(03-01-2024, 10:11 AM)Mikey Wrote:

(02-29-2024, 05:44 PM)JagFanatic24 Wrote: To be honest, a trio like Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, and Zay Jones could lead the league in receiving as a trio unit, which also means you can win a Super Bowl with that unit.

Add Engram and Etienne to the mix, and now those defenses have all kinds of problems.

His value has skyrocketed and he ain’t playing on the tag. Just like Engram last year didn’t. He will be signed before the season.

Allen will too. The draft pick don’t matter because if they see a guy in round 2 they can trade up. The tag ain’t what it used to be bc guys can act hurt and still get paid, and the coaches know that.

You say these things like they are hypotheticals. Every last one of them was on the roster last year and the offense did not revolutionize the game of football as we know it.

You like stats, so here's some for us to digest:

All 5 players active: 4-2 W-L, 25.67 PPG. avg 16.8 rush / 67.6 yds / 4TD (.67/gm). avg 22 rec / 243.5 yds / 7TD (1.16/gm) that's 4.4rec/48.7yds avg per receiver
No Zay (4 receivers): 4-2 W-L 27 PPG. avg 17.3 rush / 60.83 yds / 4TD (.67/gm). avg 17.8 rec / 192.17yds / 4TD (.67/gm) that's 4.5rec/48.04yds avg per receiver
No Kirk (4 receivers): 0-3 W-L 18 PPG. avg 13.3 rush / 41 yds / 1TD (.33/gm). avg 23 rec / 210 yds / 4TD (1.33/gm) that's 5.75 rec/52.5 yds avg per receiver
No Zay No Kirk (3 rcvr): 1-1 W-L 19 PPG. avg 11 rush / 57 yds / 2TD (1/gm). avg 15.5 rec / 158.5 yds / 2TD (1/gm) that's 5.1rec/52.83 yds avg per receiver

Ridley's stats when all 5 active: 33 rec / 473 / 4TD (5.5/78.83/.67 per game) when at least 1 inactive: 43/543/4 (3.9/49.36/.36 per game)

So you can see that losing Kirk hurt us, W-L wise, but that also coincided with Trevor getting hurt. Zay out of the lineup did not result in any of these four picking up his slack - we either lost those yards or passed to other WR. Our run game has a slight benefit when all 5 players are playing, but not enough to say they are posing significant distraction to a D.

Ridley's numbers are the interesting one, though. You'd think that when at least one of our primary targets are unavailable, more work would be sent his way. He personally benefitted from the extra distraction of a full roster of targets, averaging 1.5 more catches and 60% more yards per game when everyone was active.

Should we expect a $20M receiver to be able to do that without the benefit of needing a complete arsenal around him? Do we think that a comparable, drafted receiver would be capable of producing similar results in the same situation? Does anyone think he's not going to settle for a payday somewhere near the tag? 

We've seen this team both with and without Ridley. Both years resulted in 9-8 records, Passing numbers were comparable. I don't think Ridley is as necessary as some others here might, especially at that price tag. I think we are just as capable without him. We need SOMEBODY, mind you, that can produce similar results, but breaking the bank to keep the gang together doesn't seem like it's going to yield any different results.

Agreed. The real issue last year was when Kirk got hurt. Zay got nicked up "practicing" against the Lions and never got really healthy. What we need to go with our core receiver set is a big body burner. someone about 6'4".  When everyone is healthy Kirk, Zay and Engram are our core group. Ridley last year was a 20 million dollar receiver with a 5 cent head. He could not be counted on to be where he was suppose to be. That can be covered up if the QB has more time, unfortunately that was not the case in 2023.

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