Etu Molden was originally drafted in the 2nd round by Madison before the 2009 season. Molden had great speed in college and the Mad Dogs thought he could be their WR of the future.
As a rookie he hardly played and caught only two passes, however both were for touchdowns, a promising start. The following season he caught only 12 passes for less than 10 yards a catch and was also used as a kick returner.
He saw more action in his third season , 2011 as he caught 30 passes for over 400 yards, 4 td's and showed some of his explosive speed with an 85 yard touchdown reception, the longest on the team that year. He also showed talent as a PR averaging 16.5 yards on just 8 returns.
2012 was the year Madison bounced back to the playoffs, Molden was playing opposite rookie Rob Mager and on paper Madison appeared to have a great set of WR's. Molden caught a career high 51 passes for just over 700 yards and scored twice pushing Matt Burstein to the bench. As a PR he had a huge year, over 700 yards on 41 punt returns and a touchdown of 84 yards.
He was then surprisingly traded to Billings. Madison wanted more out of him as a WR and felt he could only ever get to a WR2 level. Molden wantd to start at WR1 and felt good moving to Billings. He had a career year with 73 catches for 904 yards and 3 td's but averaged just 12.4 yards a catch and had a long of just 28.
The next year he was relegated to a backup role with Billings and finished with just 48 catches and a 10.3 average and a long of 24. He played well as a PR with a touchdown on his 21 returns but an average of just 12.6
He was recently traded to his third team, Minnesota where he has been given a third chance to start. On the season he has over 400 yards in 8 games and led his new team in receiving in his first start for the Fighting Pike.
But a WR who promised so much has never had a 1000 yard season and only once has had over 750 yards receiving. On paper Molden is your prototypical WR, brilliant speed, good strength and great hands yet despite his blazing speed in the passing game Molden has rarely made any huge plays. Since leaving Madison his longest pass reception is just 28 yards, he has only two receptions over 28 yards (both with Madison) in his career.
As a punt returner Molden has done well but he has not lived up to his billing as a potential 1000 yard WR and one of the best in the league. A shame as Molden is still producing for his 3rd team in the league but where is the explosive big plays he showed us in college ? For some strange reason on offense he just cant seem to make the big plays he used to many years ago.
