Take a look at the article Mucky Tundra posted a few posts above. Richard Rodgers combine numbers seem pedestrian (albeit very similar to Finley's, as someone above mentioned). However, some of his stats are scary good. Rodgers YAC are just a hair less than Sammy Watkins and Mike Evans, and amongst the best at the TE position (Rodgers averaged more than 8 YAC). That stat is made even more impressive by the fact that most of Rodgers catches were 1-5 yards from the LOS - which means he was making catches with traffic around him. Additionally, whenever Rodgers caught the ball, he advanced the ball an average of +8 yards from the line of scrimmage - that's better than Sammy Watkins and Ebron. Again, this is made more impressive by the fact that the majority of Rodgers catches came within the first 10 yards of the line of scrimmage - where you will have multiple defenders around.
The one knock might be his 40 speed, but our TE coach said Rodgers plays faster than his 40 time. Again, I point out that Finley clocked in at almost the same 40 time as Rodgers, and no one will suggest Finley is too slow at TE.
The more video I see of Rodgers, the more I like him. He seems to be VERY smart for his position. I saw a play on the page you linked, uffda udfa (it's the first video), that shows Rodgers running a crossing route, realizing as he approaches the left hashmark that his QB wants to run the ball himself, then Rodgers extends his route so the defender follows Rodgers and opens space for his QB to run. You can see as he is running the route, Rodgers is constantly moving his head back and forth between his QB and the defender to assess the situation. That is pretty damn impressive, especially for someone who was spending his first year as a pure receiver.
Originally Posted by: all_about_da_packers