The Unbearable Fatness of Benjamin: a Retrospective

[electro's horse]

I never liked the Kelvin Benjamin draft pick. He never really seemed like a fit, for the team or for his position. He was a weird combination of size and length. He never played the true 1 position at FSU, and didn't really put up great offensive numbers. He was drafted on intangibles. I will never forget Gettleman stating emphatically "Everyone knew he was getting that ball in the National Championship Game."

But Gettleman had a vision for this team moving forward. It was a vision where the WR were huge, physical monstrosities that could shut down corners and linebackers in the running game. It was a vision that didn't include Steve Smith, obviously. It was a vision he'd continue to build with the Funchess pick. And it was a vision that would ultimately and ironically come to fruition with Kelvin missing the season.

His rookie year didn't really change my opinion of him. He labored to an inefficient thousand yard season in a flawed offense, but never really looked the part. He had a couple of impressive plays. I'll never forget his big catch against Richard Sherman, where it appeared he reached four feet into the air at full stride to pull in a pass. I could see his arms from the stands. But too often he struggled with the routine plays. Being a wide receiver is not about highlight reel catches. The mundane is more important than the extraordinary, and so often Kelvin failed to do that.

By the end of that year, even though he'd reached that now unimpressive 1k yard receiving plateu (22 other players did it) it was hard to say he looked as good as most of the other members of his receiving class. 

By all accounts he looked like he'd taken the next step during training camp in 2015. Fate can be cruel, and he tore his ACL. That was effectively the end of Kelvin in Carolina, looking back. 

Rehabbing from injuries is a matter of willpower and determination. If any of you have ever had a ligament injury, you know that it was all a matter of how much stretching, how much mobility, how often you wanted to go into PT. For most of us it's not an issue; for professional athletes, they have to attack that as hard as anything else in their life. Kelvin didn't do it, and it showed. In 2016, he looked hesitant and slower than his rookie year. More importantly, he had gained weight, and there is your second of two bigg problems you cannot have in a WR.

The first thing a WR either has or doesn't have are hands. There are examples of guys who were great catchers in college basically getting the yips in the pros (Jordan Matthews, looking at you) but there are very few counter examples. You can either catch or you can't. Oftentimes it's mental. Kelvin could pull anything out of the sky, but a simple hook route was a roll of the dice. 

The second thing you cannot coach is being able to stay in shape. Obviously teams are more understanding for their bigger dudes, but for the skill position this should not be an issue. Teams simply aren't equipped to deal with a WR or DB who gets fat. Most athletes at these positions don't have this issue. Kelvin had the weird combination of the ability to play WR in the NFL and the inability to keep weight off. Getting hurt and gaining weight leads to not attacking rehab quickly, not being able to get back into the flow of the NFL, and a wasted season.

And going into 2017 he was overweight again, and looked horrible in OTAs.

Kelvin will always be a big what if. What if he hadn't missed 2015 and the offense purred along and he saw what hard work and determination could do? In a lot of ways it was like Kris Jenkins, who descended into alcoholism following back to back ACL tears and never really recovered until he left the Carolinas. 

But I just don't think in the final analysis Kelvin cares that much about football. It's not enough to be good enough to play the game. Everyone on the field is good enough, physically. He can't just be bigger because everyone is the same size. His game had serious limitations due to his lack of speed, and he had to be even better. He had to learn to be a technician, and catch anything near him. He clearly never did; lazy routes were a hallmark of his time in Carolina. And the hands thing, well, there you go.

I will always remember Kelvin during one of the final plays of the year last year against Tampa Bay. Cam Newton was playing hurt in a meaningless game, and they were driving inside one minute left to score the go ahead touchdown. Panthers had two timeouts, and Cam found Kelvin across the middle for a huge gain. The Panthers ran up to the line to get another play off, but noticed Kelvin had taken himself off the field to get a sip of gatorade. They were forced to burn a timeout, and that threw off the rest of the series, ultimately leading to a turfed pass to Olsen as the game ended. 

That was classic Kelvin. A flash of brilliance, then a flash of apathy. 

What happens to the Panthers from here? I think it's a pretty good indication where the offense is going to go for the second half of the season. No real reason to have Devin and Benjamin out there at the same time. You give those safeties absolutely no reason to fear the team going deep. I think we can all see the writing on the wall with CMC as a RB. Say hello to a top three WR corp of Funchess, Samuel, and CMC. Woof. 

Overall though, I'm not sure this will impact the team either way. Panthers problems are more schematic than personnel. The hope is likely that faster receivers will pull away those safeties, and maybe even get a team out of their base sets. But we'll se. 

As for Benjamin? He's not going to a great place. I think this tweet sums it up.

A player who can't get separation is going to a QB that doesn't throw into tight coverage. RIP. 

 

[KillerKat]

[CPF4LIFE]

LMAAAOOOOOOOOOOO....took himself off the field to get a sip of Gatorade. 

I swear I'm barely making it threw work today. 

[micnificent28]

This is a bunch of trash.

[E CaT PanTHer 2]

well said, and you forgot to mention how much Cam evolved in 2015 without Benji

a point that shouldn't be taken lightly 

[MVPccaffrey]

One play that sums up KB to me is last year during the chiefs game, when after making a catch that should have at least allowed us to take the game into OT, he let Marcus Peters embarrassingly strip him of the ball.  

Kelvin Benjamin, 6'5, at least 250lbs, let a player 6 inches and 50 pounds shorter than him completely emasculate him on the gridiron on what should have been the end of a clutch play.  

You can't win with that kind of mental makeup in one of your "best" players.

[electro's horse]

2 minutes ago, E CaT PanTHer 2 said:

well said, and you forgot to mention how much Cam evolved in 2015 without Benji

a point that shouldn't be taken lightly 

I don't think you can say the offense would have been worse WITH kelvin in 2015, just like I don't think you can say it will be better without him.

The things that made it work then and are making it suffer now are not Benjamin related. 

[E CaT PanTHer 2]

Just now, electro's horse said:

I don't think you can say the offense would have been worse WITH kelvin in 2015, just like I don't think you can say it will be better without him.

The things that made it work then and are making it suffer now are not Benjamin related. 

so what explained Cam's regression in 2016 with practically the same wide receiver corps to go along with the addition of Benji? 

[electro's horse]

Just now, E CaT PanTHer 2 said:

so what explained Cam's regression in 2016 with practically the same wide receiver corps to go along with the addition of Benji? 

That's a different thread, but mainly

1. defenses adjusting

2. defenders knowing they could killshot cam with impunity

3. injuries to cam and offensive line

[natty]

Good post.  I don't know why everyone is butt hurt over this.  Get something for him while you still can, he wasn't a long term solution here.

[Growl]

The argument that "he isn't elite" isn't really good because the truth is is that elite WRs are usually overrated in regards to a teams success

 

What Benji was however was a good WR and what Carolina doesn't have now is a good WR, for no other reason than your favorite team is being ran by the assistant coach AI on madden who you can delegate all staffing responsibilities to.

[electro's horse]

1 minute ago, Growl said:

The argument that "he isn't elite" isn't really good because the truth is is that elite WRs are usually overrated in regards to a teams success

 

What Benji was however was a good WR and what Carolina doesn't have now is a good WR, for no other reason than your favorite team is being ran by the assistant coach AI on madden who you can delegate all staffing responsibilities to.

I think Funchess and Benjamin are pretty much the same player. 

Or, to put another way, what KB has over Funchess brings less than what schematic versatility would.

Having a slightly better Devin isn't as valuable as having two plodders on the field at the same time is detrimental.

[Toker Smurf]

[Growl]

12 minutes ago, electro's horse said:

I think Funchess and Benjamin are pretty much the same player. 

Or, to put another way, what KB has over Funchess brings less than what schematic versatility would.

Having a slightly better Devin isn't as valuable as having two plodders on the field at the same time is detrimental.

There's no mandate that they must be on the field at the same time. If there is, its because there's a talent disparity between them and the next options.