Chiefs sign UDFA Justyn Ross

[ShowtimeSBMVP]

Clemson WR Justyn Ross is signing with the #Chiefs to their 90-man roster, per source.

Ross led the ACC in receiving as a freshman in 2018, ranked fifth nationally with 21.7 YPC and was second in receiving touchdowns. He also stands 6-3, 210 pounds. High quality addition for

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) May 2, 2022

[Hydrae]

Originally Posted by carcosa

Sources confirm this could be true!!!

But are those league sources?

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by Hydrae

But are those league sources?

Actually, league sources have been raving since Schrager mentioned him like a month or two ago. Since then, many league sources are indeed saying he looks like a great find.

[Sorter]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

Impossible.

I read right here that Ross ran a 4.8 in high school, so he's not an NFL caliber athlete.

Oh, and the 4.6 on a broken foot, that too means he's slow even if he's healthy.

So that's just impossible. Sorry, cut him, and move along. Nothing to see here.

Would be great if we could get a Vincent Jackson clone for Pat.

[jjchieffan]

Do you know how frustrating it would be for the rest of the league to see Ross blossom into a legit number one? I've heard people laugh about how the Raiders trading for and paying Adams screwed the Chiefs into having to trade Tyreek because they drove the price up. Then, of we went out and won the Superbowl without him. Now, if we got our new number 1 as a UDFA?? That would be so great. I'm not saying that he will. I'm tempering my expectations. I could say how great it would be to win the Powerball too. Doesn't mean that I'm expecting it.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by jjchieffan

Do you know how frustrating it would be for the rest of the league to see Ross blossom into a legit number one? I've heard people laugh about how the Raiders trading for and paying Adams screwed the Chiefs into having to trade Tyreek because they drove the price up. Then, of we went out and won the Superbowl without him. Now, if we got our new number 1 as a UDFA?? That would be so great. I'm not saying that he will. I'm tempering my expectations. I could say how great it would be to win the Powerball too. Doesn't mean that I'm expecting it.

IMHO, Ross is exactly the type of receiver we need. His turning into what his ceiling is would be better for us than Moore, Rice, etc reaching theirs. I know he had a serious injury, but this is definitely one lottery ticket that was worth stashing.

[crispystl]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

Actually, league sources have been raving since Schrager mentioned him like a month or two ago. Since then, many league sources are indeed saying he looks like a great find.

You could even say….league circles….


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JPH83]

I never got, and still don't, the people here who saw him as a R3 or later talent. I think they over-thought his tape. It was all stuff about broken coverages and "he can't separate". Or accusations he did nothing beyond his first year...when he was injured. It conveniently missed his strength at the catch point. Sure, I probably prize separation and shiftiness as high as anyone, but some guys just win differently, and he's one of them. Not to mention he IS better at setting guys up than I think given credit for. I respect we all see it differently but for me he was always at least a R2 talent when healthy

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by JPH83

I never got, and still don't, the people here who saw him as a R3 or later talent. I think they over-thought his tape. It was all stuff about broken coverages and "he can't separate". Or accusations he did nothing beyond his first year...when he was injured. It conveniently missed his strength at the catch point. Sure, I probably prize separation and shiftiness as high as anyone, but some guys just win differently, and he's one of them. Not to mention he IS better at setting guys up than I think given credit for. I respect we all see it differently but for me he was always at least a R2 talent when healthy

It's not that difficult to understand, really. NFL teams didn't see him as a day 1 talent, because all it would have taken is one team and he would have been drafted. Guys don't fall from R1/R2 all the way to UDFA just because they were injured, especially at such a sought after position like WR. Trey Smith was projected as a guy with an outside shot of getting drafted in the late 1st round - 3rd round, but possible reoccurring blood clots scared teams away from him and we got a steal in the 6th round.

Now look at Ross, most publications gave him a mid day 3 grade. Bleacher Report was the only one I could find that gave him a 1st round grade and I'm not a huge BR guy. He just clearly wasn't that highly thought of by a significant amount of NFL teams. Not enough to use a draft pick on.

[ThyKingdomCome15]

He does seem pretty nice.

[JPH83]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

It's not that difficult to understand, really. NFL teams didn't see him as a day 1 talent, because all it would have taken is one team and he would have been drafted. Guys don't fall from R1/R2 all the way to UDFA just because they were injured, especially at such a sought after position like WR. Trey Smith was projected as a guy with an outside shot of getting drafted in the late 1st round - 3rd round, but possible reoccurring blood clots scared teams away from him and we got a steal in the 6th round.

Now look at Ross, most publications gave him a mid day 3 grade. Bleacher Report was the only one I could find that gave him a 1st round grade and I'm not a huge BR guy. He just clearly wasn't that highly thought of by a significant amount of NFL teams. Not enough to use a draft pick on.

Most publications gave him a mid day grade because of his injuries, at least those were factored in. As for teams not passing on an injured guy all the way to UDFA if they're a top talent. We're not just talking about a guy who was injury prone, it's a guy who was told by doctors he shouldn't play again. Maybe you're right, I don't know how many examples there are out there but I'd be surprised if he was the only guy highly rated that fell out of the draft.

Some people on here acted like his first year tape should just be discarded as an anomaly, or was actually not that impressive. Like I say, I don't understand that. Was the rest of his tape R1-2 quality? Probably not, but his first year tape was, imo.

[JPH83]

I should've qualified all this saying I don't understand those who thought his tape pre-injuries wasn't R1-2 material. I get people saying he couldn't go earlier than R3 given those injuries.

[Chris Meck]

The spinal thing is scary. The broken foot that still screwed up for the combine and testing sealed the deal. Veach, his scouts, and the team doctors took a chance on the tape.

If they are right, he's going to be a really good player. Right now, in early August, it looks like they are.

[chiefzilla1501]

Watching some of the training camp videos, purely from a route running standpoint skyy and Justyn look to be standouts. We will see when contact gets on but, maybe it’s just me, they seem to just be on a much higher level than anyone else in the room so far.

[In58men]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

The spinal thing is scary. The broken foot that still screwed up for the combine and testing sealed the deal. Veach, his scouts, and the team doctors took a chance on the tape.

If they are right, he's going to be a really good player. Right now, in early August, it looks like they are.

I bet he’s getting looked at after every practice.

[Kiimo]

It's not just that he was injured, it's that the two injuries on their own could be career threatening.

Sammy Watkins never really got over his foot injury. It seems like Ross has, and let's hope it's never a thing again.

If anyone follows the NBA for instance a foot injury can ruin your career and only every once in a while does a player like Embiid overcome it.

Then throw not just a spine injury, but one that involves UNFUSING bones.

"Justyn has a condition that is very rare, and to my knowledge, there is no precedent of another high-level American football player with this condition playing football," said Dr. David Okonkwo, who performed the surgery on Ross that allowed him to return to play. "So we were paving new road as we went through the process."

Unprecedented. That's why he was undrafted