state of the team............wr

with the draft over and most of the free agents signed, I've decided to take a close look at the team and evaluate where we stand on a position by position basis. 1st up..... the wr unit

wr:
overview-- we lost manny sanders and Jericho cotchery..... that's over 1300 yds and 16 td's from the offense... of course that leads to a ton of question marks..... imho, the f.o did an extremely good job answering those questions. Lance moore and Darrius heyward bey come into the fold via free agency... martavis Bryant and dri archer enter via the draft.... add in #1 receiver Antonio brown and 2nd yr. man markus wheaton, derek moye and Justin brown and we have 8 guys ....who's the odd man/men out as I don't see us carrying more than 5.........in any case, I think we're looking pretty good here.

individual:
Antonio brown---- #1 receiver.... obviously his spot is set. brown took a hugejump into elite status last yr., and became the 1st wr in nfl history to record at least 5 receptions and 50 yds in every game. I look forward to more of the same this season

Markus wheaton--- rough rookie yr., but is expected to make the leap in his 2nd season and become the #2 man.. I believe he certainly has the talent to do so, and working with ben and brown will only make him better.

Darrius heyward bey-- 1st rd. bust, but still has some talent... bey still has the speed that enticed the raiders to foolishly make him a 1st rd. pick... I see him playing a mike Wallace role here, using his straight line speed to take the top off defenses. it's really his only appeal in my eyes, but at 6'2' 220lbs., he is one of our few big wide-outs, but with archer being drafted, is there actually a need for his speed.

Lance moore ------ has been a very valuable asset for the saints high powered offense... his work in the slot made things easy for the really big guns to produce, and let's face it...... he's not exactly slow either and can still make the big play..will he become the #3 guy, or is he a 4 or 5 at this stage of his career.

Martavis Bryant ----- the big wr that was promised to big ben.. 6'4 with 4.4 speed doesn't come very often... Bryant also has great athletic ability.... if he wasn't lining up across from Sammy Watkins in college, he probably would've been a 1st rounder.... problem is, the last rookie wr that made a big impact on this team i'm pretty sure was luis lipps....will Bryant change that, or will he need a yr. or 2 to adjust.
dri archer -------- a blur on the field, but at his size, can only be used sparingly... I think it's a no brainer that he will be tried out on the return teams, but where does he fit in this offense. will he be moved to wr, as has been rumored, or will he be put on the rb unit in order to save a spot for another wr. his type of speed can't be taught and he could very well be the fastest player in the league who's mere presence could make defenses nervous.. i'm curious as to how we will use him

derek moye ------- another big receiver. moye has developed a bit of a cult following, but I strongly believe he's on the outside looking in at this point.. with our recent pick ups it appears that if he's going to produce in this league, it'll have to be with another team

Justin brown ------- yet another big body receiver that made a little noise in camp last yr.. spent last season on the practice squad and with the current log jam, it looks like it's back to the practice squad again.

jasper Collins ------- camp body.... nothing more, nothing less

danny coale -------- see Collins


kashif moore -------- really just another camp body, but I actually expect him to make a bit of noise before final cuts... this kid has some ability and has upside..... while i'm sure he won't be around when the season starts, he should provide some entertainment

lanear Sampson ------ will make some noise on the return team, but nothing more, and will be an early cut


next up: o-line

 

I don't think DHB is a lock to make the team, he better show something in preseason and he may have to play special teams.

 

I also like how we look at the WR position. Brown is definitely our 1 haha so moving on. We lost Sanders and Cotch, but it seems like the team has a lot of faith in Wheaton... So why shouldn't I? We upgraded in my opinion with Moore over Cotch (despite Cotch's very good season last year). Kid scores a lot of TD's for a little guy. DHB will be interesting, and is definitely in a battle with Moye and J.Brown. Although, I do feel like he has the best chance of those 3 to make the squad.

We won't be able to keep Bryant on the PS, so unless he is totally clueless he's on the 53 as well. Archer will be the 6th WR, but will also get PT as a returner and RB. I don't see any way we keep less than 6 with Archer listed as a WR. IMO it's going to be AB, Wheaton, Moore, DHB, Bryant, and Archer. Justin Brown is also PS eligible again. Moye is not.

 

sorry but i think this post lost any credibility when you said moore over cotch is an upgrade.. you got to be kidding .. the chemistry between ben and cotch alone is worth something .. cant comment on the rest of the post as i stopped reading at that point ..

HINES

 

Wallace contributed as a rookie.

 

I tend to agree with B-n-G Patrol here...
Not a position of MUCH concern.
I think Ben will miss Cotchery.
Whether he can be replaced, remains to be seen.
Moore has talent, they just need to get on the same page.
I believe that will happen.
No Guarantees, but, good possibilities...
I keep forgetting that Archer is listed as a WR...
I`ve seen what he can do outta the backfield, as a rb..
No Worries...
Get him the ball in space, he will make people miss... and we have been lacking a returner, on punts, OR kicks...
Along with his other talents.
As for the rest of them... Time to make the team!
Not like we don`t have Heath, and a few others, to get the ball over the middle...
GO STEELERS!

 

I think Cotch's ten TD's last season were more a product of him being the lesser threat on the field than anything else. Not to take anything away from how he competes but when they have to choose between covering Brown, Miller, Sanders and maybe Bell out of the backfield Cotchery seemed like the lesser evil and he exploited those mismatches and find holes that allowed Ben to find him. I too remember how people didn't even want him back before last season and now he has grown to mythic proportions that no one can possibly fill the void he departure has created.

 

I second the notion, not even CLOSE. Steelers
dropped the ball big time here.Thanks KC/MT

 

I was thinking that, too.

Charles Johnson contributed a fair amount too, though that's still going back a bit I suppose.

On the Cotch/Moore debate - what made Cotchery good here was how he worked on the broken down plays with Ben. We'll see how well Moore and the others get on board with that - it's an unknown at this stage.

 

Nice writeup B&GP.

This one is the biggest ? to me (the player, not your comment). I think Brown has a good shot at making the roster this season. I'm expecting him to show up this season and make the leap. I think i'd be a bit surprised if Moye or Bryant ended up ahead of Brown this year.

I too think we go in with 5 this year, and i'm pretty sure AB, Wheaton, and Moore are locks. I think JB has a really good shot (toss up with DHB perhaps) and i'm thinking they really like the options/packages they would have with Archer so i'm guessing he makes the cut too, but not sure how they'll count him since I think he'll be used on ST a lot as a returner anyhow.

It's still way too early and we haven't really seen too much of a lot of these guys so of course we'll get a much better picture later this summer.

 

The same Cotch who in 2011 and 2012 caught 33 total passes for 442 yards and 2 TD's? One reception per game... come on, man. Over the same stretch Moore had 117 receptions for 1,668 yards and 14 TD's. It was one season. You're entitled to your opinion, but you're acting like I compared Moore to AB. Moore has been a very good receiver in this league for a while now, and he is going to do very well here in Pittsburgh. Writing off someone's argument/opinion because you don't agree with it is ridiculous haha

 

Too... Much... Fact... Can't... Comprehend... Haha

 

ok we are keeping 6 let's say. who's the #2 guy opposite AB?

AB, wheaton, moore, DHB, Bryant, blount, bell, DA, willj. that's 9 rb's and wr's. ben, landry, grad. heath, spaeth, palmer. that's 6 more total of 15. beach, foster, pouncey, DD, gilbert, adams, Wallace, Johnson. that's 8 for at total of 23. two spots up for grabs at 4 positions on offense. TE, WR, RB, OL. ST's will determine who stays. we may even keep that 9th OL and it will be down to 1 spot left.

 

I can't see j.brown making it this year. DHB is a one year guy for now. there is an article about KC's free agent pickups and how they just don't cut them.

since we can stash j.brown on the PS one more year, maybe we keep moye. if he's up for the ST's challenge. it won't be as a returner, that's for sure. it would have to be as a gunner. I don't think j.brown is fast enough in that role.

once we lose a guy next year, if we do, say DHB, then we have a place to move one of these guys up. trouble , if that's what you want to call it, is DHB could be in a good situation here. he plays ST's too. I also think he's in the best situation for him in a stable locker room and with mann coaching him. he may become a great fit. he's tall too, and we know fast as heck. maybe an ankle injury keeps moye on the IR this year. hmmmm.

we have to remember blanchflower. 4 TE's is a possibility. he is a blocker foremost and spaeth is only under contract this year and so is palmer. I could see 4 kept here instead. again ST's play may dictate who amongst all these boarder line guys.

alvester alexander could be on that list too. archer as the 3rd RB is fine with me, but 1 injury would leave that spot very thin with archer as the lone backup.

now, the next klinker may come if they decide to keep only 24 on offense to free up another defender. this all will be won on ST's which will put brice mc cain and antwon blake in the mix. lake loves them. especially blake. he is one of the gunners already. let's also not forget one injury could change everything in camp.

 

Seriously. We should have doubled Carolina's offer. Cotchery was guaranteed to bring in 10 TDs again for us this year. Imagine how much he'd have given us if we broke the bank on him!

Lance Moore has proven to have zero chemistry with Ben on the field. I mean, has he even caught ONE pass from Ben in his entire career?

What others have said about Cotchery is dead on. He's a decent receiver that had good chemistry with Ben and got a lot of help and luck last year. That's no small thing, but paying Cotch that much money on the hope that defenses forget to cover him doesn't sound so smart to me. We pay less for Moore, and we get a good receiver who has had a much better career than Cotch, and is younger, too.

It's reasonable to knock Moore for playing in NO with Brees, which is about as receiver-friendly as you can get. But he and Brees had great chemistry, and I think a lot of people rush to give that credit to Brees, the receiver-friendly quarterback. I do too, but Moore strikes me as a quarterback-friendly receiver, and I think he was responsible for his own success. Brees himself gushed over Moore as a player. Maybe just trying to be loyal to a friend, but it seemed like more than that to me. He knows we got a good one.

P.S. Holmes also contributed well as a rookie.

 

as did Wallace.

 

I think JB is better suited to be a gunner over Moye. Moye is incredibly lanky and Brown is fast enough he returned punts in college.

 

maybe a misconception. moye 6-4 1/4 209 4.46 10 reps and quicker short area quickness. brown 6-3 1/8 207 4.60 8 reps with less quickness and less vertical. the steelers like the fast guys as gunners. not saying either will be such, but they like the speed out there.

 

I think it will be DHB and the corner we picked up from Jacksonville as the gunners. DHB makes for the perfect gunner big strong and fast. Wow its slow we are talking about punt gunners lol.