Hardy has a good learning curve

[beeve17]

I've looked at players who became good, and the ones that were tall seemed to have better first years then the others. I think that his height will be a significant learning curve. If his routes are too round, Trent can throw a bit high and Hardy can leap for it, if he doesn't explode off the line, or gets jammed there (aside from timing plays) we throw it out of the CB's reach and it'll be good.

The only thing i'm curious about is how he'll do over the middle. We need someone to go over the middle and do out patterns better.
Does anyone know how well he was gaining separation (not from youtube videos) and going over the middle? Because i feel if you can gain separation and go over the middle well, you will be successful. Hands aren't a main concern because they can be taught and everyone drops the ball sometimes. look at TO

[grovelandbillsfan]

If Hardy can perfect the fade route in the corner of the endzone, he catches 8TDs this year.

That's all I really need him to do, maybe some out routes on 3rd down, but mainly a red zone target and to take the double team off Evans.

Hardy is big, fast, and physical, teams won't be able to ignore him like Josh Reed or Price.

[ChetS.]

a guy that big can easily work the middle of the field just by shielding the db with his body. On short slants you dont a lot of seperation , the qb can just throw to the away side of the db and using that monster frame he can box out the dbd for the ball. If he can pick up the offense and get in I agree he can be a 7-10 td guy mostly from red zone work.

[wallsofjeriko13]

I think you nailed it Groveland. Even with a learning curve which all WR's have greater than most positions, Hardy can make the immediate impact in the red zone while improving in other areas at the same time.

[beeve17]

well, how did he do in college? did he get good separation?

[beeve17]

Hardy is very raw as a receiver. He relies on his size and natural gifts too much. He is going to need to work on his route running a lot. He lacks ideal quickness and needs to be more crisp on his routes to ensure separation.

James Hardy has big time upside because of his potential as a touchdown maker. He has the natural talent you cannot teach, but will need some time to reach his full potential. He could make an impact in the red zone early in his career, but will need time to develop his other skills.


http://www.footballsfuture.com/2008/prospects/james_hardy.html

that's what a website says

[BillWalton]

This is just an assumption, but I've heard that Antonio Gates's basketball background helped his ability to shield DBs when making a catch. Hardy's basketball background might help him in a similar way.

[beeve17]

that's a good thought, hopefully he gets help with his height and basketball background. let's hope he was good at basketball!~

[lildrewbillsfan]

He had to have been good at basketball seeing as he was brought into Indiana as a basketball player not a football player. He decided early in college that he would stick with football though.