I think the media is exaggerating and overstating what Philbin had to say about the receivers and the drops. But to say that the group has not looked good in practice because of a few drops (mostly Cunningham) is an overstatement.
I agree with your sentiment. There may be guys dropping an extra ordinary number of passes now, but now is the time to work on your timing, routes, cuts, defensive reads, adjustments, all while learning a new offense. Just because a few guys may be headlining the issue, Philbin's comments seemed to vilify the entire receiving core along with his tight ends and running backs. Are we going to replace them, too? Inasmuch as a guy can make a point to certain members of his team through his comments to the media and by the signing of OC for motivation sake, it stands to reason that this cannot be an all-encompassing problem else the problem is as much systemic as it is an individual concern.
The WR corp was not bad last year (although I think BM had more drops than anyone). Brian Hartline and Davone Bess have always been very consistent. Since Hartline is not participating in OTA's right now, we cannot include him in this argument.
That said, the entire receiving corp has been called out, while the real issues probably are with the rooks and younger guys. I remember Jeff Ireland praising BJ Cunningham's body of work at draft time. His videos seemed to portray him catching everything like he had catchers mits for hands. Rishard's video's were not much different; just faster. And nearly every reporter's blog of the practice highlights I read ends with a touchdown pass thrown to one of the newbies.
So... perhaps this is being blown out of proportion...Pounding consistency into their frame of mind makes all of them better pros. Making them perform at practice at a high level when its 100 degrees on the grass and 90% humidity, and running the offense at a high pace does nothing better to prepare the team for better days ahead, when it counts. This is the adversity we need to force the cream to the top. This is the player development we have been lacking for a long time.
