Do We Need a Speed WR in this Draft?

[Hoenheim]

Cam across this article on NFL. com after browising through yet another mock draft that had us taking Ross at 8 and they had a link to this piece from NFL.com

Cam Newton leads NFL's Top-10 most aggressive QBs

While the quarterback is widely regarded as the most important position in the NFL, those tasked with the job of signal-caller largely approach the game in different fashions. Some passers play it safe and throw to the open player in an attempt to pick apart the defense. Other players are fearless and don't have much regard for the defense's presence or coverage.

 

Here we're going to look at players who take the latter approach and unveil the Top-10 most aggressive quarterbacks in the NFL. The Next Gen Stats metric we're using to compile this ranking is "percentage of passes thrown into tight windows." The Next Gen Stats tracking data defines a tight window as one where the quarterback's targeted wide receiver has less than a yard of separation from the nearest defender. A wide variety of quarterbacks find themselves on this list for different reasons. There's a mix of young and veteran passers, while some find themselves here as a result of their offense or surrounding talent, for others, it reveals something about their own individual play.

Note: This list only includes quarterbacks who threw more than 250 passes this season.

 

1) Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers (24.9 percent of his passes)

 

No starting quarterback threw into tight windows more than Cam Newton in 2016, as 24.9 percent of his pass attempts went to a receiver who had less than one yard of separation. Perhaps this stat can help explain what thwarted any attempt at an encore from the Panthers Pro Bowl quarterback. After an MVP season in 2015 where his Panthers team went to the Super Bowl, Newton came crashing back to earth to have the worst statistical season of his career. His 7.1 NFL-high touchdown rate from 2015 regressed to a career-worst 3.7 mark. The reigning MVP went through a ghastly stretch from Weeks 11 to 16 where he completed just 45.3 percent of his passes, which was the third-lowest by any quarterback in a six-game span since 1991. Newton's yards per attempt came under 7.0 for the first time in his career and the offense itself scored just 369 points compared to their league-leading 500 from the 2015 season. Newton completed just 30.9 percent of his passes into tight coverage, which was the second-worst mark in the NFL.

What this stat provides us is a reminder that few quarterbacks operate in an environment that creates a higher degree of difficulty. The Panthers offensive design requires Newton to hit high-degree of difficulty passes both deep and outside the numbers. Even his 20.3 tight window percentage on passes that traveled fewer than 10 yards in the air trailed only the Rams' quarterbacks. Additionally, Newton has had issues with bouts of inaccuracy, although as Eric Stoner of Big Cat Country asserts, there's a big difference between being an inaccurate passer (which Newton is not) and not being consistently accurate.

 

 

In recent years we've seen the Carolina front office almost overcorrect in an attempt to rectify this issue by drafting behemoth receivers like Kelvin Benjamin and Devin Funchess. The trouble with that approach is that they only serve to extrapolate the high-degree of difficulty for their quarterback. Benjamin checked in with the lowest average separation on his targets (1.8 yards) and Funchess, who barely got on the field anyway, came in with the fourth lowest (2.0) among receivers who saw 20 or more targets. Again, some of that comes back to the scheme Carolina runs and Benjamin has shown some prowess winning at the catch point. Still, the Panthers would be wise to alter their approach with Newton in the same way the Steelers once did with Ben Roethlisberger, as Around the NFL's Chris Wesseling suggests. This also suggests that the Panthers need to explore acquiring another receiver who can quickly separate in their routes to provide Newton an easier target for easier completions, rather than constantly asking him to rifle passes into the tight windows provided by his current mammoth wideouts.

 

... Thoughts?

 

 

 

[Saca312]

Kelvin Benjamin healthy ran around a 4.4 I believe. Didn't show that speed in the combine since he wanted to drop to the Panthers, but he's not as slow or sluggish.

If his knee is healthy, he isn't that slow.

As far as speed, we might draft someone later in the rounds. But it certainly won't be Ross at the first.

[KillerKat]

No lets stick with the same types of WRs who can't get separation along with terrible hands leaving Cam to stand in the pocket longer taking yet another hit.

[LinvilleGorge]

Yes.

These stats are simply reinforcing the idea that most of us already had. Our WRs aren't getting open for the most part.

I like KB, but the only way he's running a 4.4 is if he runs off the edge of a cliff.

And Funchess? Yeah, that 4.7 at the combine doesn't look all that off.

[brandon_87]

13 minutes ago, Saca312 said:

Kelvin Benjamin healthy ran around a 4.4 I believe. Didn't show that speed in the combine since he wanted to drop to the Panthers, but he's not as slow or sluggish.

If his knee is healthy, he isn't that slow.

As far as speed, we might draft someone later in the rounds. But it certainly won't be Ross at the first.

That was him saying he could run a 4.4... lol dude is probably 4.6 at fastest

[FuFuLamePoo]

Yes

[XClown1986]

21 minutes ago, Saca312 said:

Kelvin Benjamin healthy ran around a 4.4 I believe. Didn't show that speed in the combine since he wanted to drop to the Panthers, but he's not as slow or sluggish.

If his knee is healthy, he isn't that slow.

As far as speed, we might draft someone later in the rounds. But it certainly won't be Ross at the first.

He was a solid 4.6 guy. If he had run a 4.4 he would have went as high as Mike Evans went.

[Cpt slay a ho]

Yes yes yes, we need two legit wr's, we saw how just relying on Steve smith worked out. If funchess pans out great but there's no reason to sit pat at what we have at wr currently. Hoping a wr is grabbed in the 2nd round if not a trade up for one at the bottom of the first

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using CarolinaHuddle

 

[Ivan The Awesome]

This is a serious question? 

[C47]

1 hour ago, Saca312 said:

Kelvin Benjamin healthy ran around a 4.4 I believe. Didn't show that speed in the combine since he wanted to drop to the Panthers, but he's not as slow or sluggish.

If his knee is healthy, he isn't that slow.

As far as speed, we might draft someone later in the rounds. But it certainly won't be Ross at the first.

Please tell me you don't actually believe KB tanked the combine on purpose? 

[raleigh-panther]

Yes. And more than one 

I honestly do not understand how all the great football minds did not see that neither funchess nor Benjamin could get separation 

I watched Funchess play and I could not believe that we traded up to get him. I assumed those great football minds saw something special there. What I saw was a guy who was not particularly fast or open 

[top dawg]

18 minutes ago, C47 said:

Please tell me you don't actually believe KB tanked the combine on purpose? 

Benjamin actually suggested that he kinda did so he would fall to us.

Subtle tanking.

[top dawg]

I love Next Gen Stats!

I'm not saying they are the end-all (just like with PFF), but they can be a tool. So interesting. I suggest that anyone who swings that way, bookmark this site:

http://www.nfl.com/stats/next-gen-stats

[LinvilleGorge]

20 minutes ago, raleigh-panther said:

Yes. And more than one 

I honestly do not understand how all the great football minds did not see that neither funchess nor Benjamin could get separation 

I watched Funchess play and I could not believe that we traded up to get him. I assumed those great football minds saw something special there. What I saw was a guy who was not particularly fast or open 

Yep, the difference between KB and Funchess is that KB is very good st attacking the ball and understands how to use his size. Funchess is a big WR who plays much smaller.