Ranking the 2012 WR draft class

With the NFL on the precipice of what could be the decade of the pass, it's not a surprise that quarterbacks such as Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III are garnering the bulk of the draft headlines.

Quarterbacks can't make it happen without pass-catchers, however, so let's take a closer look at what the metrics have to say about the top 10 wide receivers in this year's draft.

Each wideout was ranked in the following categories: age, height, weight, 40-yard dash time, overall yards per attempt (YPA), short pass yards per attempt (SYPA), vertical yards per attempt (VYPA) and stretch vertical yards per attempt (SVYPA). (Note: Short passes are aerials thrown 10 yards or less downfield; vertical passes travel 11 or more yards; stretch verticals are thrown 20 or more yards. Each player's metrics are based on a tape review of a minimum of nine 2011 contests against BCS conference-caliber opponents.)

The players' rankings in each category were then tabulated on a 1-10 scale with the best score getting a rating of 1. The category rankings were then added up and are listed under the ranking points heading (with a lower score being better).

Now that we have the prelims out of the way, let's take a look at how the rankings turned out.

1. Stephen Hill

Birth date: May 1, 1990 (21 years old)
Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 215 pounds
40-yard dash time: 4.36
YPA: 12.0 (43 targets)
SYPA: 4.0 (13 targets)
VYPA: 15.5 (30 targets)
SVYPA: 17.2 (22 targets)

Ranking points: 27

To see the rankings of the top 10 WRs in the 2012 NFL draft, plus to get access to all of Insider's NFL free agency coverage, you must be an ESPN Insider.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Email
• Subscribe

KC Joyner

NFL Insider

• Follow
• Archive

• NFL and CFB analyst for ESPN Insider
• Known as "The Football Scientist"
• Uses proprietary metrics from game tape study