Dri Archer: Should he be a full time WR?

I'm just thinking that having him on the field would be better disguised if he was on the field with 2 or 3 other receivers to get him in open space.

Plus, I just think he is too small for RB, you still need some man strength to be a small RB in this league. He only weighs 173lb.!

Half the WR's on this team might not even be here next year so he may have a shot too.

What do you think, should he make the change to WR?

 

He has been wide open as a receiver and Ben doesn't throw to him. Is it because he is too small, he's not normally out there or Ben just can't check down very well?

 

I don't know about full time receiver. I do know that his main use at the moment would be returning kicks, and he's suffered there because of a) not being given the opportunity and b) when given the opportunity, trying too hard to make a play when there's none there.

He's not so good downfield as a receiver, either. His strength is taking a short pass and using his athleticism to go from there. If that's the idea, then he's going to have a fair few no gains and losses before breaking one out.

 

he has been splitting out at wr too, just no throws his way. no he's not too small to play rb. in the MAC where he played, there are just as big of defenders as anywhere else and he di well. we just need to feed him the ball more than we do. one run up the gut on 3rd and 1 is not what he's built for. just a terrible misuse of this kid by our OC.

 

I think that's a given. He seemed to be getting better earlier in the season, but not sure what happened there.

 

Tavon Austin is the WR version of Archer and he is supremely talented, but he's looking like a waste of a 1st round draft pick too. Most players that size just don't pan out in the NFL. Archer is just one of those guys I think.

 

Unless they are going to make it the thunder lighting show like Bam Morris and Pegram, I don't see Archer as a RB working out at all.

LevBell is the workhorse, there is no room for Archer as a RB.

Isn't that what Darren Sproles and Dexter Mcluster excel at though... taking short passes and turning them into more than they are?

Line Archer up wide, get him in space on a short route, and turn it into a punt return situation.

 

I think Mac hit the nail on the head, the problem with guys like this or Logan, Rainy, or any or small specialty players is that if you don't give them enough reps then you take away the mystery of them. Look at what NE does with Edelman or Woodhead before him, they give him the ball in a variety of ways that make the defense account for him or risk getting burned. If you trot a guy out for one play and maybe throw a screen pass to him or a reverse then the defense knows your hand. Get the ball to him and let him makes some moves, I like to see a pistol look with Archer or maybe a double backfield with a fake to Bell and a pitch to Archer with Miller or Spaeth playing roadgrader.

 

I agree he can run between the tackles but just not as a power back when they are stacking the box on a 3rd and 1. quick hitters up the middle is his strength. he hits the line so fast that one crease and he's blown by the lb'ers and the secondary can't get the right angles on him before he's by them. you have to give him more than one of those reps a game. he will break one.

 

Simple... Like some of you said above, get him the touches. If he's a reg then the guessing game from the D becomes a great weapon for this O

 

Exactly....after all isn't he supposed to be the Archer and not the target.

 

I've been as unimpressed with Archer as I have any rookie draft pick in a long time. He just doesn't look like he knows what to do with the football when he has it in his hands. No "quick twitch" cutting ability at all which is what he needs if he hopes to survive in the NFL. Major disappointment!

 

From what I have seen in camp... he was making the LB's including Timmons look stupid, but that was a case where it was just Archer and a LB and Archer could use the whole field to his advantage by outrunning a guy.

So I guess you are right, he is all straight line speed, no wiggle. Even on kickoffs guys need some wiggle to make the first guy miss. Antonio Brown is the king of quick cuts and wiggle. I mean, A.B. is not even 6ft and I wouldn't say his speed is elite, but yet he is always running free.

So what do you do then, that's why I say try running him on some straight line routes?

 

I really wanted DeAnthony Thomas and if you watch his highlights you can see that he's a "cut on a dime" kind of player. I just haven't seen that with Archer. He's got elite straight line speed but it seems like he runs into the tackle and has problems making the first guy miss. This ain't the MAC, this is the NFL and he seems to be having a difficult time adjusting to the speed.

 

Edelman or Woodhead ... That NE system is so crazy because its so simple. Pats are a passing team. Those guys are in the backfield blocking often or they fake the block and kick out for a short route after the rest of the field is cleared out of defenders.

Simple easy freaking dump off plays!

 

Edelman is never in the backfield and Woodhead hasn't been on the Pats in 2 years now. The Pats can line up and run the ball as well as any team in the league

 

Shaner the point isn't where those guys line up or even if they are currently on the team it was how they used smaller undersized guys and made them part the base offense and not as specialty players that had one or two plays during the whole game. As Da Stellars said they use smiple plays to get them open and let them work, plays that Brady knows will chip away at a defense and open them up for big stuff or bleed them slowly with repeated short gains.

 

DRI ARCHER WISHES HE WAS AS GOOD AS LIMAS SWEED!!!!

 

no it's not the MAC but that doesn't mean players from there can't succeed. AB wasn't an elite wr right out of the gate and he's from the MAC.

dri is not a big wiggle type player, so you play to what he does do well. he hits the line so fast that even the threat of him getting through the line has to be used to our advantage. go 3 or 4 wide and run him between the tackles. get our mobile linemen out on some screens on the edges and let that speed do what it can do. get 8 players out of the box before you run him up the middle. even if they fake it to him with 3 and 4 wides that puts us at and advantage in coverage.

the MAC has nothing to do with it. players all over this league are from the MAC and good ones. so is Dri archer. use his strengths, don't burden him or the offense with force feedings of what hurts him. put him in a position to succeed.

 

Archer should be a fulltime bench warmer which is what he is right now.

 

I agree, mac, that players from the MAC can have success. But if you're 170 pounds soaking wet you'd better have some wiggle in the NFL or you're in for a short career.