Breakout WRs this year?

[treat24]

Jumping the gun a bit? Rice was a rookie last year, give him some time.

You could have Peyton Manning at QB and still be limited in your rookie season, hell even your second season.

I'm not so sure that Rice is a better playmaker AT THIS POINT than Berrian anyways. Berrian already has quite a few decent games under his belt with a garbage system and a crappy QB.

Like you are with 49ers guys... I am with Vikes... I go to training camp every year several times, watch every snap of every game including preseason. Whether or not the guy has made the amount of plays that berrian has is irrelevant to me. I think he's more talented. He makes plays that make you go "how did he even catch that" ...

As for jumping the gun... and him being a 2nd year player and to give him some time... this is a breakout WR thread... discussing Rice seems fine.

This is the list so far and Rice fits in IMO...

Meachum
Burleson
Gaffney
Ginn Jr
Bryant Johnson
Royal
Curry
DeSean Jackson
Josh Morgan
Sweed
Hackett
Chris Henry
Hardy
Rice
Muhammed
Kevin Walter.

most are 1st and 2nd year guys and that's the point of this thread IMO.

Players like cotchery listed a few posts back, burleson, hackett, chris henry, and muhammed don't qualify as they have been decent players at times already as bye week fillins, flex plays, and some as starters...

Rice fits in with this group and might actually be near the top if he had a QB and Childress knew how to utilize players

[bobbing_headz]

Two guys I'd add are Darrell Jackson and Justin Gage. Jackson hasn't been playing great in preseason but he's got a couple weeks to nail a job with Marshall out and he has done it before. Gage has gotta be on the list because he's pretty much the only guy in Tennessee. He showed a little spark last year.

[choose68]

Desean jackson has an even better opportunity to breakout now that kevin curtis is going to be out for +4weeks and reggie brown might not even make week 1

[Pete123444]

Here's my short list of WR's not talked about;

Bryant Johnson WR SF
Antonio Bryant WR TB
Steve Breaston WR ARI
Sinorice Moss WR NYG

You heard it here first!








lol

[Kensat30]

Regarding Rice, I was only talking about the comments that said he should have been on the field for 100% of the plays last year.

I wish the NFL worked that way but it usually doesn't. A lot of the time it takes injuries or a decent amount of time to get the best players on the field. It could be the playbook holding them back or skills in a certain area, but usually it is loyalty to veterans that holds these guys back unfortunately.

Was Sidney Rice the best WR on the Vikes last year? No doubt. But WRs have a steep learning curve. I think it is absolutely clear that he will get his shot this season as at least a WR2, but I have liked what I've seen of Berrian there and find it hard to believe that Rice will find himself the sole target of there. How many TD passes are the Vikings going to have anyways? Thanks for the heads up though, I had some vague notion of drafting Rice relatively late this year and this type of discussion puts him more firmly on my radar.

[treat24]

Ahhh... yeah % of plays, That makes sense. My issue was it seemed like Rice was barely even on for 1/3 of the snaps... if even that many. Part of the problem is the Vikes kept giving Troy Williamson too many chances to drop the ball. Which is basically what you were saying about loyalty to vets. Also partly hoping he would pan so they could save face on that mistake. I don't even think the Vikes get 25 passing tds as a team personally. Realistically, I would look for Rice to get 6-8... but I think his potential to exceed is nice if TJack can progress. Which is a big IF.

[Guru13]

Two guys I'd add are Darrell Jackson and Justin Gage. Jackson hasn't been playing great in preseason but he's got a couple weeks to nail a job with Marshall out and he has done it before. Gage has gotta be on the list because he's pretty much the only guy in Tennessee. He showed a little spark last year.

I'm almost high on Gage, last week in their game, VY targeted him something like 5 or 6 of his 13 throws (most of which were incomplete, but still).

[steelerfan513]

Josh Morgan was mentioned earlier, but I'll second him and argue against Bryant Johnson for the same reason: Morgan has taken Johnson's spot in the starting lineup, and with Isaac Bruce locked in on the other side, Johnson will at least go into the season as the #3 receiver. Perhaps he can supplant Morgan later on if he struggles, but that's still an if. From Rotoworld:

49ers coach Mike Nolan stopped short of naming rookie wideout Josh Morgan a starter in Sunday's post-exhibition game presser.

Perhaps if Bryant Johnson (hamstring) returns this week he'll have a chance to unseat Morgan, but the Virginia Tech product may be proving too good to keep out of the lineup.

[dgan]

WRs are the hardest for me - darn near impossible, actually - I'm sure others can make sound observations on this topic, but WRs outside the top 20 are a crapshoot to me. I really have no idea what the odds are for some of these guys 'breaking out'.

One guy I will say intrigues me, though, (because I watch all the Packer games) is James Jones. Driver and Jennings both have trouble staying healthy and if Jones gets into the starting lineup, he could be more productive than either one of them. Last preseason, Rodgers found Jones often - the two had a good thing going. Granted, that was preseason but this year Rodgers is the starter and he may feel more comfortable with Jones than with any other WR on the team. Even as a 3WR, Jones was productive and will be again this year. Kind of like Henry of Cinci, only without the legal issues.

And since it appears the Packer running game will struggle, they could be going to the air just as often as they did last year. Oh, and did I mention that Jones is a sophmore WR? Always a good thing when looking for that breakout WR.

[aaawall91]

Just throw a few of my targets out there who aren't mentioned (I think ):

Laurent Robinson or Micheal Jenkins - Laurent is young and has a good frame, I think he could produce, he did grab almost 500 yards, was targeted at least twice a game and broke 100 yards near the end of the season. Which is only notable because he was a rookie and the #3 WR...with the Falcons who didn't have a QB.
Jenkins has looked good in camp so far I hear and has really worked on his ball dropping. The former 1st rounder claims it's his time. He is worth a flier in deep leagues IMO.

Demetrius Williams or Mark Clayton - Williams has Good size, new coach to better use him. He started last year being targeted a ton, hopefully going into his 3rd season he will have improved hands and health. Although expectations aren't as high for the early part of the season because he is still recovering from an injury.
Clayton who had a decent second year in the league, struggled last year. I think that is behind him. Last season he was going through a divorce with his pregnant wife and wasn't focused. Especially with Williams injured he is getting lots of first team reps and could hold the job.

Ernest Wilford, Derek Hagan, Davone Bess - I like the 2nd WR at Miami.
Wilford has good size and speed and if he can get the job he could put up nice numbers.
Hagan is currently listed as the #2. He improved from year 1 to 2. And is going into "the" break out 3rd year. has good size. He has worked to improv on his issue of dropping passes which has held him back in his first two seasons.
Davone Bess - Long shot, but is currently the #3 in Miami in front of Wilford, while I doubt this sticks he could be worth something if he is moving up the depth chart as fast as he has being an undrafted rookie out of Hawaii. Note: from what I researched he was going to Oregon State but went to jail for 15 months, and was recruited in my Hawaii and put up over 1k yards in each of his 3 seasons.

Chad Jackson - Again, someone will take Stallworth's receptions. He has been praised by Bellichick this offseason for being a terrific athlete who had a great offseason. He is recovering from injury and is still rusty which is apparent in his first preseason action. But he will have plenty opportunity to shine if the Patriots continue to run the extensive receiver sets they have.

Johnny Lee Higgins-
Someone will be a #1b in Oakland because I don't see Javon doing enough to be the true #1 and chances are will put up similar numbers as their #2. If he can get the job. Curry has done little in his 5 years (3 full, 14 between the other 2) to impress me. I don't see Carter as anything special. I think Higgins could shine if he gets the opportunity.

I tend to be in deeper leagues (and dynasty), which is where you would consider most of these picks.