This Year's Rookie Receivers

[Mr. Scot]

Just something I thought worthy of discussion after a little research today.

(I have a vague feeling someone may have brought this up before, but I can't find it; if it's a repost, I apologize)

In the 2010 Draft, five receivers were selected before Brandon LaFell, several others prior to David Gettis.

Here are the stats for the top five receivers taken on the year (from NFL.com)

Demariyus Thomas (1st Rd, 22nd Overall, Broncos) 10 games, 2 starts, 22 catches, 283 yards, (12.9 avg), 31 YPG, 2 TDs, 3 fumbles

Dez Bryant (1st Rd, 24th Overall, Cowboys) 12 games, 2 starts, 45 catches, 561 yards, (12.5 avg), 46 YPG, 6 TDs, 1 fumble

Arrelious Benn (2nd Rd, 39th Overall, Bucs) 15 games, 9 starts, 25 catches, 395 yards, (15.8 avg), 64 YPG, 2 TDs, 1 fumble

Golden Tate (2nd Rd, 60th Overall, Seahawks) 11 games, 0 starts, 21 catches, 227 yards, (10.8 avg), 52 YPG, 0 TDs, 1 fumbles

Damian Williams (3rd Rd, 77th Overall, Titans) 16 games, 1 starts, 16 catches, 219 yards, (13.7 avg), 39 YPG, 0 TDs, 0 fumbles

Naturally, several more receivers were taken before Gettis came up in round six.

Here are the numbers for LaFell and Gettis:

Brandon LaFell (3rd Rd, 78th Overall, Panthers) 14 games, 2 starts, 38 catches, 468 yards, (12.3 avg), 33.4 YPG, 1 TDs, 0 fumbles

David Gettis (6th Rd, 198th Overall, Panthers) 15 games, 13 starts, 37 catches, 508 yards, (13.7 avg), 33.9 YPG, 3 TDs, 0 fumbles

Yes, situations are different, but the number of games and starts are fairly comparable down the line.

Of the first five taken, only Dez Bryant can rightly be said to have outperformed Gettis and LaFell. Do they have the best numbers of all rookies? No. Mike Williams took the rookie title. Jordan Shipley - taken six spots behing LaFell by the Bengals - was also better (both Williams and Shipley outdid Dez Bryant). Blair White was close.

Still, fourth and fifth best rookie years for a 3rd and 6th round pick?

Not too bad

[Swarly]

I still wish we had gotten Golden Tate

Yeah we did pretty good considering where we picked them. Although I think LaFell was projected to be a 2nd rounder. Not gonna lie I had no idea who Gettis was when he was selected lol.

[The_Cannon]

Not bad, puts it all in perspective. Bryant is going to be a monster in a year or two. I think our two rookies will make names for them selves, or at least Gettis will.

[theyhateme45]

I think numbers are very misleading.... To me the question is if those other wr's were on the panthers would their stats be any different from gettis and Brandon... For me the answer is no.

I think someone had to catch the ball, and when you have games with all rookie Wr's they are gonna get yards.

Shipley might of had more yards than Dez, but in no way did he outplay him this year. Dez can did what shipley did, but shipley could not do what dez did in Dallas.

[Mr. Scot]

I think numbers are very misleading.... To me the question is if those other wr's were on the panthers would their stats be any different from gettis and Brandon... For me the answer is no.

I think someone had to catch the ball, and when you have games with all rookie Wr's they are gonna get yards.

Shipley might of had more yards than Dez, but in no way did he outplay him this year. Dez can did what shipley did, but shipley could not do what dez did in Dallas.

Pretty much all of them were actually in better offenses with more established quarterbacks throwing to them.

[Kurb]

Mike Williams remains the WR steal of the draft.

[theyhateme45]

Pretty much all of them were actually in better offenses with more established quarterbacks throwing to them.

But they were not the only option or #1 reads on their teams.... that's the difference. When your rookie Wr's are your #1 and #2 reads and not your #3 and #4 reads they are gonna see more passes com that way.

The only way for me to objectively look at the situation is what do I think our Wr's would have done in other situations, and what would those other Wr's have done in Carolina's situation!

For me my answer is that they would not have put up those numbers on other teams, and the Wr's for the other teams would have had similar yards in Carolina.... The only other alternative would have been Carolina passing for 50 or less yards a game.... The passes/yards have to go to someone.

[The_Cannon]

Mike Williams remains the WR steal of the draft.

The Buc's have done some great drafting these past few years...

[Mr. Scot]

But they were not the only option or #1 reads on their teams.... that's the difference. When your rookie Wr's are your #1 and #2 reads and not your #3 and #4 reads they are gonna see more passes com that way.

The only way for me to objectively look at the situation is what do I think our Wr's would have done in other situations, and what would those other Wr's have done in Carolina's situation!

For me my answer is that they would not have put up those numbers on other teams, and the Wr's for the other teams would have had similar yards in Carolina.... The only other alternative would have been Carolina passing for 50 or less yards a game.... The passes/yards have to go to someone.

Gettis had more starts than everyone but Benn, but not LaFell. He only started two games.

Add in that our top read is Steve Smith most of the time when he's healthy.

I'm not saying they're the best receivers in football, but I do believe they've shown as much potential as anyone. And that...makes me happy

[MattB]

What a terrible WR class.

[Mr. Scot]

What a terrible WR class.

Wasn't exactly a great one, was it?

Though in fairness, the 2010 WR class did give us this:

Tim Toone, WR, Detroit Lions

[theyhateme45]

Gettis had more starts than everyone but Benn, but not LaFell. He only started two games.

Add in that our top read is Steve Smith most of the time when he's healthy.

I'm not saying they're the best receivers in football, but I do believe they've shown as much potential as anyone. And that...makes me happy

So you do not believe those players could have done the same thing had they been in Carolina?

Steve Smith.... injured off and on

No real #3, and #4 WR

No True TE threat on the team....

Playing Wr on a team with not many options to catch the ball. Like I said I honestly believe those players would have produced the same numbers here in Carolina!!!

That is the only way for me to objectively evaluate them.... If you don't think those other players would have put up similar stats HERE in Carolina... then that's just your opinion and I will respectfully disagree with that 100%

[Mr. Scot]

So you do not believe those players could have done the same thing had they been in Carolina?

Steve Smith.... injured off and on

No real #3, and #4 WR

No True TE threat on the team....

Playing Wr on a team with not many options to catch the ball. Like I said I honestly believe those players would have produced the same numbers here in Carolina!!!

That is the only way for me to objectively evaluate them.... If you don't think those other players would have put up similar stats HERE in Carolina... then that's just your opinion and I will respectfully disagree with that 100%

You're talking about something that's impossible to project, though.

You could throw in any number of "what ifs" (injuries, schemes, opponents, whatever).

In the end, there's no way to say for certain whether someone else might have done better here or not.

What we can look at is where they all actually performed where they were, and for those results for this season, I'm pretty pleased.

[Lumps]

What about attempts though, how many times these guys were thrown too? Seems easy to just post stats but not the whole picture. Man I really hate stats they really don't tell you anything. Overall, the only reason we did OK is they were drafted later rounds the fact is no rookie WR was anything special this season.