What About Dorin Dickerson?

In my last post I talked about how the Texans were in the need for another productive receiver to line up opposite of Andre Johnson. After talking about possible free agent pickups, I briefly mentioned that the Texans should take a look at one of their own players. That being Dorin Dickerson. I remember after the Texans had drafted Dickerson out of the University of Pittsburgh, they talked about his athleticism and how they were going to try him out at receiver. They wanted him to kind of sit behind and learn from Andre Johnson during his first year in the league.

So, why not compare Dickerson to Johnson? That’s not unreasonable right? Coming out of The U, Andre Johnson was a surefire first rounder. Johnson came into the league at 6’3” and weighing 225 pounds. Johnson did not workout at the combine but did workout at his Pro Day at Miami. At that he ran a 4.41 in the 40 yard dash and his vertical jump was 41 inches. Johnson was also one of the top players at The U when the program was arguably at the top of the college football world.

Dorin Dickerson, on the other hand, had a little bit different story. He committed to play football at the University of Pittsburgh. While that is a good program, it is nothing like where the Miami program was at the time when Johnson left. So, he did not have as much momentum coming into the draft as Johnson but that really didn’t play a huge role into where he was drafted. As a freshman, Dickerson played receiver but was moved to strongside linebacker his sophomore year.  For his junior and senior years of college, Dickerson was moved to tight end. His senior year, he received All-American honors by the Associated Press. While it is quite obvious, Dickerson is a heck of an athlete by playing three different positions. At the combine, Dickerson ran a 4.40 in the 40 yard dash and his vertical jump was 43 ½ inches.

If you go by just looking at the physical appearance of the two players, there is hardly any difference. Their height and weight are basically the same as well as their 40 yard dash times. The only thing that is much of a difference is Dickerson’s vertical jump which is just an inch and a half better than Johnson’s. I was disappointed to see that Dickerson did not get a lot of playing time in the last two games of the season while Johnson sat out because of injury. The Texans were out of the playoff picture and really the games didn’t matter. They should have seen what Dickerson could do. I mean they gave Arian Foster a chance at the year of 2009 season and look what happened in 2010. Dickerson is definitely an interesting prospect. If he could continue to develop and learn behind Johnson, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be able to produce good numbers in the NFL. Johnson has successfully been able to use his body to block out defenders when going up for a pass and there is no reason to think that Dickerson can’t do the same since they have a similar body type. At least for now, he would be a good target in the redzone.

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