When it comes to WR, bigger isn't better anymore

	Santana Moss has 42 catches for 777 yards and five TDs this season. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

The people associated with Jerry Maguire aren't having the greatest fall. Cameron Crowe's new movie, Elizabethtown, is not doing so well. Actress Renee Zellweger separated from husband, Kenny Chesney, after four months, claiming fraud. That couldn't have been pretty. Then there's Tom Cruise, who says he's in love, and the world snickers. Wherever Jonathan Lipnicki is, I hope he's OK. The movie itself isn't aging that well, either -- or at least one part of it isn't. It's when the Arizona Cardinals' general manager, played by Glenn Frey, rebuffs Jerry's request for a new contract for Rod Tidwell, by saying something along the lines of, "C'mon, Jerry. I want a prototypical wide receiver. Someone who's 6-foot-3, 225 pounds. That logic is so dated. It's as anachronistic as the enormous cellphone Gordon Gekko uses in Wall Street. Or at least it should be. Those height-and-weight figures may have been the prototype of a wide receiver once, but they aren't any more.

Just look at the numbers. The leading receivers in the NFL this year are Steve Smith (5-9, 185 pounds) and Santana Moss (5-10, 190). Neither of those men would be much help if you needed to get something off a high shelf, but they are the MVPs of their teams.

Small is the new tall.

And as these men prosper, some of the "prototypes," meanwhile, are struggling. Moss and Smith were both part of the draft class of 2001, when Moss was the fourth wide receiver taken and Smith the 11th. All three wide receivers taken ahead of them in the draft were "prototypes": David Terrell (6-3, 212), Koren Robinson ( 6-1, 205) and Rod Gardner (6-2, 213).

Neither of those three is starting in the NFL or even with the team that drafted them -- and all were taken in top half of the first round. Terrell, drafted by the Bears, is now with the Broncos. Robinson, taken by Seattle, is now with the Vikings. And this offseason Gardner was traded by the Redskins (Moss' team) to the Carolina Panthers (Smith's team), where he lingers near the bottom of the depth chart.

The teams who took those prototypes didn't just miss out on Smith and Moss. Other receivers taken that year were Chad Johnson (6-1, 192) Chris Chambers (5-11, 210) and Reggie Wayne (6-0, 198). All excellent pros, but not as big as the other guys, and therefore not at the very top of the GM's draft boards. The Patriots have been making a mess of the idea of the prototype during their entire Super Bowl run. Last year's Super Bowl MVP was Deion Branch, who is 5-9. And he played big in what may well have been the game's decisive moment -- when he leapt up to take away what looked like a sure interception by the Eagles' Sheldon Brown. His elevation to make that catch not only prevented a turnover, but also converted a first down that led to a key score.

It all reminds me of Michael Lewis' Moneyball in a way. One of the reasons A's general manager Billy Beane leans on statistics so heavily is that he believes scouts tend to fall in love with players who look the part -- as they once had with the strapping Beane when he was touted as a "can't miss" baseball prospect. He wants to stop investing in guys who look like they are good players and stock his team with men who actually are good players. Not to say that big receivers don't have their uses. Eli Manning's life is much easier with 6-5 Plaxico Burress to throw to. Randy Moss (6-5) and Terrell Owens (6-3) are still the class of the league. But those guys are more than just tall.

Here's the prototype: guys who get open and catch the ball when it's thrown to them.

There's another part of Jerry Maguire when Jerry tells Rod Tidwell, "When they call you shrimp, I'm the one who defends you!" These days, shrimp has never been an easier insult to answer.