just from a passing standpoint but from a running standpoint,” Godsey said. “You have to keep a safety back. When you can threaten the deep part of the field, those safeties tend to get a little bit deeper.
“When you can stretch the length of the field like we’re doing with Will, it creates a lot of options.”