I Miss Marvin Jones.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(11-25-2017, 03:06 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: 1. Well if you want to play that game, then keep in mind that Jones signed his deal last year, and contracts will only get better as time goes by. Regardless, 21st is 21st. Jones is getting paid #1 money right now...albeit not superstar #1 money.

2. I will give me all of them. 

Maclin has led his teams in catches 5 times, yards 3 times and TD's 6 times. Considering that he's shared the field with DJax and Wallace for most of his career, that's impressive. Not every WR produces like AJ Green though. Same deal with Crabtree. Led his team in catches 5 times, yards 3 times and TDs 4 times. Wallace led his team in catches twice, yards 5 times and TDs 6 times. 

Now compare that to Marvin Jones, who I consider to be a rock solid #2. Jones has never led his team in catches or yards...and that's including 2 years playing opposite Golden Tate, who I consider to be the Lions' true #1.

I look at Crabs, Maclin and Wallace more as low-end 1's. They've proven capable of being the top dog in a team's WR corp. Again, not at a Julio Jones/AJ Green level, but with 32 teams out there, many teams have a Pierre Garcon, DJax, Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin type of #1.

I included Will Fuller because he's a 1st round pick that has flashed serious potential. In 4 games with a non-division 3 level QB, all he did was go for 279 yards and 7 TDs. Sure, small sample size...but I'm surely not the only one that thinks Fuller has a bright future once Watson gets back.

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3. Fair enough. I look at it a little differently. I think there's more talented WR's in the NFL than there are QB's. The top 10 WR's in the NFL are all game breakers. Superstar types. After that, there's a glut of WR's capable of "carrying the load" but aren't going to put up a 180 yard explosion very often. I think there's far more than 16 guys capable of carrying the load. It's closer to 32, because like I said - some teams have multiples.

If Amari Cooper, Maclin or Doug Baldwin was my team's top WR, I wouldn't feel bad at all. In fact, I might prefer that over an AJ Green or Julio Jones that gets QB money to play WR. 

Come on Shake, you and I both know that's a weaksauce criteria for being a #1 right there.

Heck, RB Duke Johnson is leading the Browns this year in both catches and yards receiving. Andrew Hawkins led the Browns in both catches and yards in 2014. Jeremy Kerley led the 2016 49ers in catches and yards. That doesn't make them a #1 WR. Lol

Torrey Smith has led his teams in catches 1 time, yards 1 time, and touchdowns 4 times.
Julian Edelman has led his teams in catches 3 times, yards 2 times, and touchdowns 1 time.

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I don't know, man. That Fuller sample size is just too small. Reminds me of when Sanu had that 3 game/4 TD streak his rookie season in limited play and people were saying "oh man, if he gets to play a whole season, he's going to score like 15 TDs!"

It's possible Fuller really has it, but I am not going to anoint the guy until it happens. Too much of that going around already, especially with young QBs. "The Sanchize", Luck being a HoFer before he ever took a snap, Kapernick being the next Montana, Newton/RG3 revolutionizing how the QB position would be played, etc.

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Except Amari Cooper will be paid big money this offseason. He wasn't allowed to get a contract extension/raise yet due to the CBA. Gotta put in those three years on the rookie contract first.

Also....
Baldwin (7th season): 424 catches/5,627 yards (13.3 AVG)/40 TDs ... (averaged out per year)  65 catches/866 yards/6 TDs
Maclin (9th season): 505 catches/6,739 yards (13.3 AVG)/49 TDs ... (averaged out per year)  59 catches/793 yards/6 TDs
Green (7th season): 529 catches/7,878 yards (14.9 AVG)/55 TDs ... (averaged out per year)  81 catches/1,212 yards/8.5 TDs
J. Jones (7th season): 551 catches/8,396 yards (15.2 AVG)/41 TDs ... (averaged out per year)   85 catches/1,292 yards/6.5 TDs
(*on the averages, I just counted this year as a .5 for simplicity)

You take a HUGE quality hit if you actually think you'd prefer a Maclin or Baldwin than a Green or Jones, just because of the money. There's a reason they make more. They're basically 50% better/more productive than them.

If you took Baldwin over Julio, you'd lose out on 20 catches/426 yards/0.5 TDs of surplus production each year.
If you took Maclin over Green, you'd lose out on 22 catches/419 yards/2.5 TDs of surplus production each year.


Having a good #2 like them as your #1 is basically like giving up a whole extra #3 or #4 deep threat WR's year worth of free production. That is most certainly not an insignificant amount.