If we do not retain Knox after this year, we have to draft a receiver
You can tell how much we miss Knox, he was our deep threat who could just take the tops off of defenses. Speedy guys like that pull safeties back and make LBs cover part of the deep middle in Cover-2, opening up a lot of underneath plays. Hester just isnt doing it, and needs to find a new role on offense if he wants to keep playing there (I have no idea why we havent been using him as a 3rd down RB for screens, draws, and off-tackle runs).
The free agency is not going to give us any real talent at WR that we wont have to severely overpay for. There is a lot of talent hidden throughout this upcoming draft, especially when speedy receivers are concerned. If we trade out of the first round (like I hope) we may be able to draft a legit deep-speed threat that could contribute immediately and replace Hester on the offense as early as the third round. Here are some guys that I have been watching this year that could help out.
WV WR's Bailey and Austin. Both are deep threats, and though undersized, they both do good jobs of creating separation with their agility instead of with a big body. I actually really want one of these guys, because
Baylor's Tevin Reese
Oregon State's Markus Wheaton
USC's Robert Woods, who is not only a fast guy, but also taller than 6 feet.
None of those guys are guaranteed to be more successful than a healthy and (hopefully) fearless Knox, but we have no guarantees he will be around. Having a speedy threat split time with Bennett and Jeffery to help take pressure off of Marshall so he doesnt need to be targetted on half of our passes. Sending a speedy guy over the middle 15 yards back pulls LBs away from the LOS so a TE can make a catch underneath. Sending him deep would keep safeties out of the box. Anybody who can contribute weekly for more than 2 catches as a WR would also do a lot to put Marshall in a 1-on-1 every now and then