DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum The Wide Receiver position

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This is contrary to what Farmer has said previously.





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DeMaryius Thomas and Dez Bryant are both free agents, but they will likely be franchised. In the next tier down you have guys like Randall Cobb, Jeremy Maclin, Michael Crabtree, and Torrey Smith. After that it gets pretty murky with guys like Robert Meachem, Kenny Britt, and Eddie Royal. There are some old washed up guys like Wes Welker, Santana Moss, and Brandon Lloyd. Finally there are the wildcards; Cecil Shorts and Hakeem Nicks.

Here are Pro Football Focus' free agent wide receiver rankings. And the Spotrac list.

Some receivers that might be available through trade or as cap casualties: Larry Fitzgerald (although I would say there is a 0% chance he would come to us), Mike Wallace, Andre Johnson, Dwayne Bowe, Greg Jennings, and Marques Colston.

I think it is clear we will be in the market looking for a receiver. I have no clue we will come out with.

(It would be great if we could keep this discussion limited to players who have played in the NFL. The draft forum has plenty of discussion on potential draftees.)

Just came across this interesting nugget:



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I enjoyed our 7 wins... those without Josh... No biggie to me...next man up..

One player will not ever bring me down... there's a whole damn team full of those..

I don't know who that is, is he on the team?

Farmer spends more time defending poor choices than laying out any sense of vision.

That said, I'm partially with him on being able to win without investing premium draft slots on WR's. It's not a sound model.

I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to taking one in the first or second, but I don't think it's my first inclination.

Being a WR away isn't a tough hole to fill. Being a QB or a pass rush away is a much longer hike. It's also a position where bringing in veteran guys tends to pay dividends more than other positions. There's always a LaFell type or two out there every year.

While I recognize there are cobwebs in the cupboard, it doesn't alarm me or make my stomach churn like not having a QB or someone to harass other QB's on a consistent basis.

We have a solid offensive line. If we get competent QB play, the dominoes will start to fall.

lol..cfrs I swear I was posting to the Gordon got suspended thread...sorry brother

I have no idea what the original poster said or care what he said because he is on IGGY, BUT what makes this thread hilarious or tragic, depending on your point of view,is that the "GENIUS" GM we have doesn't think you need to worry about the WR position. So, get ready for the 3 midgets we have as wideouts next year.

That's what i said before bro. We just need a guy with size. the #1 at this point doesn't need josh gordon talent; he just needs to be somebody defense has to respect.

I think we can find somebody like that easily in the draft.

Or we can make a offer for D. Thomas from the broncos. Say what y'all want about him being elite cause he was with Manning, but if y'all watch him play, dude's route running is phenom status.

So that's who i would make a push for. for me though, it's either or. FA or Draft, we only need one.

My take on it is that if we put a true #1 out there. we could potentially have Austin as a #2, put hawk in the slot where he belongs, and have Gabriel playing that Benji/Cribbs roll.

i know people really liked Gabriel on this board. but forreal, teams we played this season were straight up SLEEPING on gabriel, and he made them pay.

I think if we grabbed a WR in the FA, we could maybe use #19 on a TE? assuming Cameron is gone.

I'd also make a case for Maclin(philly), Eddy Royal(SD), Crabtree(SF), Cobb(GB), T. Smith(Balt), and MAYBE Shorts(Jax)

I dont think Dez is leaving the Cowboys.

oh yea, 15 bro. heres a list of the FA WR:

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/wide-receiver/

Edit: my bad i see you already got the list.

My bet is that the Broncos franchise Thomas. They have to go all in on what will probably be Manning's last season.

do they have enough cap room for that?

According to Spotrac the Broncos have the 9th most cap room in the NFL with $26,673,438 available. Last year the franchise tag for a wide receiver was $12.31M. Julius Thomas is also an unrestricted free agent. The more I think about it the more I think the Broncos push hard to re-sign DeMaryius Thomas and franchise Julius Thomas.

Either way, I don't think DeMaryius Thomas makes it to the open market.

Yeah, there is no way they can ignore WR now. No way at all.

To be fair, they didn't do a horrible job last year. I was of the opinion that we might be in some trouble at WR. But really, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I suspected it might be.

Some on here thought they'd flat out suck. But that just wasn't the case. Roll players can work.

It sounds like Farmer is pretty high on this Hodgepodge guy.

I really like Taylor Gabriel and Andrew Hawkins as slot guys, but we're in serious need of some outside threats at the other wide receiver spots. I don't think Travis Benjamin has the frame or is physical enough to ever be a legit every down outside receiver. Miles Austin wasn't bad in his role but he's getting older now and doesn't really have top end speed. I think with this year long suspension to Josh Gordon we'll be forced to try and go after a top receiving free agent.

I think Cecil Shorts would make a great addition, he's from the Cleveland area so he might have a mutual interest in signing here without being over paid.

Dez Bryant, Jeremy Maclin and DeMaryius Thomas I fully expect to end up staying put but guys like Torrey Smith, Randall Cobb and Michael Crabtree probably will hit the market given their current teams cap situations.

I think if Randall Cobb hits the market their is an outside chance we could land him because his former college coach is now on our coaching staff, that and a fat contract could be enough to pull him here.

If we go draft, the guy I want is Jaelen Strong from Arizona State. I've seen him play a few times on television and this kid is a physical freak and has good deep speed as well. To me, he would be worth the 12th or 19th overall pick in the draft...

We're NOT set at the receiver position. I think bare minimum we have to sign a free agent AND draft one.

Or address it high in the draft, in any case the staff cannot ignore WR this offseason. And I agree with all else you said there. Austin lost some of the jets but still proved to be one of our clutch WR's on the field and not to mention his maturity and professionalism off it. Resign him if he is open to coming back and/or not considering retirement.

So, part of the reason we were able to get Andrew Hawkins was by structuring the contract such that Cincy didn't have the cap space to match the initial deal. I think they may have to re-do this contract after this season. Can't see him being happy about actually playing for $1 million now that he's proven himself to be a contributor.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/andrew-hawkins/

Re: The Wide Receiver position:

Why does this even matter? We have no one to throw the football to a "Wide Receiver."
We could try out one of our 55 defensive lineman at QB...

As of right now I don't have any issues with Bowe, Hartline, Hawkins and Gabriel as the primary four receivers. I really hope either Benjamin or this Vince Mayle kid can step up and contribute. I like Benjamin as a deep threat, if you guys recall he actually generated a lot of separation deep down the field last year, it's just none of our QB's could ever lead him or hit him in stride.

We could have used an upgrade via the draft, but we're OKAY with what we have for now, especially if we're going to be a heavy run first team.

Rob Housler and Duke Johnson should also be able to contribute to the passing game as well. Can't forget them.

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Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles almost lost their first round draft pick

Posted: 05/06/2015, 11:45am | Trevor Conley, Digital Editor at Sun Times Network







With the No. 20 pick in the NFL Draft the Philadelphia Eagles selected Nelson Agholor, however they were one pick away from losing out on the receiver.

According to ESPN’s Browns reporter Jeremy Fowler, the Browns almost selected USC receiver Nelson Agholor one pick before the Philadelphia Eagles.


The decision for the Browns at No. 19 overall was clear – select either Florida State center Cam Erving or USC receiver Nelson Agholor, who went No. 20 to Philadelphia.

The Browns liked both players. They went with Erving, who fits Farmer and Mike Pettine’s plan to build through the lines and with defense and the running game, hoping to grind out wins until the answer at quarterback reveals itself. Erving is a nice pickup. He can play all five spots on the offensive line. He’ll be an impressive pro.

Agholor said he is ready to work like a peasant during his first year in the NFL, and that he is not entitled to anything. According to Bovada he is also the eighth choice to win the Rookie of the Year Award with 4-1 odds.

http://philadelphia.suntimes.com/phi-spo...und-draft-pick/

j/c

As tempting as the Agholor pick was, I'm actually a bit more reassured that they stuck to their building plan by taking Erving. Shows that they meant what they said when they laid out their plan in the first place.

I know lots of Dawgs (and punditzes) wanted to see Farmer draft a WR early, but I'm seeing it this way:

Farmer has never said that he "doesn't value WR's." That's someone's spin about what he said... and that spin has gained traction on these boards. What he said was he "didn't consider it a priority." That's very different, and the distinction deserves to be pointed out. Here's why:

A priority is a thing that is regarded as more important than another. At this point in time, the FO obviously placed a higher premium on trench building than 'glamour roles,' as is their prerogative. It doesn't mean that they don't value those other positions or that those positions won't become priorities in future drafts. New year/new priorities.

See how that works?

NO TEAM in the NFL has enough draft picks in a given off-season to address ALL their needs. Because of that, each team must place a hierarchy of needs into their draft plan... and stick to it. If they trust their game plan, make good choices with their current picks, they can then adjust that laundry list to reflect their 'new reality' in the next draft cycle. It's the main reason why I didn't crucify them for not placing a premium on QB or WR this year:

1. the QB class was weak in depth, and neither top-tier prospect was worth the cost of moving up.
2. the FA pass-catchers we picked up lessened the IMMEDIATE need to pay handsomely for a rookie WR who probably wouldn't make enough impact this year (given the QB's we currently have on the roster).

The choices they made this year at least made sense to me.

I can easily see/hear Farmer at next year's pre-draft presser saying that we'll go hard after impact spots- now that we've beefed up both lines for depth, health and longevity. with their adherence to The Plan this year, it will be a lot easier for me to trust them if/when they tell us about the new priorities.

Now- if we're sitting on a team that is fairly complete (with the exception of QB/WR) and Farmer drafts a bunch of OL & DL again, I'll be the first to grab a pitchfork and start soaking rags in gasoline.

Team building takes time and a plan. And sticking to priorities.

.02

I'm with you.

Making a plan is the most useless waste of time, ever, if you choose not to stick to that plan.

They're choosing to stick to the plan. I totally dig & respect that.

I think "The Plan" is being overplayed here. Every front office has a "Plan." No matter who they pick, its part of their "Plan."

If Mariota and Cooper fell to #12 and #19 our "Plan" would be winning the air attack. And that would match Farmer's "Plan" from 2014 (QB/CB).

Last draft, we started at CB/QB. Bitonio was the only Trenchman we drafted. Big free agents? Dansby, Whitner, Hawkins. And how did Mayock describe that draft? "The Browns have a plan and they are sticking to it."

This draft looked completely different than last year. Did the plan switch? Or was Gilbert/Manziel's performance so amazing that we are entering stage 2 of the plan?

I simply believe that one year removed from any draft, you can't say for sure if the "plan" you had in last years draft is a success or a failure. Many seem to think you give up on Manziel and Gilbert because of bad rookie years.

I don't believe any NFL FO should do that unless something they never dreamed of falls into their laps. That certainly doesn't describe this years draft in terms of the QB or CB positions IMO

I think the "Plan" last year was pretty basic. First year HC and GM. Nobody really knew how deep we were on OL or DL. As it turned out not as deep as thought at least on OL. Pet's D depends on the DB's more, so that's where we went at first. Nobody knew if BH was going to recover from the injury or how good he was gonna be so...that's were we went. This Yr. we knew more about what was needed and made a plan to support that. Not that hard.

I hope the "plan" is to win more games this year than last. Let's see if their plan is working.

I'll bet that is the plan.

unless farmer is just trying to get rid of pettine by setting him up to fail.

What's not to say we aren't following the same "plan"???? Last year's Draft and FA pick ups IMO solidified our roster. Admittedly I think a lot of that has to do with how many UDFA's that made legit contributions... Crow, Gabriel, K'Waun... We managed to build a pretty solid stable of RB's... no, we didn't get a 'stud' WR, but we did solidify the #2,3, and 4 spots. Gilbert didn't have any impact, but with K'Waun stepping up I think it was a wash.

Yeah we still need a QB, but realistically there wasn't a whole lot that could be done about that this year. So instead of selling the farm for one QB, the "plan" was to continue to build the foundation and beef up certain areas. As Pet and Farmer (Hey, has anyone coined 'The Petfarm' yet???) have stated after this draft, they are trying to minimize how much the QB is going to have to carry the team on his shoulders.

I think Clem is right on the money, I bet we'll see us making pushes for impact players. We'll be able to afford to package picks, etc and really go after who we want.

We went from the penthouse to outhouse once we lost Mack, our depth in O line stunk....glad we went after quality in both lines, let's see what happens with stout D and run when you want O.....Go Browns!!!!

Re: The Wide Receiver position???

We don't have those in stock thanks to the "texting" GM.

I am not a fan of Bowe but I like hartline and Gabriel as good as any receivers we have had here since the return. Maybe Gabriel was a flash in the pan rookie but I saw as much in him as a rookie as I did in Gordon as a rookie.

+1

Personally I'm not worried about our WR's and I'm not quite understanding why so many people get their underwear in a wad because we didn't draft a big name.

I too liked what I saw out of Gabriel. To be honest I had a really hard time distinguishing between him and Hawk. Not only because of their size, but also their abilities and style.

And Gabriel can get vertical, too.

I think Andrew Hawkins is a huge asset cause of how agile and sharp he runs.

Taylor Gabriel I think has the ability to turn into a Steve Smith type of receiver. He's small, and WAY quicker than he looks, and he plays big. I really like the kid.

Took some time to soak in our WR situation. Although kind of "banking" on getting someone with some #1 potential in the draft, which IMO did not happen, I don't think we are as bad as I initially thought once we saw the Parkers and Perrimans go off the board.

We have the same group minus Austin as of last year. Bowe I view as kind of like Austin, but someone you can grant more reps and not have to be mindful of practice and game reps due to injury concern.

Our slot position, IMO, loaded. We have a few players we could play there too.

Hartline isn't elite, but it was a beyond solid addition. He'll be reliable, dependable and has ability to make plays.

To continue on what everyone is saying about Taylor Gabriel, I think he was literally a steal and should take some reps at #1 and allow him to stretch the field.

I think we got a group that is very capable of getting the job done. I know we wanted that slam dunk WR, but it is what it is.

One issue with Hawkins is it can take him a little while to get open. He always does eventually, but it's usually on the second change of direction. When teams play him to the outside, it can be hard to connect with him because of his size. Have to be especially accurate over the middle to him which is hard with the size of the linemen in the way. His other issue, which is entirely out of his control, is his viability as a run blocker at his size.

Gabriel has the same issue in run blocking, but I recall him throwing his body around a lot more. It's also "easier" (emphasis on the er) to hit a small receiver down the field because of the space and angles/trajectory involved. I think Gabriel has the deep speed Hawkins lacks a bit.

I am glad both are on our team, though.