Halfway through the 2005 season, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith leads the NFL with 55 catches, 903 yards, and nine touchdowns. No player has led the league in all three categories since Sterling Sharpe in 1992, and some have suggested that Smith should become the first receiver to win the league’s MVP award.

In a copycat league like the NFL, every team’s talent scouts should scour college film hoping to find another Steve Smith. But if another does come along, he’ll most likely be overlooked. That’s because when evaluating receivers, scouts focus too much on a receiver’s height, and at 5-foot-9, Smith is half a foot shorter than what most scouts consider the ideal wide receiver.

Smith entered the league in 2001 after a productive career at Utah, where he averaged more than 20 yards a catch and was one of college football’s best punt returners. He hoped to follow in the footsteps of fellow Utah alum Kevin Dyson, who, like Smith, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds and earned a reputation at Utah for making big plays. The 6-foot-2-inch Dyson was the first receiver – and the 16th player overall – selected in 1998. But three years later, every team passed on the shorter Smith before Carolina took him in the middle of the third round.

No receiver as short as Smith has gone in the first round of the draft this decade, and the average height of first-round receivers has been 6-foot-2. The first receiver taken in 2001, Michigan’s David Terrell, was taken with the eighth overall pick – 66 spots ahead of Smith – by the Chicago Bears. Terrell had one thing Smith will never have: A 6-foot-3-inch frame. Those six inches didn’t lead to NFL success, though. Terrell was released by Chicago after four disappointing seasons, cut by New England in training camp this fall, and has yet to see any action with the Broncos this season.

Scouts crave tall receivers for their ability to reach over opposing defensive backs for high passes in traffic, but a more important skill is breaking free of defenders, and in that, many short receivers excel. Smith’s greatest asset is his ability to elude tacklers once he gets the ball, as his league-leading 474 yards after the catch this season would attest. Smith also has great hands and is agile enough to run crisp, precise routes. Even though the opposition’s best cornerback always covers him, Smith has been the target of 78 passes this season, more than twice as many as any of his fellow Panther receivers.

Smith is far from the only undersized receiver making a big impact in the NFL. At 5-foot-10, Washington’s Santana Moss is second in the NFL with 856 receiving yards and deserves much of the credit for the Redskins’ offensive resurgence. Baltimore’s 5-foot-10-inch Derrick Mason is the lone bright spot in the Ravens’ offense. At 5-foot-11, Joey Galloway has 44 catches for 731 yards to lead the otherwise inept Tampa Bay offense. And New England’s 5-foot-9-inch Deion Branch is the primary target in the passing attack keeping the Patriots afloat while the rest of the team struggles.

Perhaps more than any other player, Smith is well-suited to exploit the league’s decision last year to be more strict with its illegal contact rules. In the past, officials gave defensive backs more leeway in bumping receivers as they began to run their routes, so smaller receivers had a harder time breaking into the open. Now receivers have more protection, which makes quickness more important than power. Smith broke his leg in the first game last year and missed the rest of the season, so he didn’t get a chance to make use of the change. This year he’s taking full advantage, and opposing defenses are paying the price.

NFL scouts spend hours scrutinizing game film before deciding which college players can contribute to their teams, but they sometimes allow scouting combine numbers like height or weight to take precedence over on-field production. In Smith’s case, scouts decided that his height mattered more than what they saw on film. He makes them regret it every Sunday.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.