Quote:Not always. Some guys never develop the knack for special teams and end up with short NFL careers.
The problem we have now is that we have a lot of players who are too young to be able to differentiate the starter from the special teams ace from the guy out of the league in two years.
Agreed completely with the first part.
Unsure about your closing statement, though it sounds plausible.
Quote:You realize Todman was 3rd in total yards and 8th in average on kickoff returns? That's way better than 'below average'.
If this is true (and at the moment I'm too lazy to look and confirm and I'm inclined to take your assertion at face value otherwise), he's now off the roster. Is it possible a bad special teams managed to get worse? Who will be the return guy now, and can he produce at that level or better?
Quote:I trust you.
I've never heard that before.
I just remembered he was not super spectacular, but he was consistent. Was the reason I looked.
Quote:I've never heard that before.
I just remembered he was not super spectacular, but he was consistent. Was the reason I looked.
Goodness knows he got enough practice returning kicks!
I just cant get 2-3 possible wins blown away by poor special teams.
What would the fanbase think of Bradley had we won those three games?
They intend to give a hard look at Denard Robinson as the KR now that he's been rehabbing the nerve issues and caught the ball more consistently last year. Corey Grant will be the X factor in that camp competition - but it's probably Shoelace's job to lose. Certainly we'll see someone else inserted into this mix during camp. Not sure who just yet.
Ace/Greene/Doss are your most obvious PR candidates - with Closs and Walters the camp rotation long shots.
It's reasonable to expect this ST group to perform better this season since they had some really poor outings last season and because the high amount of roster churn and slightly better depth at LB should produce a couple of improvements in kick coverage.
Quote:You realize Todman was 3rd in total yards and 8th in average on kickoff returns? That's way better than 'below average'.
When you get to return as many kickoffs as he did, being third in total yards isn't hard to accomplish.
Todman's been replaced, imo, because for as reliable a returner as he is, he was never much of a threat to take one to the house. His career long return is 59 yards, and his long last year was 40. He's a steady, dependable guy on kickoff returns, but his lack of big play ability ultimately cost him his job.
Quote:They intend to give a hard look at Denard Robinson as the KR now that he's been rehabbing the nerve issues and caught the ball more consistently last year. Corey Grant will be the X factor in that camp competition - but it's probably Shoelace's job to lose. Certainly we'll see someone else inserted into this mix during camp. Not sure who just yet.
Ace/Greene/Doss are your most obvious PR candidates - with Closs and Walters the camp rotation long shots.
For some reason, I thought that Grant was being tried at PR as well, but I see he didn't field any punts in college. Am I mistaken in thinking that?
Quote:They intend to give a hard look at Denard Robinson as the KR now that he's been rehabbing the nerve issues and caught the ball more consistently last year. Corey Grant will be the X factor in that camp competition - but it's probably Shoelace's job to lose. Certainly we'll see someone else inserted into this mix during camp. Not sure who just yet.
Ace/Greene/Doss are your most obvious PR candidates - with Closs and Walters the camp rotation long shots.
It's reasonable to expect this ST group to perform better this season since they had some really poor outings last season and because the high amount of roster churn and slightly better depth at LB should produce a couple of improvements in kick coverage.
I heard that they were going to give shoelace a shot at KR. I think Robinson could be a good return guy given his acceleration and speed.
I did not pay much attention to Greene as a punt returner. Is there anyone who did that can give an informed take on his abilities in that area?
ST should be better this year for a couple of reasons. First if you look at player evaluations of free agent pick ups starting at the end of last year and even some of draft picks many had ST as part of their evaluation. Second as you increase quality of your depth you increase the quality of players available for ST because it is generally second teamers available for ST. Third we are getting faster players every year as part of scheme, faster players are needed on ST so that also improves ST. All key for ST success.
Quote:When you get to return as many kickoffs as he did, being third in total yards isn't hard to accomplish.
Todman's been replaced, imo, because for as reliable a returner as he is, he was never much of a threat to take one to the house. His career long return is 59 yards, and his long last year was 40. He's a steady, dependable guy on kickoff returns, but his lack of big play ability ultimately cost him his job.
For some reason, I thought that Grant was being tried at PR as well, but I see he didn't field any punts in college. Am I mistaken in thinking that?
I posted this earlier about his avg and deliberately left the total yards out for this reason, however he was ranked joint sixth in avg, 6/7/8 all had the same, 25.6 iirc. It was just everything else on ST that was horrifyingly bad
Quote:When you get to return as many kickoffs as he did, being third in total yards isn't hard to accomplish.
Todman's been replaced, imo, because for as reliable a returner as he is, he was never much of a threat to take one to the house. His career long return is 59 yards, and his long last year was 40. He's a steady, dependable guy on kickoff returns, but his lack of big play ability ultimately cost him his job.
And the 8th in average?
By the way, nothing 'cost him his job'. He was a FA.
<p style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Apparently the Panthers disagree with your assessment..
<p style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">
<p style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"Todman has had his moments as a back, but his value to the Panthers lies in his return ability, averaging 25.6 yards per attempt on kickoffs last year (the Panthers averaged 21.8 as a team last year)."
<p style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">
<p style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><a class="bbc_url" href='http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/03/30/panthers-add-running-backreturn-man-jordan-todman/' title="External link">Full article.</a>
Quote:And the 8th in average?
By the way, nothing 'cost him his job'. He was a FA.
Again, he's a reliable kick returner, but not a game-breaking one. That's why no attempt was made to keep him as a
restricted free agent (which, yes, is essentially the same as being cut).
Totally agree with OP. Special teams got worse last year, as did Scobee himself.
This will be an obvious area to look at closely as a measuring stick on Bradley himself more than the ST coaching.
Special teams should be a strength of a well-coached team, not a liability.
Todman was the only guy getting it done on returns. I honestly can't figure out why we would let him go, and keep Sanders..
Quote:Again, he's a reliable kick returner, but not a game-breaking one. That's why no attempt was made to keep him as a restricted free agent (which, yes, is essentially the same as being cut).
Not really.
So what makes a kick returner a 'game breaking returner'? One touchdown? Because that was the high total in the league last year. And he showed me he had plenty of speed to be a 'game-breaker' on his 62 yarder against the tacks last year.
Quote:Totally agree with OP. Special teams got worse last year, as did Scobee himself.
This will be an obvious area to look at closely as a measuring stick on Bradley himself more than the ST coaching.
Special teams should be a strength of a well-coached team, not a liability.
Todman was the only guy getting it done on returns. I honestly can't figure out why we would let him go, and keep Sanders..
The painful part of this is the team would have fared better-substantially so, had ST simply been neither a strength nor a liability. Had it just been average, we could have doubled our win total. I hope Scobee's performance last year was an aberration, and not an indicia of declining skills.
Great point. ST has to improve. We are terrible in that department.