Move Wallace to the slot?

There seems to be a universal agreement that the rise in Antonio Brown's game last season was due in part to Wallace drawing double coverage a good portion of the time. This would also be the reason why to alot of posters on the board that Wallace seemed to disappear in the second half of the season. Could moving Wallace into the slot receiver position lead to more favorable match-ups in the coming season. Now I am not talking about rankings here. Wallace can remain the #1 WR followed by Brown, Sanders and Cotchery at 2-4 respectively but rather where they line-up predominately. Putting Brown and Sanders on the outside and Wallace in the slot forces the defense to pick their poison. Go man up on the outside to try and Double cover Wallace or let a safety try to cover Wallace as he burns it up the middle. It could also make for more favorable match-ups on the outside as well if Wallace runs the coverage back from the slot and Brown or Sanders cut back to the middle after a 15 yard up and in. In my opinion it makes for better match-ups all around and gets everyone the ball instead of using Wallace as basically a high paid decoy to lure coverage away from the other guys.

 

I think he might be able to play the slot decent, but it's not his strength, so no I wouldn't (most of the time). Brown and Cotch are much more suited for the slot.

 

I would agree he is not a possession receiver and so the slot would be his area however it does give the batter match-ups for his speed and could really open the field for them all since Brown and Sanders aren't much of a drop off in the speed category.

 

I could see at times where it could be useful, but SBD is correct, it's not his strong suite. This is where i'm hoping Haley shines though. I never thought BA was very good at situational football and never seemed to know how to use his roster as effectively as he could have. Finding mis-matches and such is what i'm hoping Haley will bring to the table his first season in.

/2 cents

 

Wallace would be deadly in the slot, but I don't think Ben could effectively hit him, due to his sometime lazy passes. Ben often times puts too much air under his passes and no zip.

 

I think he'd be a terrible slot receiver. He'd get lost in the congestion and wouldn't be able to find the soft spots in the zone, he doesn't fight for the ball in traffic and he's not a precise route runner, all qualifications an effective slot receiver needs.

 

Yeah it's a neccesity for slot receivers to be able to go up and fight for the ball, like the best slot receiver in the nfl Wes Welker and his 6ft frame is prone to doing almost all the time, sarcasm.

And because Ben can't throw a perfect deep ball 100 percent of the time, now it's because his passes are laZy.
You people are complete morons, not to mention your idea of trading all our good players every offseason to draft a whole new team. You people are literally talking heads, I mean talking empty heads. Let's trade Wallace for a pick, let's trade timmOns for a pick, let's trade woodley for a pick, let's trade Ben, brown, mendenhall. It's great being a fan of a team that wOnt invest too much in one player, but tO think we're above paying good players the money they want is ludacris. Thank god none of you make any decisions for our steelers because we'd always trade our good players cuz they want paid or because they tweeted their personal opiniOn and it didn't coincide with the "steeler way" then we'd never be good and constantly rebuilding. Sounds like the pirates. Why dot you guys stop being fickle idiots and start being steeler FANS

 

Feel better now?

 

Yep, sorry that was a drunken rant. I have since smoked a cig and calmed my nerves. To get back to what you asked; just keep Wallace where he is. He may have "dissapeared" the second half of last year but his career numbers speak for themselves. 2 1000 yard seasons and double digit TD's outside. He's proven he can handle it out there. I think we forget he "struggled" the second half but he didn't have a season that was a step back, or an entire season of struggling. So why change anything? Let alone be fine with him leaving? Or being traded?

 

Your sarcastic post was spot on. Wes Welker is small and slow, but scheme leaves him wide open just about every time. Why can't Wallace mimic this? I'll take 100+ receptions, 1200+ yards, and 12+ TDs from my "possession" receiver any day, esp if he's matched up on the nickel back or a LB. Worst case, the defense matches him up against their #1 CB, in which case Brown flourishes. New England laid the blueprint for this effective offense and I believe the Steelers have the weapons to make it work, including a QB that can deliver the ball.

 

Wallace did have success there his rookie season, and I'd welcome the diversity it could bring on offense esp. if used just sometimes without wallace going full time to slot, and the steelers quite possibly have the talent to pull it off, but more than likely it wont change who's covering Wallace.
it'll either be the other teams best corner or fastest.

 

I think they should make Wallace the receiver in the bubble-screen!

 

I agree. With the comparative success of Brown, we should be able to mix the receivers around much more, especailly if Sanders is healthy. That also depends on Ben spreading the ball around to multiple receivers, and showing them all to be equally dangerous.

 

LOL! You can't be serious with your Wes Welker comment? Welker is a tough-nosed receiver who WILL ABSOLUTELY fight for the ball and IS NOT AFRAID to take a hit going over the middle. HInes and his 6ft frame would do the same thing. Did you watch any of the games last year and take notice about how Mike Wallace tended to get "alligator arms" and give up on balls when he was going over the middle and there was the potential to be hit?

It wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit if a team came swooping in at the last minute today and signed Wallace to an offer sheet and gave us a first round draft pick in return. BUT, if we are going to keep him and he is going to be the Steelers go to guy, he needs to be the X and not the Y!

 

I didnt say Welker wasn't tough and I said hes the best slot receiver in the game what else do you want from me lol.
But he doesn't go up and fight with cb's for the ball I've never seen him do that. He usually finds space in the d and gets wide open on plays 5-15 yards from the LOS. He never goes for streaks then battle for under thrown balls never.

Hell the pats lost the superbowl because Wes couldn't go up and catch an uncontested pass.

 

a pass he catches 99 times in 100

 

This will show how great a pick up that coach Haley is .All we need on the offensive side of the ball is some fresh new plays and an offensive coord. that know how to call agood game week in and week out.We already have the talent so watch for more dominance on the offensive side of the ball.

 

Completely agree. We've pretty much all have said the last couple of seasons how our offensive roster looks explosive, yet we haven't really seen it compared to all the potential that's there. I'll get the "beating a dead horse" remarks but a lot of this lies on Arians not utilizing the weapons he had. I think and hope Haley will change that this season. I'm betting we see a much more explosive and well rounded offense this season and the Wallace haters will likely jump back onto the bandwagon that most were on during the beginning of last season.

 

Exactly. He's great, and he's tough, but fight for the ball? I guess you could say he might because of what we know about him, but he doesn't need to because it almost never comes up. He runs a 5 yard route, is wide open, catches it alone, and runs as far as he can. That's his whole thing, is getting open and catching it underneath, and then the other team's fans can say something like, "WHY IS LARRY FOOTE COVERING WES WELKER???"

As for Wallace, moving him to the slot permanently would be ridiculous for a couple of reasons. One, his skill set is best suited for the outside. He is a good route runner, but he needs to be our deep guy. Two, we have other guys better suited for the slot, mostly Sanders. He runs the best routes on the team and is very quick.

That doesn't mean he can't do it sometimes. I don't understand the complaints about his route running, because I think it's pretty good. And he's not just a straight line speed guy, he's also extremely quick. I think he can line up anywhere. But making it some kind of position change would be stupid.

 

/because Tom Brady couldn't throw it to an uncontested receiver.