Today we learned Corey Smith will be gone for the season. Though Corey Smith wasn't really thought of as one of our biggest play makers and a little lower on the list of players we need to get more touches to, his presence on the roster was still very important. With Noah Brown and Corey Smith gone for the season we are now out of 2 two of our top skill players. More importantly, this leaves us with only 1 player in our top 5 skill players who has played wide receiver for more than 3 years. To some, this may not be a big deal. Tto anyone who has played wide receiver in organized football, this is a little startling. Yes, Braxton Miller, Curtis Samuel, and Jalin Marshall are all fantastic athletes and I'm more than happy to have them on our side of the field. I am, however, a little hesitant on my expectation of those players statistically. Last year, we had Evan Spencer, Devin Smith, and Mike Thomas as our top 3 wide receivers. They weren't the most polished players but they had years of experience running routes. This would force teams to line their slower safeties and linebackers on our far more atheltic #4 receiver, which would be Corey Smith or Jalin or whoever else played H-Back (Samuel or Dontre). Even though they weren't polished route runners they were still fast and athletic enough to get open on several big plays. This year, we have have to force Jalin (3 years removed from playing high school QB), Samuel (2 year removed from playing high school running back and just 1 year removed from being a college running back), and Braxton (1 year removed from playing college QB) to be our top 4 receivers. Being a great wide receiver isn't simply running vertical routes or popping a head fake here and there to get open. But, there is the edge blocking, the baiting corner backs (similar to what Thomas did to Kendall Fuller for several plays), and the nuances of route running (generally the hardest for most new receivers to catch on to). Being athletic is a huge asset, especially when you have the match-up advantage against linebackers and safeties. But, when you have to match up against corner backs who are equally athletic, you have to rely on athleticism as well as polished route running to get open. As we continue to move further and further down our depth chart the more we get into these "raw" players who are athletic but not the best route runners. This is why I think our lack of true wide receivers is the biggest issue this season.