Drew Sample is a Bum

[Whatever]

(11-30-2020, 05:43 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: To me this is a scheme issue. Why is he top 5 in routes run when we can’t protect our QB and this guy was supposedly drafted for blocking. It’s blatant misuse of his skill set IMO.

I’d love to see the route tree, because he isn’t running little sit down routes over the middle and he should be. Either that or he is just invisible to Joe which seems unlikely.

There has been little adjustment to the scheme throughout the year and it’s sad. It doesn’t help guys like Sample make a contribution to the team.

Part of it is scheme and part of it is the QB.  One of the things that made Burrow great in college is he has tremendous ball placement.  Joe can and will stick it in to tight windows to WR's down the the field instead of checking down to the TE.  Against NY, he was targeted 6 times because we're playing with a backup QB who will check it down because he can't make the throws Burrow does.

He runs a lot of routes, but his responsibility on a lot of those is to chip the edge to help the T, then release into the pattern as a check down option.  The Rams use Everett in a similar capacity and both are near the bottom of the league in Targeted Air Yards.  Per Next Gen Stats, Sample is 6th among TE's in getting separation, 11th in catch %, and his YAC is dead even with his Expected YAC.  Basically, he can get open, make the catches he's supposed to make, and get the yards he should get after the catch.  He's terrible in contested catch situations, though.  Worth a 2nd round pick?  Not at this stage.  A bum?  Not hardly.