Rookie Bio - Eric Decker

Hey guys and gals, it has been a busy week with all the rookie signs and the start of camp. And with Tebow now signed that just leaves Demaryius Thomas before training camp starts in a few days. Thomas will be signed in the next few days. But on to this article, I thought it was time to do a bit of a rookie bio. And I decided to start with Eric Decker, I think there is something special about him and I wanted to do a bit of a bio and research into this guy.

Eric Decker was born on March the 15, 1987 in Cold Spring Minnesota. He is the Son of Tom Decker and Sue Meyer. Over the next 23 years Decker grow into a 6 foot, 3 inches and 217 pound man. And a cute one at that, at a charity bowling tournament he told Glam girls "If you could date one celebrity who would it be?, ED: Jessica Biel, without a doubt." And to be honest this dude probably has a chance unlike some of us.

During Deckers early years he attended Rocori High School in Cold Spring, Minnesota, where he was a three-sport athlete. He was selected to the SuperPrep Midwest Team, ranked as the 14th-best receiver, named to the PrepStar All-Midwest Region Team, was a first-team selection on the 2004 Minnesota Associated Press All-State Football Team, two-time all-state, all-conference, all-area and all-section performer, named Rocori’s team MVP as a junior and senior. He caught 62 passes for 1,017 yards with 15 touchdowns last season. He had 2,156 receiving yards with 28 touchdowns for his career and was also all-conference, all-section and all-area in both basketball and baseball. He also was a member of the National Honor Society and all-state academic team.

After high school he attended the University of Minnesota, his home state, where he played for four years. He was a two sport athlete at his time at Minnesota. In his time at the University of Minnesota he put the following numbers together playing football:

Year	Team	G	GS	Rec	Yards	AVG	LG	TD
2006	MIN	13	12	26	378	14.5	39	3
2007	MIN	12	12	68	909	13.6	59	9
2008	MIN	12	12	84	1074	12.8	75	7
2009	MIN	8	8	50	758	15.2	53	5
Career	--	45	44	228	3,119	14.0	75	24

2008 Season

Decker finished his junior season with 84 catches for 1,074 yards and seven touchdowns. He either sat out or played with leg injuries in several games.

2009 Season

Decker began the season with the consistent, elite play that had been a hallmark of his Gopher career. Through 3 games, Decker is 6th in the nation in receiving yards, averaging 124.8 per game. Sports Illustrated columnist Stewart Mandel declared Decker the 3rd best wide receiver in college football, behind Oklahoma State's Dez Bryant and Georgia's AJ Green.

On October 27, it was announced that Decker was going to miss the rest of the season after suffering a sprained foot against Ohio State.

Baseball career

Decker played outfield for the Minnesota baseball team. He was selected in the 39th round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers and the 27th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft by the Minnesota Twins.

After impressive showings in college, and after dominating the Big 10, Decker was believed at the time to one of the top wide receivers in the country. And a possible first round pick, but a ankle injury would cut his final year at college short and hurt his draft status. Because of the injury Decker could not then work out for teams or participate in drills at the scouting combine, which would cause his draft day slide. I personally am not sure for this slide, I think it could have been issues with his injury history or his speed. But I don't think his speed was a problem, nfdraftscout.com has his speed listed as: Low: 4.45 sec, High: 4.65 and a 40 time of 4.54. So about 4.5 secs, which isn't bad, he is not a blazer but has above average speed.

Due to these things Decker would slide in the draft and he was finally picked by our beloved Denver Broncos. Decker would be picked in the third round (87th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft. NFLdraftscout.com had this to say about the Decker pick:

"Wide receiver Eric Decker: He should have gone much higher in the draft, but a season-ending foot injury set him back. If he gets healthy -- and he said he hopes to be fully ready by training camp -- the Broncos might have got a steal in the third round.
A closer look at the Broncos' picks: Round 3/78 -- Eric Decker, WR, 6-3, 217, Minnesota, Decker is big, smart, can make plays and has fantastic hands. Once he recovers from a foot injury, he could be a good player for the Broncos."

Because of a foot surgery, Decker sat out the Broncos Rookie Mini Camp and OTA's

In an interview with BroncoZone, Decker was asked this:

"BZ: You wore #7 in college, but that number is obviously not available, as the Broncos have retired the great John Elway's former number. What number are you looking at getting?
ED: I do want to keep 7 in the number, so if I could get 17 or maybe 87 that would be great. I am leaning towards 87, because I idolized Ed Mac growing up and I was picked with the 87th pick... maybe it's a sign"

And this is exactly what he did. He chose 87, he even asked Ed Mac if he could use that number and Ed Mac sent him back an autographed jersey saying that was cool. This has made all Broncos fans making comparisons between Ed Mac and Decker, it could be true, Decker could possibly be Ed Mac 2.0. But for now he is Decker 1.0, let him make a name for himself.

I think Decker could develop into a solid number two receiver. He has the size to be a solid possession receiver and be a bit of a deep threat. If he can stay health he will be a solid receiver this year for the Broncos. He may catch 50 balls this year if he can beat out Gaffney which would not surprise me.

Final word, in that interview with Glam Girls Decker was asked this:

"One thing you're most worried about as an NFL player? ED: Definitely the altitude in Denver. My biggest worry would be passing out."

If his biggest worry is passing out, I think he will do just fine ~ Aussie Out!

A few YouTube links:

References: BroncoZone, Eric Decker Wiki, Gophersports, nfldraftscout, BleacherReport