I like the Corey Coleman pick. I posted a blurb about him last month, wondering why the consensus had Laquon Treadwell as the best receiver in this draft. Treadwell seems to be a bigger, slower receiver like Michael Crabtree or Hakeem Nicks.

To me, watching Coleman’s highlights, he looks a lot like Antonio Brown or Steve Smith. He’s small, but he’s competitive and quick as hell. I consistently see him catching the ball and instantly exploding off in a different direction. He runs 4.37, which is exactly the same as Brandin Cooks a couple of years ago (another receiver who seems to be working his way into this group).

So I wanted to explore briefly the idea of whether there’s size discrimination in the draft. That is, are teams consistently undervaluing small receivers – Smith, Brown – while overdrafting big guys who don’t quite measure up? Jon Baldwin, Reggie Williams and Mike Williams come to mind as big receivers who simply couldn’t get it done in the pros.

So I spent a half hour organizing recent first-round picks by size.

Sorry, but I don’t have clever, telling results for you.

Since 2000, there have been 26 receivers selected that I will stick the “big” label on. I included all players who are at least 6-foot-3, and I also included five 6-foot-2 players who weigh at least 220 pounds.

Of the group, 10 I will call busts. And by “bust” I mean if we were to wind back the clock, no way in a zillion years would the team even consider drafting that player. Some of these players had a little success. (Michael Clayton, for example, caught 80 passes as a rookie, and Reggie Williams had a 10-TD season.) But those nine were big disappointments. The busts have a black dot in front of their name.

Of the 27, nine are what I would call home run picks, and they’re in bold. With those guys, not only would the players select them again, but they would run the card to the podium. They have exceeded expectations.

The other eight are somewhere in-between. They’ve had some success, or it’s simply too early to call. Mike Evans and Kelvin Benjamin, for example, seem to be on track to be great picks, but I am holding off for now. Each has just one good season. Brayon Edwards had one insanely good season for the Browns but otherwise had a ho-hum career.

Anyway, with big receivers it seems to come out in about thirds – a third great, a third lousy, and a third in-between.

BIG RECEIVERS SINCE 2000
YearPickPlayerHeightWeight
200521• Matt Jones, Jac.6-6242
20008Plaxico Burress, Pitt.6-5231
200510• Mike Williams, Det.6-5229
20147Mike Evans, T.B.6-5231
201428Kelvin Benjamin, Car.6-5240
200220Javon Walker, G.B.6-4210
200429• Michael Jenkins, Atl.6-4217
20072Calvin Johnson, Det.6-4237
20114A.J. Green, Cin.6-4207
201126• Jon Baldwin, K.C.6-4228
200021• Sylvester Morris, K.C.6-3216
20018• David Terrell, Chi.6-3213
200219• Ashley Lelie, Den.6-3197
20049• Reggie Williams, Jac.6-3223
200415• Michael Clayton, T.B.6-3197
20053Braylon Edwards, Clev.6-3211
200727Robert Meachem, N.O.6-3211
200930Kenny Britt , Tenn.6-3218
201022Demaryius Thomas, Den.6-3230
20116Julio Jones, Atl.6-3220
201213Michael Floyd, Ariz.6-3225
20157Kevin White, Chi.6-3215
201514DeVante Parker, Mia.6-3209
20033Andre Johnson, Hou.6-2221
20043Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz.6-2223
201024Dez Bryant, Dall.6-2224
201329• Cordarrelle Patterson, Minn.6-2220
201623Laquon Treadwell, Minn.6-2221

Before I started on this endeavor, it was my belief the little guys would win out. But the numbers don’t show that. Instead, they come out a little bit behind.

With the small receivers, I went with players under 6-feet tall, plus a couple who are 6-foot-0 but weigh under 190. Fourteen receivers meet the description.

Of these 14, only three look like home-run picks – Odell Beckham Jr. and Santana Moss. I believe Brandin Cooks will wind up in this group, but following the same procedure as with Evans and Benjamin, probably a half-season too early to put him into that group. I also thought about putting Lee Evans in this group. Considering he was stuck playing for some bad teams in Buffalo, he had a nice career. But not quite in the rock star class.

And I am giving five receivers the bust rating. Two of the guys in this group had some NFL success – Ted Ginn Jr. and Peter Warrick. But relative to where they were picked, they were massive disappointments. That is, if you wind the clock back, no way would the Bengals select Warrick 4th overall, and no way would the Dolphins select Ginn 9th.

I’m not calling Tavon Austin a bust, but he seems to be destined to end up with a Warrick-Ginn like career. I could be more decisive and say there’s no way the Rams would select Austin 8th overall.

Two other receivers in this group had some NFL success – Santonio Holmes and Percy Harvin – but they didn’t do quite enough to be called great picks, I think. So I left them in the middle group.

SMALL RECEIVERS SINCE 2000
YearPickPlayerHeightWeight
20079• Ted Ginn Jr., Mia.6-0178
201621Will Fuller, Hou.6-0186
20004• Peter Warrick, Cin.5-11194
200125• Freddie Mitchell, Phil.5-11187
200625Santonio Holmes, Pitt.5-11187
200922Percy Harvin , Minn.5-11192
201412Odell Beckham Jr., NYG5-11198
201615Corey Coleman, Clev.5-11190
200029• R. Jay Soward, Jac.5-10177
200413Lee Evans, Buff.5-10197
200522• Mark Clayton, Balt.5-10193
201220Kendall Wright, Tenn.5-10191
201420Brandin Cooks, N.O.5-10189
201529Phillip Dorsett, Ind.5-10185
200116Santana Moss, NYJ5-9185
20138Tavon Austin, St.L.5-8176

So what did we establish?

Well, very little, I suppose.

Chances are if you felt Corey Coleman was the best receiver yesterday, he’s probably still the guy you like. And if you are more of a Laquon Treadwell guy, you probably still think that he’ll be the best of the wide receivers.

The Bengals look like the losers in this wide receiver sweepstakes. After losing Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu, they were probably looking to select a pass catcher in the first round, and they watched three of them get selected in the three slots prior to their pick.

—Ian Allan