Over this past week, and including the draft, wide receivers haven’t really been shown a great deal of respect when it comes to market value, and quite a few NFL teams seem to be making a stance on how to valuate the contribution one receiver adds to a team.

The first incident of course was Oakland passing on Calvin Johnson (the best player in the draft) for a quarterback… considered to be the most important position in the draft. This is something I don’t like… but I understand (kind of like accounting). NFL dogma states that even if you have the best wide receiver on the field, you must have someone to “get them the ball”. Apparently not enough coaches have really studied Bill Walsh’s rhythm passing game enough to understand its implications. Yes, they adopted some plays and fundamental aspects, yet I have to argue that they don’t have the full understanding of what the coach, the same one who knew it was okay to cut ties with Joe Montana and go with Steve Young, did for the quarterback, and not necessarily what the quarterback did for him. Oh well, if modern day teams can let it slide, then so can we and on we go.

Then you have Oakland trading Randy Moss for a 4th round pick… I don’t care how much of problem he is, he has to be worth more than that, maybe a 4th rounder and a Snickers bar? I guess not considering Darrell Jackson was traded by Seattle, for a 4th round pick as well. Darrell Jackson once considered to the be a franchise WR was only worth a fourth round selection. Darrell Jackson… a third round pick in 2000 and set a franchise record with 87 receptions in 2004… is now equivalent in value to Mansfield Wrotto?

Similarly you have Randy Moss, a former first round pick, and oh.. yea cost the Raiders linebacker Napoleon Harris, a 1st round pick and 7th round pick. And two years later they parleyed that into John Bowie. It doesn’t take much to figure out that someone totally screwed up there. Geeze, I don’t know, but if I spent that much to get a guy I might hold out for a 2nd round pick or something. Head case or not, don’t you think that with so much invested it would have been nice for JaMarcus Russell to have someone he could throw it up in the air to? Blame his lack of production on his attitude all you want, but he still amassed 1,000 yards with Oakland in 2005 and its not like Andrew Walter or Aaron Brooks were really doing him any favors unless they were washing his car or something else to make up for their play. But in the end, I can yell until my face is blue, he was only worth a 4th round pick to someone.

These events of course are paired with today’s news that Keyshawn Johnson was released by the Panthers… who obviously know a lot about evaluating wide receivers (just ask Rae Carruth, he’ll vouch for them). The team drafted a couple of receivers so they had to make room for them, but this is a guy who has been fairly consistent over the past 3-4 years, and not only that, I guess teams aren’t really going with that whole idea about how a veteran player can help a young guy develop faster. Well, I guess they still can, but only if they take a pay cut.

So I end this with a question of sorts: has the value of the receiver really declined? If so, maybe its because with so many athletically gifted players flooding the market, the gap between the elite WR and next tier down has minimized. If not, maybe its because teams like the 49ers and Patriots understand the value of the receiver but other teams aren’t on the same page.

At the very least it will make an interesting story to follow in the coming months.