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

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Skyy and Ross, if they both perform, would do so in different ways. They allow for different approaches.

Both would be possession guys, but Ross would be more about body control and catch radius whereas Moore would be early separation and space. Different approaches allowing for different matchups.

There's definitely room for them both.

The body control and radius spot is occupied by Toney in my mind thoug.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

The body control and radius spot is occupied by Toney in my mind thoug.

Nah - Toney will be used more downfield and in a more dynamic capacity.

And overlapping skills is a good thing, especially with the number of question marks we have in the WR room.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Nah - Toney will be used more downfield and in a more dynamic capacity.

We hope. I think he'll be used more as a test subject for soft tissue repair.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by jd1020

We hope. I think he'll be used more as a test subject for soft tissue repair.

Well sure. There's that.

But in either event, he's not gonna be used to run a lot of underneath and possession kind of routes. I wouldn't mind having him do some of those but I think it's just asking for another injury.

Kid can't help himself. Put him in the middle of the field with a little space and he's gonna try to put a move on a move and pull a hammy. Guy's always out there trying to stuff 10 lbs of shit into a 5 lb sack and his body just can't handle it.

I like my baseball comps and Bryce Harper was like that in a big way as a kid. He played 1,000 mph and was always getting himself hurt. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.

[Couch-Potato]

Honestly, just imagine how happy we would be if Justyn Ross could give us what Mecole Hardman or even what K Toney gave us last year? Literally, just 175 - 350 yards with a few flashes of athleticism to keep us excited. That would be enough for us to label him a massive success IMO after being only an UDFA.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by Couch-Potato

Honestly, just imagine how happy we would be if Justyn Ross could give us what Mecole Hardman or even what K Toney gave us last year? Literally, just 175 - 350 yards with a few flashes of athleticism to keep us excited. That would be enough for us to label him a massive success IMO after being only an UDFA.

He's not that kind of WR. He's a 4.6 :40 guy. We're hoping he ends up being JJSS basically.

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by Couch-Potato

Honestly, just imagine how happy we would be if Justyn Ross could give us what Mecole Hardman or even what K Toney gave us last year? Literally, just 175 - 350 yards with a few flashes of athleticism to keep us excited. That would be enough for us to label him a massive success IMO after being only an UDFA.

You mean what Justin Watson gave us (kinda). He doesn't give anything close in terms of ability as to what Toney and Hardman bring/brought.

I know people are dreaming of him taking JJSS's role, but a much more realistic best case scenario would be him latching on as a surprise 6th receiver and giving us a few good downfield shots every now and then.

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by kccrow

I really don't understand many of the comments in this thread.

I'll try to paraphrase...

"Might not have an NFL skill set" - The hell he doesn't. What part of his history suggests he doesn't? Not a single bit of it. He was arguably the best WR on a team that has two really good pros that came from it and only a congenital defect kept him from being a likely 1st or 2nd round pick as a Junior entry to the draft because he probably doesn't play a 4th year if that didn't exist.

"Hasn't played in 3 years" - What? Did we forget he played in 2021? Yes, he's missed more time than you reasonably want, but that's a very unlikely reason he'd miss the cut. He's still only 23 years old and has learned the playbook.

"The chances are stacked against him making this team" - Why? Unless you're blind to the talent he had in college, he has a far greater chance than not. Right now there are only 3 WRs that are locks in Toney, Moore, and MVS.

Come on guys, let's not be silly about this. Too much talk as though he wasn't a high-end talent. The only reasonable roadblock to him making this team is if he ends up back in the tub for any period of time. I think that would be extremely detrimental to his future. Everything else points North.

This entire post is based off his freshman year in which he more or less made his bag running scott-free over busted coverages.

He showed some outstanding hands and balance at times. No doubt. But beyond that....you're really just getting caught up in his freshman hype.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

You mean what Justin Watson gave us (kinda). He doesn't give anything close in terms of ability as to what Toney and Hardman bring/brought.

I know people are dreaming of him taking JJSS's role, but a much more realistic best case scenario would be him latching on as a surprise 6th receiver and giving us a few good downfield shots every now and then.

People are using last year as a reason to not invest much at WR, when I think if you really look at last years WR position....it was underwhelming.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

You mean what Justin Watson gave us (kinda). He doesn't give anything close in terms of ability as to what Toney and Hardman bring/brought.

I know people are dreaming of him taking JJSS's role, but a much more realistic best case scenario would be him latching on as a surprise 6th receiver and giving us a few good downfield shots every now and then.

People are using last year as a reason to not invest much at WR, when I think if you really look at last years WR position....it was underwhelming.

[ModSocks]

Don't get me wrong, im rooting for him. I really am. I want him to make this team. I want him to be healthy. I want him to be this Higgins-ish, lanky, high light reel catch type possession receiver.

He's shown that he has the hands and balance to be that guy. But he hasn't shown the overall athleticism to show he WILL be that guy.

He played all of 2021 after his spinal surgery. It's not like teams don't have tape on him. And hey, maybe his foot was an issue and it's all better now. We can only HOPE that's the case, because what he put on tape wasn't worthy of being drafted. That's just a fact.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by O.city

People are using last year as a reason to not invest much at WR, when I think if you really look at last years WR position....it was underwhelming.

Get used to being underwhelmed.

By the first ranked offense in football, also #1 in explosive plays, first in scoring, yards, etc.

Get used to being underwhelmed, because this is how it's going to be.

Guess you'll have to be all 'meh' about winning Super Bowls.

[Dunerdr]

Damnit. Everytime i see this thread I think we resigned Justin Watson.

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

This entire post is based off his freshman year in which he more or less made his bag running scott-free over busted coverages.

He showed some outstanding hands and balance at times. No doubt. But beyond that....you're really just getting caught up in his freshman hype.

Wrong.

He did not suck as a Sophomore. Higgins had a bigger year in yards but Ross was still #2 on the team and finished ahead of Higgins in leading the team in receptions. He still averaged 13 yards per reception, which isn't being shit.

He also came back from the spinal surgery just fine and played in 2021 but he spent the entire season playing on a stress fracture that he made worse in game 10, then had to end up shutting it down and getting surgery (which was botched). The fact he not only played but played as well as he did on that fracture is kudos to him.

He then ran his 40 on that botched repair just to run it for teams.

I'm not the one here that's getting caught up on things. The guy was a really good WR.

He has a better career than Kayshon Boutte. He's a projected 3rd rounder. His yards per reception is historically better than Xavier Hutchinson's. He's a projected 4th rounder. So, from a production standpoint, he's at least in that range no matter what argument you guys want to make.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by kccrow

Wrong.

He did not suck as a Sophomore. Higgins had a bigger year in yards but Ross was still #2 on the team and finished ahead of Higgins in leading the team in receptions. He still averaged 13 yards per reception, which isn't being shit.

He also came back from the spinal surgery just fine and played in 2021 but he spent the entire season playing on a stress fracture that he made worse in game 10, then had to end up shutting it down and getting surgery (which was botched). The fact he not only played but played as well as he did on that fracture is kudos to him.

He then ran his 40 on that botched repair just to run it for teams.

I'm not the one here that's getting caught up on things. The guy was a really good WR.

He has a better career than Kayshon Boutte. He's a projected 3rd rounder. His yards per reception is historically better than Xavier Hutchinson's. He's a projected 4th rounder. So, from a production standpoint, he's at least in that range no matter what argument you guys want to make.

And Bouttte, as teams are looking deeper into his athleticism, is starting to slide with some folks (myself included) thinking he may go as late as the 5th.

I mean ultimately if I wanted to squint I could talk myself into saying that a 'healthy' Ross is a late 2nd, early 3rd rounder. But that's really talking myself into it.

I just don't see the athleticism and there have been a ton of guys taken in that 100-150 range that simply didn't amount to anything.

At best I think maybe I could talk myself into treating him like I treated Niang after the COVID year where he redshirted his injury; a sort of "yeah, this guy could maybe amount to something..." But even then, I think Niang was slightly better raw prospect.

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

And Bouttte, as teams are looking deeper into his athleticism, is starting to slide with some folks (myself included) thinking he may go as late as the 5th.

I mean ultimately if I wanted to squint I could talk myself into saying that a 'healthy' Ross is a late 2nd, early 3rd rounder. But that's really talking myself into it.

I just don't see the athleticism and there have been a ton of guys taken in that 100-150 range that simply didn't amount to anything.

At best I think maybe I could talk myself into treating him like I treated Niang after the COVID year where he redshirted his injury; a sort of "yeah, this guy could maybe amount to something..." But even then, I think Niang was slightly better raw prospect.

I don't like Boutte at all. Not even a little bit. He's just an example of a guy that I've seen nearly unanimously rated in the 90s. He started out as a 1st round guy.

I think my point is that we're dismissing Ross' talent a bit too much, regardless of where that might be in the grand spectrum. I'm assuming we can agree it's not late-round talent. Maybe it's day 2, maybe it's early day 3, but it's definitely not late/UDFA from a talent perspective. And it might have been higher had he never had the spinal condition and took the reigns 100% when Higgins left in 2020.

That said, the things that pushed him to be a UDFA happened and they aren't ignorable. I just think that he proved he could play again after the spinal fusion and he looks to be back healthy from the stress fracture. If those things are all in alignment he has a very non-zero chance at making this team. That's kind of my point, he's not just your normal hot garbage UDFA that has a near-zero chance.