Good points, redsfan. Some WRs are successful immediately: Boldin, Fitzgerald, Dwane Bowe last year for the Chiefs. The difference, though, is that late round picks can be good players, too. There are some positions where you have to be a top round draft pick to be good. You mention quarterback as a position like that. Most good quarterbacks are indeed high picks, with Brady and Bulger being some of the more notable exceptions. There is one position without exceptions: LT. There have been NO probowl tackles since at least 2000 (I have no idea the last time it ever happened) who were not 1st or 2nd round picks. In fact, there are at most 5 LTs who were not first day picks. And how important is this position? It can make later-round quarterbacks much better. Look at Bulger and Kurt Warner (back in the day) with Orlando Pace, Trent Green with Willie Roaf, Derek Andersen with Joe Thomas. More importantly, look what happened to Green and Bulger when their tackles got injured: they sucked.
WRs are not being drafted high because there are some holes that can only be filled in the first two rounds. You can find a good receiver in any round. Boldin was a 2, Steve Smith was a 3, Colston and Donald Driver were 7s. Until some more ridiculously amazing WRs come in an completely outclass the other WRs (like Randy Moss), then the upside to drafting WRs high will be too low...unless you're Detroit.
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