Have the Dolphins come out ahead this offseason by replacing receivers Mike Wallace, Brian Hartlineand Brandon Gibson with DeVante Parker, Kenny Stills and Greg Jennings?
From a cap standpoint, yes. From a talent standpoint, probably, if Parker is as good as the Dolphins believe he will be.From a chemistry standpoint, the Dolphins believe they will be better, though Rishard Matthews figures to be unhappy if his trade request isn’t granted.Chatter on the Dolphins’ revamped receiver unit:
### There were troubling issues with last year’s group, beyond blated salaries and cap numbers. Everyone knows about Wallace’s complaints about lack of targets and the group’s poor yards-after-catch metrics.But former Dolphins receiver Chris Chambers --- who spent two weeks as a Dolphins assistant coach during training camp--- noticed something else that bothered him.
“The older guys, Mike and Brian, even though they played well at times, could have set a better example in that room, as far as learning and not joking around,” Chambers said. “Because if they start joking around, the rookies and second-year guys will start joking around.“Some days it could have been more serious to set a better example. The receiver coaches taught well, but the room needed to be tightened up a bit. Greg Jennings will help that. He will be way more professional and he played at a high level. He is going to show the [young receivers] so much. He’s almost like a third coach, a player/coach.”
Bottom line: Chambers said the "culture" in the receivers room needed changing.He believes the dynamic between Ryan Tannehill and the receivers will improve because “when you have guys under him in age, it will work better.”Three of Miami’s top four receivers are now younger than Tannehill. And the room will have fewer veterans with complaints about Tannehill, their playing time or the offense.
Chambers said this group of receivers will “exceed [last year’s] once they get experience. They’ll be really good. For us to have a basket-catching guy with a stronger catch radius [in Parker], that will help. You don’t have to hit him in stride as much as you did with Mike Wallace.”
(Quick aside: Chambers is doing some interesting stuff that we'll address in a blog later this week.)
### This could get tricky for offensive coordinator Bill Lazor: The Dolphins now have four top-three caliber receivers (Parker, Jarvis Landry, Jennings, Stills), meaning at least one – barring injury --- won’t play as much as accustomed.Parker played most of Louisville’s offensive snaps when healthy last season. Jennings played 85.6 percent of Minnesota’s, Landry 62.3 percent of Miami’s, and Stills 54 percent of the Saints’.But whoever ends up the No. 4 receiver here could end up playing less than than half the time, about as much as Gibson last season (45.3 percent of Miami's offensive snaps). And Matthews played only 19.3 percent of the time as the No. 5 receiver.So the veterans will need to subjugate their egos.
### The expectation is for Parker to start and hopefully turn into a Pro Bowl type receiver eventually, asOdell Beckham Jr. did for the Giants.
Parker began working on-field with Tannehill this week."I watch this kid [Parker] and he looks like Mark Clayton," Dolphins executive Nat Moore told the team's Finsiders web site. "He caught everything in his range, has an unbelievable skill set and catches the ball out front, has got good, soft hands, and runs good routes. His future is unlimited."
### One thing the Dolphins love about their new group is reliability.Consider this: Last season, 78 NFL receivers played at least half of their teams’ offensive snaps.Of those 78, Landry caught the second-highest percentage of balls thrown to him (80 percent).Stills caught the third-highest (78.8 percent; it helped having the Saints’ Drew Brees throwing to him) and Jennings the 25th-highest (67 percent).Parker also did well in this area and caught an impressive 12 of 24 deep balls (20 yards-plus) for 424 yards and four touchdowns.These stats, naturally, have a lot to do with the quarterback and the distance of balls thrown. But these numbers matters to the Dolphins, as Joe Philbin said with regard to Stills.
### Saints coach Sean Payton predicts Stills “will contribute in a big way right away” here.“He's extremely explosive,” Payton told me. “The other thing about Kenny is in his first year, he knew all the positions. He's a smart guy. He's versatile.“The learning part comes very easy. Can play X. Can play Z. Can come inside. He's got real good transition skills in his routes.
“A lot of the time, one of the challenges for young receivers is getting acclimated to the system, the terminology, the route tree. That came very quickly for him. For Kenny, learning a new system will come very quickly. He's someone in two years you saw quick growth. He's sudden. Has got good hand/eye coordination. Can catch the ball in funny positions."
### There were reports that the Saints weren’t happy with Stills’ maturity level. But Payton said that wasn’t a concern of his.So why trade him after only two years (for linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and a third-round pick)?“A couple changes we made really dealt with trying to improve our defense,” Payton said.
### Parker ultimately should end up replacing Wallace as Miami’s No. 1 receiver. But in comparing Stills and Wallace, keep this in mind:
Stills is considerably cheaper, with a $585,000 salary and cap number in 2015 compared with Wallace’s $9.9 million for both… Stills was thrown 28 fewer passes than Wallace last season (80 to 108) but still had 69 more receiving yards (931 to 862).Stills led the league in yards per catch in 2013 (20.0) and was 26th this past season (14.8). Conversely, Wallace was 65th and 57th.
But here’s the caveat, and it’s a big one: Stills was catching passes from Brees, who’s excellent at the deep ball, whereas Wallace was catching balls from Tannehill, who’s statistically among the worst in that category. And that skews the numbers.Consider: Last season, of the 14 passes thrown to Stills that traveled at least 20 yards in the air, 71.4 percent were deemed catchable by Pro Football Focus.Conversely, of the 24 deep passes thrown by Tannehill to Wallace, only 29.2 percent were catchable.
### The good news, according to ESPN.com analyst and former Browns scout Matt Williamson, is that Stills is very effective on intermediate routes.“Stills is not as fast as Wallace, but he’s better underneath than Wallace. It fits the quarterback’s skills better,” Williamson said.
### Williamson said “Jennings and Hartline are about the same; maybe it’s a slight upgrade for Miami. Jennings is pretty good after the catch. And he will be good in the locker-room.”
### One question is how much Jennings’ skills will erode at 31. NFL.com analyst Charley Casserly, the former Redskins and Texans general manager, has serious concerns.
“I wouldn’t count on him to make a difference,” Casserly said. “There are receivers you have to defend against. He’s not one of them. He’s good route runner, will be reliable. But he’s not a guy that’s going to change the defense.”
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From a cap standpoint, yes. From a talent standpoint, probably, if Parker is as good as the Dolphins believe he will be.From a chemistry standpoint, the Dolphins believe they will be better, though Rishard Matthews figures to be unhappy if his trade request isn’t granted.Chatter on the Dolphins’ revamped receiver unit:
### There were troubling issues with last year’s group, beyond blated salaries and cap numbers. Everyone knows about Wallace’s complaints about lack of targets and the group’s poor yards-after-catch metrics.But former Dolphins receiver Chris Chambers --- who spent two weeks as a Dolphins assistant coach during training camp--- noticed something else that bothered him.
“The older guys, Mike and Brian, even though they played well at times, could have set a better example in that room, as far as learning and not joking around,” Chambers said. “Because if they start joking around, the rookies and second-year guys will start joking around.“Some days it could have been more serious to set a better example. The receiver coaches taught well, but the room needed to be tightened up a bit. Greg Jennings will help that. He will be way more professional and he played at a high level. He is going to show the [young receivers] so much. He’s almost like a third coach, a player/coach.”
Bottom line: Chambers said the "culture" in the receivers room needed changing.He believes the dynamic between Ryan Tannehill and the receivers will improve because “when you have guys under him in age, it will work better.”Three of Miami’s top four receivers are now younger than Tannehill. And the room will have fewer veterans with complaints about Tannehill, their playing time or the offense.
Chambers said this group of receivers will “exceed [last year’s] once they get experience. They’ll be really good. For us to have a basket-catching guy with a stronger catch radius [in Parker], that will help. You don’t have to hit him in stride as much as you did with Mike Wallace.”
(Quick aside: Chambers is doing some interesting stuff that we'll address in a blog later this week.)
### This could get tricky for offensive coordinator Bill Lazor: The Dolphins now have four top-three caliber receivers (Parker, Jarvis Landry, Jennings, Stills), meaning at least one – barring injury --- won’t play as much as accustomed.Parker played most of Louisville’s offensive snaps when healthy last season. Jennings played 85.6 percent of Minnesota’s, Landry 62.3 percent of Miami’s, and Stills 54 percent of the Saints’.But whoever ends up the No. 4 receiver here could end up playing less than than half the time, about as much as Gibson last season (45.3 percent of Miami's offensive snaps). And Matthews played only 19.3 percent of the time as the No. 5 receiver.So the veterans will need to subjugate their egos.
### The expectation is for Parker to start and hopefully turn into a Pro Bowl type receiver eventually, asOdell Beckham Jr. did for the Giants.
Parker began working on-field with Tannehill this week."I watch this kid [Parker] and he looks like Mark Clayton," Dolphins executive Nat Moore told the team's Finsiders web site. "He caught everything in his range, has an unbelievable skill set and catches the ball out front, has got good, soft hands, and runs good routes. His future is unlimited."
### One thing the Dolphins love about their new group is reliability.Consider this: Last season, 78 NFL receivers played at least half of their teams’ offensive snaps.Of those 78, Landry caught the second-highest percentage of balls thrown to him (80 percent).Stills caught the third-highest (78.8 percent; it helped having the Saints’ Drew Brees throwing to him) and Jennings the 25th-highest (67 percent).Parker also did well in this area and caught an impressive 12 of 24 deep balls (20 yards-plus) for 424 yards and four touchdowns.These stats, naturally, have a lot to do with the quarterback and the distance of balls thrown. But these numbers matters to the Dolphins, as Joe Philbin said with regard to Stills.
### Saints coach Sean Payton predicts Stills “will contribute in a big way right away” here.“He's extremely explosive,” Payton told me. “The other thing about Kenny is in his first year, he knew all the positions. He's a smart guy. He's versatile.“The learning part comes very easy. Can play X. Can play Z. Can come inside. He's got real good transition skills in his routes.
“A lot of the time, one of the challenges for young receivers is getting acclimated to the system, the terminology, the route tree. That came very quickly for him. For Kenny, learning a new system will come very quickly. He's someone in two years you saw quick growth. He's sudden. Has got good hand/eye coordination. Can catch the ball in funny positions."
### There were reports that the Saints weren’t happy with Stills’ maturity level. But Payton said that wasn’t a concern of his.So why trade him after only two years (for linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and a third-round pick)?“A couple changes we made really dealt with trying to improve our defense,” Payton said.
### Parker ultimately should end up replacing Wallace as Miami’s No. 1 receiver. But in comparing Stills and Wallace, keep this in mind:
Stills is considerably cheaper, with a $585,000 salary and cap number in 2015 compared with Wallace’s $9.9 million for both… Stills was thrown 28 fewer passes than Wallace last season (80 to 108) but still had 69 more receiving yards (931 to 862).Stills led the league in yards per catch in 2013 (20.0) and was 26th this past season (14.8). Conversely, Wallace was 65th and 57th.
But here’s the caveat, and it’s a big one: Stills was catching passes from Brees, who’s excellent at the deep ball, whereas Wallace was catching balls from Tannehill, who’s statistically among the worst in that category. And that skews the numbers.Consider: Last season, of the 14 passes thrown to Stills that traveled at least 20 yards in the air, 71.4 percent were deemed catchable by Pro Football Focus.Conversely, of the 24 deep passes thrown by Tannehill to Wallace, only 29.2 percent were catchable.
### The good news, according to ESPN.com analyst and former Browns scout Matt Williamson, is that Stills is very effective on intermediate routes.“Stills is not as fast as Wallace, but he’s better underneath than Wallace. It fits the quarterback’s skills better,” Williamson said.
### Williamson said “Jennings and Hartline are about the same; maybe it’s a slight upgrade for Miami. Jennings is pretty good after the catch. And he will be good in the locker-room.”
### One question is how much Jennings’ skills will erode at 31. NFL.com analyst Charley Casserly, the former Redskins and Texans general manager, has serious concerns.
“I wouldn’t count on him to make a difference,” Casserly said. “There are receivers you have to defend against. He’s not one of them. He’s good route runner, will be reliable. But he’s not a guy that’s going to change the defense.”
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/spor...rom-sean-payton-evaluators-marlins-canes.html
