Calvin Johnson Is Not Human

The pre-draft hype machine is in full effect, and people are falling all over themselves to say nice things about Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson. Here's a sample:

"What's so amazing is that Calvin's been making all those spectacular catches since his junior year in high school. This did not happen overnight." - Chip Walker, Johnson's high school coach
"I swear he didn't stretch... I was looking the whole time. And he jumps what, 43 inches?" - Lane Kiffin, Raiders head coach
"He's a different breed. This kid is Peyton Manning. He's a guarantee." - Tom Shaw, trainer

If Johnson is so ... perfect why won't he be the first-overall pick? Well, for starters, nobody knows what the Raiders will do at noon Saturday ... anything's possible. Second -- and this point has been made several times in the past week -- no matter how good a wide receiver is, he's not a game changer. First, a team needs somebody to throw the ball to the All-World wideout. As FOXSports NFL draft analyst Chris Landry pointed out this morning on the radio, wide receivers have the highest first-round bust rate of any position. Nobody thinks this will be an issue with Johnson, but like most things draft-related, we're all just speculating.

Whatever, the bottom line is this: unless you have a quarterback to get the ball to your super human wideout, it doesn't matter. For the Raiders, it's just a matter of deciding on who that quarterback will be.