DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns sign TE Austin Hooper

I miss you Jordan Cameron!

Jordan Cameron is doing great for himself:

https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-mom...child-together/

Loved Gary Barnidge too

A very nice addition. Good job FO.

Another Great Signing by our much maligned FO GREAT JOB FELLAS'

I'll be hopping over there to start cleaning the place. Might have to find more stools.

The bars are closed here in OH for the time being, so I need me something to do.

I read we are negotiating with Joe. About to hit 3 out of 4?

Can I add Clowney?

Its all clean bro ... we’ve torn down the Freddie and kJ statues and are about to start on the Andy & Kev show decor ...

Looking forward to your arrival .,,,

Really?

I haven’t seen that anywhere reliable.

Oh Yes! he was the TE I wanted ... good moves thus far...

And Jack Conklin ... oh ya!

Lane Adkins put something out on Twitter saying we were negotiating with him. I'm assuming he was serious, but now I see he put a smiley face after it.

My apologies if he wasn't serious. I was just excited. I would like to sign Schobert.

My first thoughts were, isn't Hooper a little short and heavy to play TE? I'm seriously doubting him being in "football shape".

Good signing!!

I like this pickup. He may be the highest paid but I don’t think it will break the bank considering the total monies.

Okay. Makes sense.

Do you agree w/Memphis, device, WSU, and cfrs that Landry is overpaid?

Haha, I’m excited.

I do not worry about the #s, the cap, the frontloaded contract or one that is backloaded. I let the bean counters worry about that, I just want good players on my team.

No, I don’t think Landry is overpaid. I think he has proven that he deserves what he has gotten. Hopefully so does Hooper.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2887...ig-signing-move

The deal: Four years, $44 million
Grade: C

The highest-paid player at a position isn't always the best player at the position. Heading into free agency, players like Kyle Rudolph, Trent Brown and Xavier Rhodes had the largest average annual salaries at their respective positions. Hooper is unquestionably a starting-caliber tight end, but is he close to the NFL's best tight end? He has ranked seventh among tight ends in fantasy points each of the past two seasons, which included a 16-game stint in 2018 and a 13-game run in 2019.

A significant chunk of Hooper's production over that two-year stretch has been a product of garbage time. Everyone has their own definition of what that concept means, but let's look at drives that began with a sub-10% win expectancy for the offense. Hooper has 50 catches for 522 yards and five touchdowns in those situations over the past two years; no other tight end topped 35 catches or 414 receiving yards over that same time frame in similarly desperate situations. This isn't unique to Hooper, as Julio Jones leads all wide receivers in the same category, but it's the sort of production that plays better on paper than it does in reality.

It can be difficult to parse out the impact of an individual blocker, but it doesn't appear that Hooper has made a big difference in that category for the Falcons. Over the past two years, the Falcons have averaged 4.11 yards per carry with him on the field ... and an identical 4.11 yards per carry with him on the sideline or inactive. Their first-down rate ticks up slightly, going from 24.1% with Hooper on the field to 22.5% without him.

On the other hand, the Falcons have been a much more efficient passing attack with Hooper on the field. Since 2018, Matt Ryan has posted a passer rating of 105.5 and a QBR of 68.8 with his No. 1 tight end on the field. Those marks have fallen to 86.7 and 49.8, respectively, without him in the lineup.


Austin Hooper's deal is worth $44 million, with $23 million guaranteed. AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn
What was interesting about Hooper's breakout 2019 season was just how uncommon his usage rate was for a tight end. More than 50% of his receptions and receiving yards came outside of the numbers last season. Among tight ends with at least 35 catches, only three other players fit that bill: Jack Doyle and quasi-wide receivers Mike Gesicki and Jimmy Graham. Atlanta offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter loved getting the ball to Hooper in the flat, and while I don't think there's anything stopping Hooper from going over the middle -- his splits were far more typical in 2018 -- he'll likely have a more common usage pattern in Cleveland.

New Browns coach Kevin Stefanski used plenty of multiple-tight-end sets during his lone full season as the offensive coordinator with the Vikings. Minnesota went with two or more tight ends on more than 56% of its offensive snaps, the second-highest rate in football. It was in part a way to substitute for the absence of Adam Thielen, who played only 43% of the offensive snaps while struggling with a hamstring injury. Hooper's signing could serve as a way to account for the absence of Jarvis Landry, who is questionable for Week 1 after undergoing hip surgery in February. Hooper should play the Rudolph role in Stefanski's offense, with David Njoku getting his final shot with the new Cleveland regime to serve as the Irv Smith Jr.

Hooper is now getting paid like a superstar tight end. In reality, he has been something closer to a safe pair of hands. He hasn't shown any extraordinary ability to get downfield or make things happen after the catch; while Falcons fans will remember his 88-yard catch-and-run against a blown coverage in Week 1 of 2017, he has ranked 19th in air yards per attempt and 22nd in yards after catch over the past two seasons.

Unsurprisingly given the demand for tight end talent around the league and a relatively thin pool of talent in free agency and April's draft, Hooper's new deal resets what had been a stagnant tight end market. Graham had previously set the mark by averaging $10 million per season on both of his deals with the Saints and Packers, but Hooper becomes the first tight end to top $10 million per year on a multiseason pact. The Browns are paying for game-changing production, but they're more likely to get something closer to solid, steady work.

From me on 4/12/18 (the day Jarvis Landry signed his extension):







There are a few more but they have a bunch of quotes so it's hard for me to post them directly on here without making it look like a mess.

If you would like to look at the whole thread you can find it here:

Link

Austin Hooper doesn't turn 26 until November.

j/c

I disagree with ESPN’s grade of a C ... to me, it’s a HUGE position of need and he’s the best available. Plus, i don’t think we even overpaid. Other TE’s (Kittle, Kelce, Ertz) will receive larger deals soon enough

I'm licking my chops at the Njoku/Hooper combo.

I think they were saying he is a garage time stat machine and we already have Juke ... so spend the money elsewhere to have an overall better team.

I think that's their thinking?

Glad to see it. Good pickup. Money aside, it is a chance for wins. Especially if we use him a lot in two TE sets. May help BM.

Botton line: I don't care who wins us games. Just win, baby!"

I'm sorry - and maybe I am being cute - but a serious football analytics article does not reference a players fantasy football points or rank.

I think the better stat that I saw was that he caught something like 92% or 96% of the catchable balls that were thrown to him? He caught 56% of the contested balls? And again - having watched only a limited amount of him (2 games or so) he certainly looked like a really capable TE. Not a Kelce or Antonio Gates - but in that very next level. If he can block half decent - something Njoku does not exhibit at the moment - so much the better.

Last piece of the puzzle - if the scheme moving forward is to play out of a lot of 2TE sets and our existing roster is highly questionable regarding reliability - go out and get the best available. That's what we did. In a world where salaries only ever go up - the top free agent at any given position often sets the market or the good players that year get paid like the best player from 2 years ago.

True... no style points for referencing Fantasy football ranking, but I understand what they're getting at. We paid #1 TE $ for the #7 or whatever TE. While I think that's fair criticism, I also don't care. The terms seem to soften the financial blow a little bit... but more importantly, FA is what it is. You're going to overpay for the top talent available in FA, and it was a position of need that now isn't.

I agree with the grade, but I see it more of an indictment of where we were right before he signed vs the signing itself.

I'm not sure the Fantasy Football reference was meant as a negative. I think the point was that he accumulated those numbers during garbage time. That is the knock.

quoted for accuracy

You may be right, but I think the overall point of my post is still true. I get the grade they gave the signing. We paid some big bucks.

I wasn't trying to single you out. I just don't respond to the other dude. LOL

Ha, gotcha.


To an extent, I can understand the hand-wringing over the $$$. I'm just happy we're plugging more holes than we're making.

I even get the 'garbage-time-stat' criticism. I still think he's a valuable pickup in that he's a decent blocker and a reliable catcher. I think having 1 guy like that at the TE position will be huge.

If the receptions and yards were gained in garbage time - then say that, it's certainly a relevant angle. But it doesn't need to be framed as a FF stat or angle - it has no direct or real correlation to Fantasy - connecting the two does not make it more or less relevant. Many on here have already commented how posters view of players ability is often warped by their fantasy value - here the article and now posters seem to be encouraging that correlation between football ability and FF ranking, which I think isn't the right thing to do.

I'm interested in seeing PFF grades for Hooper - I have not seen anyone reference them or I missed it.

I like the signing - don't mind the $$$ - and I would give the grade significantly higher grades based on the other points in my post that didn't get mentioned: Hooper = best player on the market. TE = a position of need. TE = a key part of the O scheme.

This time I am sure you mean me - so I'll respond.

So my Mum is going into a hospice in England and is gravely ill. I can't go fly and visit her or attend the impending funeral - so I responded to your complaining/non-football post when normally I would have ignored it. Shame on me. That said - what I said was true, so go figure.

My biggest praise for the signing is his catch rate. No matter when they throw you the ball you have to be able to catch it. His catch rate is fantastic.

Many seem sold on having both him and Njoku in the two TE sets. I think we'll see those two TE sets a lot, but between Njoku having inconsistent hands and his poor blocking, I'm not so sure the TE lining up opposite of Hooper will be Njoku. I think Stefanski is looking for abetter blocker in that role.

I think that is why they tendered P. Brown.
And will/should bring in other options there too.

But on the flip side of the coin ... ie; their strengths ... both can, and have lined up wide, allowing your WRs' to move inside to be matched up against a Safety and or a LB.

We now have alot of options (looks) with the 12 Personnel on every level, (RB, TE, WR), and in a hurry up offense, that is hard to defend.

It could certainly go either way. I'm just saying I'm not sold it will be Njoku due to his drop rate and lack of blocking.

From a coverage standpoint he certainly creates a mismatch.