Haha, you need to catch 100 passes to be great. Not just once but it would be nice to avg that over 4 seasons. Actually, how many “great” WRs actually do that, so scratch the unreasonable expectation to be called great. You have to be a pro bowler to be great. You have to be healthy to be available to be great. Be one of the highest paid WRs to show that he’s capable of being paid by someone for being great.
Yes, his low ypr stats hurt his overall value. But is that a product of his system, double teamed, poor QB play, poor o-line, etc or a poor reflection on him?
Considering that in 2016, Tannehill still with a bottom quartile ranked OL, was the #2 or #3 most accurate long ball passer and #4 ranked 15yds or more passer, it certainly wasn't the QB that held down Landry's YPC.
Two reasons and 2 reasons only that Landry got paid what he did!
The first:
When the OL is a porous bottom-feeding unit that gives the otherwise deadly accurate QB no time to throw (the OL that made him piss blood I'll add to enrage the anti-Tanne-snowflakes who hate when that reality is raised), Landry with his ability to get free on short passes becomes obviously the likely target.
Compare that to Tyrod who in 2015 lined up behind the 11th ranked OL and in 2014, the 10th ranked, with admirable scrambling abilities.. with time to throw either way, Landry would not have been top on his list nor will he be a primary target if Cleveland's revamped OL holds water.
So Landry with his limited speed, inability to intellectually master complex routes got paid because he was the likely target with defenders closing in on Tannehill in what seemed like micro-seconds. If an elitely-accurate long ball QB had time to throw, do you really think that Landry with his limitations would have caught even 2/3rds of the passes that he did?
The second:
Cleveland has done some good things under Dorsey. I wish we had Dorsey instead of Tannenbaum. However, going 1-31 and foolishly retaining the HC, they needed to make a splash out of the gate to show that they were on a brave new path. And to the uninitiated who only sees Landry's volume vs value, what makes a bigger splash than signing the seemingly most prodigious catching receiver over the last few years.. even if they had to pay him what's unheard of for a slot receiver. I doubt there'd have been any other desperate team looking to score PR points with their fans who would have been so generous for a 10ypc slow receiver with either/and the mental/attitudinal lack of aptitude to study and master complex routes.