There's Not '10 Receivers Better Than Me': Patriots Rookie WR Javon Baker Has a Level of Cockiness Rarely Seen in NE, and I'm Here for All of It.

When the Patriots took UCF wideout Javon Baker in the 4th round last weekend, every Pats fan (who didn't have something better to do with the middle of their Saturday) wasted no time going to these little gems, which I've previously posted here:

Before he'd even set foot on Foxboro soil, Baker established that, whatever other athletic shortcomings or human frailties he possesses, a crisis of confidence is not one of them. That he's going to be a Quote Factory working three shifts to produce a luxury brand of high performance self-assuredness. And that was before this latest edition rolled off the assembly line:

And, it turns out, Baker's got a YouTube channel that documented his own personal "Path to the Draft":

On a side note, I don't know if the NFL's Ministry of Copyright Infringement considers this unauthorized usage of their marketing slogan and logo, or if Baker got expressed, written permission before using them. But if you're interested in the videos, you'd better watch them soon, before Der Commissar's jack-booted thugs kick his digital door down and have them removed. Now back to the blog.

There's a thing about wide receivers that is undeniable. And it's that, on average, they possess a higher percentage of supreme self-confidence than the rest of humankind. Both athletes and non-athletes. I don't have data to back this up, but it's empirically true. If you attend the Nobel Prize ceremony, you won't find a lot of nominees saying "Bring your popcorn. I'm going to the CERN Collider to find the God Particle," or "No way in fucking Stockholm, 10 better Bio-Chemists Specializing in Monoclonal Antibodies better than me. Outta your fucking mind." Now of course, we can all cite examples of wideouts with the quiet grace and humility of Gandhi. And pointing that out to counter my argument is the kind of thing that gets automatically said by people who don't understand how averaging works. So don't bother. 

Whether being a wide receiver brings out the cockiness in people, or it's a position that naturally attracts people with cockiness already built into them, is an interesting question. I've heard Dan Carlin make this point about military leaders. That most generals and admirals tend to be raging narcissists. (Douglas MacArthur used to refer to himself in the third person even when he was in a room with just one other person. That is Wade Boggs-levels of third-personing.) All we know is that certain character traits are found in a high percentage of people on particular career paths. And there are more receivers who talk about themselves the way Javon Baker does than there are, say, right guards. 

All of which is a long preamble for me to finally get to the part where I'm for it. I am all in on the Patriots injecting this kind of adrenaline into the veins of their organization. From the beginning of the Dynasty era, they've been attracted to a definite type when it came to drafting this position. Troy Brown, drafted by Bill Parcells, served as the prototype. The relatively quiet, self-effacing, team-oriented guy who fit into the gears of the offensive machine here and played his role. Embodied by later, wildly successful draft picks Deion Branch, David Givens, Julian Edelman, and (for just one season) Malcolm Mitchell. But also by utter failures like Brandon Tate, Aaron Dobson, N'Keal Harry, and (so far not so good) Tyquan Thornton. One of the costliest picks of the era was the often-cited Chad Jackson from 2006, who alienated his veteran teammates right from the start with his unearned egomania. Which he never backed up in his career 20 receptions. And I think that disaster turned the Patriots organization against players brimming with self-confidence and who aren't afraid to admit it, for good. 

And we have to ask, how has that worked out? Because I left a lot of failed receivers out of that list, just because none of us has all day. 

So yes, I say, let Javon Baker bring it on. Have him talk himself up all he wants, give him the latitude to be who he is, and demand that he backs it up. All this talking will make him a target for opposing defenders, and he'll just have to prove he's up to the challenge. The way the truly great ones do. And however successful he is, it'll be fascinating to see how it plays out. 

I hesitate to even include that last part. Just because I used that same term to describe another rookie wideout last year:

And all Kayshon Boutte managed was to catch 2 passes for 19 yards, play 45 snaps in Week 1, then not see the field again until November, never take more than 17 snaps in any game the rest of the way, and face criminal charges for gambling on his own games at LSU. It's not too big an ask that Baker be "fascinating" in a much better way. And back up his big talk. 

Regardless, all eyes will be on him once camp opens up and beyond. We'll definitely have our popcorn ready.