05-26-2017, 01:31 AM
2007: Calvin was a rookie, 3rd on the team in yards
2008: Orlovsky/Culpepper/Kitna were all QB
2009: Stafford was a terrible rookie and Culpepper/Stanton started 6 games
2010: Pettigrew 722 yards, Burleson 625 yards
2011: Pettigrew 777 yards, Burleson 757 yards, Young 607 yards
2012: 2 TE 500+ yards each
2013: 2 RB 500+ yards each
2014: Golden Tate 1,077 yards
2015: Golden Tate 813 yards, Riddick 697 yards, Ebron 537 yards
There was a couple years at the start where he had just terrible QBing and he was just able to put up stats because they could chuck the ball to him. '12-'13 was pretty rough too, but overall I don't think there was a huge absence of talent around Calvin. I think the problem was Calvin was so good that there was just less reason to throw to anyone else. Like how in 2013 Calvin had 156 targets and the #2 yardage guy had 69 targets.
Calvin's career ended early because he's a huge dude who played like a TE and took a lot of shots, and also probably got tired of losing all the time on the Lions.
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Not to mention it's awfully early to be saying Mixon/Ross/Malone will even be good NFL players, let alone extending AJ's career, which I still don't think that's how that works.
2008: Orlovsky/Culpepper/Kitna were all QB
2009: Stafford was a terrible rookie and Culpepper/Stanton started 6 games
2010: Pettigrew 722 yards, Burleson 625 yards
2011: Pettigrew 777 yards, Burleson 757 yards, Young 607 yards
2012: 2 TE 500+ yards each
2013: 2 RB 500+ yards each
2014: Golden Tate 1,077 yards
2015: Golden Tate 813 yards, Riddick 697 yards, Ebron 537 yards
There was a couple years at the start where he had just terrible QBing and he was just able to put up stats because they could chuck the ball to him. '12-'13 was pretty rough too, but overall I don't think there was a huge absence of talent around Calvin. I think the problem was Calvin was so good that there was just less reason to throw to anyone else. Like how in 2013 Calvin had 156 targets and the #2 yardage guy had 69 targets.
Calvin's career ended early because he's a huge dude who played like a TE and took a lot of shots, and also probably got tired of losing all the time on the Lions.
- - - - - - -
Not to mention it's awfully early to be saying Mixon/Ross/Malone will even be good NFL players, let alone extending AJ's career, which I still don't think that's how that works.
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