Never considered the popularity of 7 on 7’s at the HS level to be a key factor in the development of WR skill. Very interesting parallel; reminds me of a chapter from Outliers, almost.

I think the next step is to find TE’s and RB’s who can make similar freak catches in larger catch radiuses. From Bill Belicheck, we see that TE’s can create huge match-up problems, and we see similar things with Le’Veon Bell lining up an increasing amount from out wide.

This is what makes football so fascinating to me. With Basketball, you have the three point shot, and it’s never going away. It’s changed the game forever and, from my (admittedly uneducated) eyes, flattened out the strategy involved. And while the NFL has become spread and pass happy the past few years, it seems that we are not far off from heavier sets involving versatile pass-catchers at TE and RB but which also present more of a threat in the run game. Fascinating stuff.