Is this Receiving Group Better than last year’s?
There have been a lot of rumblings out there in regards to whether this year’s revamped receiving group is going to be better than last year’s.
My opinion is emphatical Yes, however, there is a bunch of the pay per head services sites like AcePerHead.com that are on the other side of the fence and firmly disagree. So in this article, I will break down why I gave a firm yes to this question.
For starters, we have parted ways with Mike Wallace, Brian Hartline, Brandon Gibson, and Charles Clay (I will include the Tight End position since they will be incorporated into the passing attack.) and have replaced them with DeVante Parker, Kenny Stills, Greg Jennings, and Jordan Cameron. Two things that immediately jump out are that we got younger and bigger, that does not necessarily mean better, but in football, bigger is usually better, and younger provides more upside potential.
Another thing is that the new group has better hands. Half of the previous groups had good hands, Wallace and Gibson tended to have their fair share of drops, but Hartline and Clay were pretty sure-handed. On the other hand, these new incumbents have never had issues with drops. We lost touch of speed because Wallace is probably one of the fastest players in the league, however, Stills is extremely fast, and even though if he is a step slower than Wallace he may prove to have better deep ball chemistry with Tannehill.
The biggest thing to me that can slow this new wide receiving group down from reaching their potential is learning a new offense, and developing chemistry with a new QB. It will be extremely interesting to see how OTA’s progress to see how out of sync the wide receiver group is, and how quickly it takes for them all to get on the same page. I believe that there is going to be growing pains for this offense, however, the overall character of this group has become more professional and that can help them to progress more rapidly.
In addition, getting rid of a guy like Wallace is going to do wonders for the wide receiving group. Tannehill now does not have to always have the thought in the back of his mind that he needs to throw the ball to Wallace to make him happy. Instead, Tannehill can now focus on going through his reads and throwing to the best option. This new set of receiving weapons is stockpiled with team-first players, instead of I first players. (Hartline was a team-first guy, Gibson was a non-productive guy, Clay was a tough guy, who had only one legit season under his belt, and there is no need to comment on Wallace.) What does the rest of the Miami Dolphins news gurus think about our revamped receiving group; better or worse?
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I think like phinfreak said above we don’t know until they play, but from a standpoint of the WR core, it is more tooled towards Tanny’s strength of RAC plays and underneath routes verses last year. Wallace’s main ability was the deep ball and Tanny weakness was the deep ball. With him being the #1 threat and spending that much money on him it wasn’t the most effective use of the commodity. Again, until the season starts it’s all on paper…but at this point paper is all we have. And I do so love talking about all things football and Dolphins.
Curtis, Read above. True or not in your opinion?
How could anyone know? They havent played a freakin down yet.
Freak, Sure your guy was Wallace, right? Wallace can’t high point the ball, doesn’t adjust well once ball is in the air, doesn’t fight for ball (become a defender), not a good red zone target. All the attributes that Parker is know for. Oh yea, and Parker is not a selfish deva.
Hartline can not create separation, period! And, in his last few years he struggled with what was supposed to be his strength – catching the football. Bring in Stills, everything that Hartline is not.
Gibson is strictly a slot WR who runs decent routes w/decent hands, but that is where it ends, no RAC yardage (what this offense is designed to create). Bring in Jennings, can play any spot, X, Y, Z, with enough left to produce RAC yards, with endless amounts of experience and advice.
Clay is a multi dimensional player, can line up anywhere, any time, good in line blocker (not great). Clay is not a good red zone target, not a good seam threat. Bring in Jordan, great seam threat, great red zone target, average in line blocker. This offense is more suited for a TE such as Cameron opposed to Clay.
The ceiling had been reached with each and every WR release/traded from last year. Is Wallace going to Minnesota and become someone he has never been, simply – NO! Will Hartline be able to create enough separation to be an effective WR two years after surgery, possible, most likely not! Gibson is in the later part of his career, while he may still have something to offer in the right situation, his role is limited. Is Clay going to Buffalo and all the sudden become that great seam threat or all the sudden a great red zone target, NO, his height/weight/speed restricts him from either.
Freak, if you can not see those obvious points yourself, then you must not know football that well. That is all right though, we here at Phinsnews will state the obvious for you.
I agree on the negative aspects of our WR’s TE’s last year. But it still does not address the speculation on this group.
Its all speculative till they actually play a game.
Is there even a question??? Ceiling was reached with the departed WR’s and the TE. Said WRs and TE were not ascending players, again their ceiling had been set. Each new WR (excluding Jennings) is a ascending, young, inexpensive player with a much higher ceiling than their predecessor. Even though Jennings ceiling may have been met already, Jennings is a perfect fit with this young group for reasons other than potential.
Cameron will make Miami fans forget about Clay if he stays healthy. Cameron is more of a seam threat, more of a red zone threat. And like his predecessor, his ceiling too may have been set/met, but Cameron’s unique ability may be maximized in this offense.
This may be the best group of receivers we have had since the 80’s and the Mark’s brothers with the potential to surpass them (high expectations).
Great job by this front office to not only re-tool this WRing core, but to also recognize that the potential of the predecessors had been met and there was a need for a total WRing group if this team was to take the next step. Very anxious to see them in action!!!