Positional Analysis Challenge - Wide Receivers

flyingmonkey30 · Joined: 04 Mar 2007 Posts: 5119

The Dallas Cowboys have had a legacy of excellent receivers in their long and storied history. From the great 88's, Michael Irvin and Drew Pearson, to the speedy "Bullet" Bob Hayes, the Cowboys have been blessed with some of the greatest receivers of all time.

Since the tragic end to Michael Irvin's career, Dallas has struggled to find that next legendary playmaker. Jerry Galloway, Keshawn Johnson, and Rocket Ismail had some decent years, but none of them were greats. As much as people hate him, Terrell Owens had a great couple of years here, but he wasn't in Dallas long enough to be considered a great.

More recently, Dallas has seen a few bright spots. Miles Austin burst onto the scene to become a reliable target for Tony Romo. Dez Bryant has all the talent in the world, and with a full offseason under his belt, could have a breakout year. They finally found their fix in the slot, but Laurent Robinson has since moved on to Jacksonville.

Going into the 2012 season, there are a lot of question marks surrounding the wide receiver position outside of Bryant and Austin. There are a number of players competing for spots. At the moment, there are twelve players fighting for spots on the roster. In addition to Bryant and Austin, we have Kevin Ogletree, Andre Holmes, Danny Coale, Raymond Radway, Teddy Williams, Dwayne Harris, Cole Beasley, Donovon Kemp, Saalim Hakeem, and Tim Benford. Outside of the aforementioned Austin and Bryant, there are three to four spots left for a total of ten players. Let the battle for the remaining wide receiver spots begin...
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flyingmonkey30 · Joined: 04 Mar 2007 Posts: 5119

2012 Starting Wide Receiver

Stats:
Age: 23
Height: 6'2
Weight: 218
2011 Season Stats: 63 Receptions, 928 Yards (14.7 YPC), 9 TD
Potential: Pro Bowl Caliber/Top Ten Receiver

The Dallas Cowboys moved up from 27 to 24 in the 2010 NFL Draft to select Dez Bryant, the star wide receiver from Oklahoma State University. At the time of the selection, Miles Austin was just coming into his own and Roy Williams was looking more and more like a bust. Dallas needed to find another playmaker for Tony Romo, and fortunately, Bryant fell all the way to the 24th overall selection. Bryant had lofty, and somewhat unfair expectations right out of the gate, as he was given the grand number 88, the number that was worn by Cowboys' greats Michael Irvin and Drew Pearson.

Bryant was a top ten talent, but the reason he fell to number 24 was mostly due to maturity issues. He had violated NCAA rules and was suspended for the entire season. He came back, forgot his cleats at his workout, and came off as a lazy kid. But he had all the talent in the world, and Jerry Jones and company took a chance on him. Dez had growing pains along the way, getting accused of not paying back thousands of dollars for jewelry and being arrested in the mall for sagging his pants too low.

Bryant has started to come into his own, however. He had a much better year in 2011 than people gave him credit for. He almost had a 1,000 yard and 10 TD season in just his second year. He is working on his maturity and developing rapport with Tony Romo. He knows that he has all the talent to succeed, and he just needs to go out there and do it.

Dez is a physically gifted athlete. He is a powerful man at 6'2, 220 pounds, and possesses natural hands. He fights for every extra yard, which sometimes hurts him in the end. Consistency has been an issue for Bryant, as he has given up in the middle of games if he cannot get open or gets a little banged up. Consistency is really his biggest issue at this point, but he has the size, speed, and athleticism to be a scary pass catcher in the near future.

My prediction for Bryant is a similar season to last year, barring injuries. I think it is not out of the question to see a 70/1100/12 season from him next year. I think this full offseason to work with Romo and the team will be a huge boost for him. Talent wise, there is no reason that Bryant should not be one of the best receivers in the game next year. The question is, will he put in the necessary effort to succeed?
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flyingmonkey30 · Joined: 04 Mar 2007 Posts: 5119

By the way, I may have borrowed the structure for this thread from Des Laughing

so thank you for that
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eternalsoldier · Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 1176 Location: Texas

People like to say he has a lot of work to do, which may be the case, but looking at his numbers his first 2 years, he has started off better than Irvin, better than TO... He made progressions. I expect him to just get better and better... There's no reason for him not to be a top WR and entering his third year, this is HIS year to ball out

ianlewis16 · Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 9:09 am Post subject:

I'm really scared of Dez putting it together. Could be scary good.

Other than him and miles, maybe Kevin, is it just a free for all? Or are there favourites?

You guys miss Amendola too right?
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flyingmonkey30 · Joined: 04 Mar 2007 Posts: 5119

Dboys88-82 · Joined: 12 Jan 2011 Posts: 1672

MaddHatter · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 41472 Location: Dallas, TX

Not a fan of his work ethic - how it takes 3 plus years to learn a Playbook or how to run routes when its your only job outside of staying in shape and working out is beyond me. And even that he slacked on. Everyone is so enamoured with him because he made an athletic catch over a trash corner when Kitna took over for Romo in 2010 but he was destroyed man to man by Patrick Peterson who had major struggles making the transition to the NFL. Dez relies entirely on his athletic ability and is why he struggles to get open and why Romo has no faith in him. I mean a Walk on Street WR with no knowledge of our Playbook coming in new it better than he did and out produced him with far less talent... pathetic.
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Ware Stat Tracker: 27 Pressures, 9 Hits, 10 sacks, 4 FF, 7 TFL (thru 8 games)

Dboys88-82 · Joined: 12 Jan 2011 Posts: 1672

MaddHatter · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 41472 Location: Dallas, TX

Desperado82 · Joined: 20 Feb 2010 Posts: 18243 Location: Maryland

DEZ88PLAYMAKER2 · Joined: 26 Sep 2011 Posts: 849

I think we caught lightning in a bottle with Robinson last year and he can prove me wrong by putting up decent numbers in Jacksonville which I dont think will happen. I think Robinson is an adequate player that benefited greatly by being the least dangerous guy in a very dangerous offense in terms of skill position players. He often had the worse or no coverage in every scheme he faced which wasnt and wont be the case now that he isnt a Cowboy.

Lets not minimize the impact Dez directly had on Robinson's production often drawing the best cover guy and a safety over the top even on one leg. Does Dez have a lot to work on absolutely but his numbers over his first 2 seasons indicate he has the talent to produce without being the best route runner etc. The kid has the potential to be elite if he puts in the work but even if he doesnt he will be a pro bowl caliber receiver on talent alone which isnt a bad proposition in all honesty. Do I hope he reaches his full potential of course I do and I think he realizes he hasnt and what he needs to do in order to be the receiver he can be. Minimally you get the Dez we have gotten the first two years with the upside of being a true dominant wr. I am a big Dez fan based solely on talent and I too question whether he will dedicate himself enough to get over the hump but to imply that he wont before he has had an off season with his team and coaches to prove it isnt fair IMO and to compare him to Robinson in anyway is ridiculous to me. Robinson would have been a non factor had he seen the coverage Dez has seen since day 1 of his NFL career and I think that will be reflected in his performance at his next stop as the 'big name' receiver

By no means am I thumbing my nose at Robinson's contributions to us last year as he was HUGE but it couldnt have happened if it werent for being on a team with Dez, Miles, Jason, Felix, and Demarco all guys that were at one time or another last season mentioned during game planning before Robinson whom in my opinion was an afterthought during game planning by opposing defenses.
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MaddHatter · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 41472 Location: Dallas, TX

Other than Revision (who started on Miles) there wasn't another CB who followed him side to side. So this nonsense about drawing the vest defender is just that - same as when people say their teams CB covered so-and-so all game or is the #1 CB or always covered the opposing teams best WR. Its very rare that a DC does that.

I'm hopeful for his profession but he has failed to live up to expectations thus far.
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Ware Stat Tracker: 27 Pressures, 9 Hits, 10 sacks, 4 FF, 7 TFL (thru 8 games)

Desperado82 · Joined: 20 Feb 2010 Posts: 18243 Location: Maryland

DEZ88PLAYMAKER2 · Joined: 26 Sep 2011 Posts: 849

I'm not sure whose expectations you are referring to but for me he has done very well in his first 2 years as an NFL WR and you can do all the comparisons you want to other WRs in there 1st 2 years in the leagues and Dez has numbers on par or better than the majority of elite receivers so Im not sure what your expectations were but they may have been unreasonable.

I never said anyone followed him from side to side what I said was he consistently was covered by the best cover guys ie #1 or #2 corner and a safety (Dez had a safety rolling over the top on just about every pass play last year) while Robinson was consistently covered by a #3 corner or a safety and very rarely if ever double teamed. Robinson was open because he ran mostly complimentary routes to the routes Dez was running to pull away the defense. Remember this is football its always 11 on 11 and if a guy has 2 guys with him that are the better defenders and another guy has one guy on him who is not one of the better defenders it is an advantage for the one on one guy created by the guy with two guys on him.

Again I am not saying that Dez cant do better but to say he has been a disappointment or hasnt live up to expectations doesnt fly with me. I dont think anyone expected Dez to come in and devour the play book and run routes like Jerry Rice. That is something we all hoped he would learn and with an entire off season to do so I think this is the best opportunity he has had to do that. And I am not making excuses because he still has had time to do it but not during an off season when that should be the primary focus.
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