Knox Bardeen of BR need not jump the gun on WR corps

[top dawg]

Unlike many of you, I do read the Bleacher Report to see what it has to offer sometimes, and I have enjoyed some of the write-ups by Knox Bardeen, their NFC South Lead Writer. But in my opinion he seems like he was "pressing" a bit when he wrote his latest about the Panthers' receiving corps.  I was basically scratching my head from the beginning.

 

 

Four wide receivers for the Carolina Panthers caught 156 passes last season.

If you take away Steve Smith’s 64 receptions, as he’s now with the Baltimore Ravens, that leaves just 92 catches. Subtract Brandon LaFell’s 49, 36 from Ted Ginn Jr. and the seven receptionsDomenik Hixon hauled in, as they bolted in free agency to the New England Patriots, Arizona Cardinals and Chicago Bears, respectively, and that leaves no receivers on Carolina’s 2014 roster who caught a pass in 2013.

Zero.

 

 

Now I don't presume to be the brightest kid on the block, but I really had to read this twice to tell what in the world he was saying, because I could have sworn that we have some receivers on the roster who caught passes in 2013, but i finally summed it up to the fact that he really wanted to get and emphasize that "zero" in his article, so he used a little smoke and mirrors with our last receiving corps' numbers and subtracted from our current receiving corps' numbers to get that "zero" in.

At least that's what I think is happening...

 

Bardeen continues on by making the error that I believe some in the media are making, as well as even some Huddlers and other fans that know the team, and create a mental picture of what he believes the receiving corps may look like come September. Or, perhaps, he is just saying that the situation is a cause of concern and that the Panthers had better make some more moves before the season starts because, as constituted, our receiving corps. is in trouble.

 

Now I am not saying that his concerns aren't warranted---they are---but I wouldn't necessarily be making specific comparisons and suggesting what the Panthers' WR corps will look like when the season begins in May. 

 

I mean he is presuming that Cotchery is the WR1 on the depth chart and comparing him to Steve Smith, while saying in so many words that Cotchery is a true WR3.  He also compares Benjamin to LaFell as the WR2 (which may be fair), but I get the feeling that it's more about what he is projecting Benjamin's numbers to be, more than about their different skill sets.

 

LaFell never materialized into the receiver Carolina thought it drafted in the third round of the 2010 draft. Over the past two seasons, LaFellaveraged 46.5 receptions, 652 yards receiving and 4.5 touchdown catches, and that looked as if that is where he was going to top out as a receiving threat.

Those kind of numbers won’t win any awards as a No. 2 receiver, but they were steady. It’s anyone’s guess how Benjamin’s first season will go from a numbers standpoint. As Carolina’s first-round pick, a campaign that turned out somewhere between 40-50 catches, 600 yards receiving or so and four to five touchdowns might be disappointing, but that may be where Benjamin lives in 2014.

 

 

 

Bardeen may have hit on something however, when he basically said that the Panthers will need to throw more deep passes to fully benefit from number 13's skill set (or someone may suffer---ultimately the team).

 

If Benjamin’s biggest asset is his ability to get downfield but Newton is limited in his ability to throw the deep ball, someone’s weakness is going to be exploited.

 

 

of course it may be counterproductive to throw too much on kelvin Benjamin's plate, but I am skeptical that Mike Shula will know how to maximize the potential of his new toy.  Perhaps Newton and Benjamin will naturally mnifest and maximize their talents on the field from an improvisational standpoint.

 

Bardeen continues on by comparing Avant and Ginn as WR3s.

 

Avant and Ginn Jr. are completely different receivers. Avant just finished his least productive season since 2008, and Ginn Jr. nearly had a career year with the Panthers in 2013. There’s also the fact thatAvant is a possession receiver who survives in the slot, and Ginn Jr. is a deep threat.

 

 

As far as I am concerned, his first sentence should have been a red flag that he may have been going down the wrong path here.  To his point (again), the two had fairly similar numbers in 2013, but that doesn't mean that they should really be compared from a specific positional standpoint.  To me it would seem that the better comparison would be Ginn-Underwood, which leads me to his last comparison.

 

This competition between the fours is not nearly as important as the three prior because of the lack of targets expected. But Underwood does have some potential as a secondary deep threat. That makes him a better receiver for this slot than Hixon was. Which is probably why Hixon wasn’t brought back into the fold.

 

 

To be honest, comparing almost any  active receiver last year to Hixon would be an advantage for the latter, but I would expect Underwood to best Hixon's numbers if he makes the 53 man roster.

 

Like I said, Bardeen makes a whole lot of assumptions in this piece which makes it somewhat of an awkward analysis to me. It's just too early to tell what is going to happen with our receiving corps, so I believe that if comparisons are to be made, we would be better served by more general or overall comparisons than trying to get down to the nitty-gritty.  Like some fans, Bardeen failed to even mention Marvin McNutt or Tavarres King.  I think that is a mistake.  Competition is going to rule the day after all is said and done, so the true view of the Panthers' receiving corps will become clearer in August.

[Cary Kollins]

Too long and bleacher report come on now.

[therealmjl]

My eyes

[csx]

He sure did use a lot of words to repeat that we replaced all of our receivers. We knew that. I'm not sure why it's relevant that there are no returning WR catches from last year. Do you need to have caught a pass here last year to catch one this year?

[SCP]

Ginn had like 3 receptions in 2012 at San Fran. He came here and 10x that. What the fug is Knox's point? We have a new crop of receivers. Guess what, their fuging reception #'s will increase. Knox is good but he has taken a hard line stance on our WR situation.

[PantherWake]

Well it is Bleacher Report 

[csx]

Another thing that annoys me is when people try to fit or describe a new receiver by comparing them to a former. The receiver paradigm will be different. There is no need to think of the former group when assessing the new.

[SCP]

When Ginn signed here he was trying to save his career as a WR. People viewed him as a KR. Any WR production was going to be gravy. But now since he caught 30+ balls his production can't be matched? Give me a break, Knox.

[Cary Kollins]

And dude acts like Newton is Andy dalton.

"Limited ability to throw deep ball."

[SCP]

Here is what people were saying about our WR crop and Ginn prior to 2013

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/1669791-carolina-panthers-how-ted-ginn-jr-can-become-cam-newtons-best-friend

[KissMyConverse]

And dude acts like Newton is Andy dalton.

"Limited ability to throw deep ball."

Am I missing something, wasn't Newton know for the Deep Ball his first two seasons? 

[Khaki Lackey]

I don't get the whole "zero" subtraction thing. Yeah, if you take away any teams receivers' receptions, you get zero. I don't get it, Big Dan!

Oh, and Cam struggles throwing the deep ball? Bish, please.

Sent from my iPhone using CarolinaHuddle

[PiratePanther189]

The point should be that there is NO point in extending and wasting money and valuable years on mediocre players just because.

 

The WR core was overhauled because none of them warranted an extension. You don't waste 3-4 year contracts on players like LaFell and Ginn in the position we're in.

 

I can guarantee they were all offered 1 year extensions and all of them chose to take the bigger contracts. Good business move on their parts, kudos to them for getting those deals. But we aren't stupid enough to offer long contracts to mediocre players anymore.

 

We haven't seen Gettleman extend anyone yet, but it's easy to assume that he ain't putting pen to paper unless he knows just what the fug he's signing for the next 4 years.

[Carolina Crazy V2]

Cam throws a great deep ball. This guy went full retard.