(12-24-2023, 11:30 AM)SeldomRite Wrote:

(12-22-2023, 11:26 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: The receivers have had solid separation in lots of games - but have been locked up pretty effectively by the better secondaries they've faced.

Thus far the avg separation for our guys listed at next gen stats is:

Ridley 2.3 yards
Zay Jones 2.4 yards

(before you stick your foot in your mouth bashing these numbers - let me tell you other receivers at 2.3/2.4 - Metcalf, Higgins, Pitts, Pickens, Hopkins, A Cooper, Mike Evans)

Moving on:
Christian Kirk - 3.1 yards
Evan Engram - 3.5 yards


These are the only 4 with enough action to be listed among the NFL leaders on that site.

Separation is not a glaring issue on the whole for our corps, but they have been locked up on occasion this year.

The part about other guys having similar separation numbers is worth considering, but when you look at the guys on that list they're almost all physically overpowering defenders at the point of catch and making catches even when well covered. With a few exceptions Ridley doesn't do much of that. Really he doesn't do much of anything special right now. He's good good speed, not great speed, he's got okay size, not great size, he's got good hands, not great hands, etc. And he tends to run the wrong route sometimes, which means he's either not paying enough attention in practice, or in the games, neither is good.

He's a good receiver, not a great receiver. If he could be signed for a very team friendly deal that's all about incentives he'd be worth signing if the draft pick we'd give up isn't a consideration.

However, the draft pick is there, and it's a problem. Is he worth a pick that could be turned into a good offensive lineman plus a big contract? Probably not, especially since he's probably not looking for a 4 year $50 million dollar deal with 15 of it guaranteed, which is the kind of deal he's played up to.

Your overstatement of the case against Ridley is good but not great. 

I'm disappointed in the drops. And he is undersized to be an X receiver. I would offer him a team friendly deal as well based on everything going on. And that's about all I agree on. 

The "wrong routes" thing is way overblown. People latched on to that play when TL was frustrated that he wasn't looking for the ball on an early/off-schedule throw due to pressure and have blathered "wrong routes, wrong routes" incessantly since. 

Nah.

In that stretch of losses - it wouldn't shock me if he actually never ran the wrong route. Not looking for the ball or not knowing he's a read instead of a decoy certainly happened 2 or 3 times. I doubt there have been any real instances of "wrong routes" since the early weeks of the season. 

He has clearly shown that he's a great receiver in the past but we only got flashes of that this year. 
So you do what you want with the "good vs great" generalizations. That's pretty meaningless to me. Production is what matters. He's on pace for 948 yds and 7 TDs plus ~250 yards of DPI calls. Pick your generalization for that I guess, but I do know it is rarely "easy" to replace that with much certainty in an offseason. 

My only real gripes are that he's having a bit of a tough time dealing with the frustration of not being more productive and the drops - which haven't been prolific, but too many nonetheless. 

I think with a better line and a few tweaks in next year's playbook he could have a good year or two in him putting up big numbers. An incentive laden deal with modest guaranteed money and a team out after 2 years might get it done. Who knows? I'd try that approach if it were me.

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