I see it now. I disagree with that. There is a reason that the Steelers were ready to deal Bryant. Honestly Juju could be possibly even be a boardline #1 like Anquan was and who he's compared to. Boldin was the man in Arizona until Fitzgerald showed up. Biggest knock on Q was his speed, but he was the 5th fastest to 7000 yards. He's part of the 1000 reception club (just 25 under Chris Carter) with 13,779 career yards. Juju seems physically a step up from Q. If he's as smart, sky's the limit. Not gonna lie, I'd hate it if he and AB hunf dual 1400yd seasons on the league like Fitz and Q did.
Too many weapons on the team for that. Leveon will catch 60+ balls, Vance McDonald will catch 50+ if healthy. They'll get the rookie in their quickly too. Wouldn't be surprising at all to me to see Washington catch 30-40 balls.
If he repeats his performance this coming season, then he will have proved himself to me. Rookie's have had some pretty good seasons before and dropped off the deep end in that sophomore season. As for Bryant, his attitude is what got him traded off, the Steelers have never liked dealing with prima donna's and that is something Laveon would be wise to remember or he will end up like Plaxico did.
I think JJSS is more than capable of repeating. The other factor is offensive scheme. If it changes he might get less opportunities through no fault of his own. However, if he proves himself a true weapon he could carve out a nice piece of the O-snaps for himself.
I'd say Marlon Brown is a good example of a player that came in and had a heck of a rookie year only to completely vanish in the NFL after. He didn't put up the same yard totals, but no one thought the arrow was pointing anywhere but up after he hit the scene.
If he repeats his performance this coming season, then he will have proved himself to me. Rookie's have had some pretty good seasons before and dropped off the deep end in that sophomore season. Not very often in Pitt. Plexico......no (let him walk anyway) Randel El.....no (let him walk anyway) Heath Miller..no (best TE in franchise history) Santonio......no (traded him anyway) Mike Wallace......no (let him walk anyway) Emmanuel Sanders.......no (let him walk anyway) Antonio Brown (not a particularly good rookie year though, Sanders was more the immediate contributor - shocking)......but nah Martavis Bryant.......no (buh-bye anyway) But that JuJu.......with better stats than ALL of them in only 14 games (and at a younger age)......a guy that had more catches, yards, touchdowns than the first FOUR receivers taken in 2017 draft...................COMBINED..............he's gonna be the one to have that sophomore slump! No way Washington steps in and contributes in a manner comparable to the others as well. And with basically same offense in tact - minus Martavis, but likely better overall TE play with McDonald/James. Maybe.......just maybe........Pitt is on to something and is capable of finding EXACTLY what they want/need/look for in a receiver. Will Washington equal his rookie year what Martavis brought to the offense (downfield threat and attracting attention)??.........probably not right away. But they didn't draft him in the second round to "develop" or not be a complimentary piece and special teamer. He'll likely play 30-40% of snaps, combination of slot and split out wide. Only thing that is going to prevent JuJu or Washington from excelling given this team's offensive personnel is injury to one another, or to one of their other key players on offense (Brown, Bell, Ben, DeCastro). There aren't many defenses that have THREE legit corners that they're willing to play straight man, and you can't double more than one guy on any play (or peel safeties to either side) and ALSO keep enough personnel in the box to stop the run........without leaving the middle deep half of the field WIDE OPEN. You have to pick your poison and take chances.
I said this in a different forum, but Pittsburgh's ability to find good WRs come from their consistency of drafting WRs. Let's face it, if you consistently draft one specific position yearly, you're very likely to have a decent amount of success at it. In the last 14 drafts, the Steelers have only not drafted a WR twice. Of course people are more likely to remember success stories like Antonio Brown, Santonio Holmes, Mike Wallace, Martavis Bryant, etc. When you have a decent amount of success, they forget most of the failures like Willie Reid, Limas Sweed, Sammie Coates, Markus Wheaton (this one is arguable though), Fred Gibson, etc. It's like the Ravens and d-lineman. People tend to remember the good ones far more than the bad ones (unless they are actually looking into it like I am now). SIDE NOTE FOR RAVENS FANS (and anybody else I guess): Over the past 10 years, the Ravens have been ridiculously successful and CB, yet haven't drafted a lot even though we've had cornerback issues for years. Since 2009, here is every CB to be drafted, not counting 2018: L.Webb J.Smith C.Brown A.Jackson T.Walker T.Young M.Canady M.Humphrey Webb pre-injury was very, very, good. Jimmy is an elite corner. Brown was trash. Jackson was decent when he wasn't suspended for adderall. Walker died before he could prove himself. Young showed great potential before injury. And Canady has done well for a late 6th rounder. I never really considered CB to be a strong position that they draft, but it has been
I'm hoping simply by law of averages, Pitt will finally develop a solid secondary this year or next. Probably the hardest position to come in and make a significant contribution as a rookie in today's NFL. The Marshon Lattimores that come in and look the part immediately and can take on the best in the league in straight man are few and far between. Lord knows nobody can say Pitt hasn't tried or made the investment in recent years: S - Shamarko Thomas (2013-3rd round) - Cut 2nd year, no longer with team CB - Shaquille Richardson (2014-4th round) - Never made roster CB - Senquez Golson (2015 - 2nd round) - No longer with team, cut after year-2, plagued by injuries CB - Doran Grant (2015 - 4th round) - Cut by team CB - Artie Burns (2016 - 1st round) - Current starter #2 S - Sean Davis (2016 - 2nd round) - Current starting FS CB - Cam Sutton (2017 - 3rd round) - Current backup corner CB - Brian Allen (2017 - 5th round) - Current backup corner S - Terrell Edmunds (2018 - 1st round) - Projected strong safety/dime back S - Marcus Allen (2018 - 5th round) - Projected backup safety Plus free agent signing corner Joe Haden (starter - 1st round pick in 2011), recently signed safety Morgan Burnett (3rd round-2010), and 2nd year starting nickel corner Mike Hilton (undrafted). That's a LOT of picks/signings for an "as of now" mediocre secondary. Hoping that the foundation of mostly 1st/2nd/3rd year players finally meshes. If not, we may need to sell our soul and consult the Ravens on their abilities to draft quality corners in exchange for our secret in finding quality receivers.
Perriman's "rookie" season was also decent before flaming out completely. Brown was at least undrafted and more of a casualty of Ozzie/Harbs' team management. Hard for him to develop or even succeed when they give the snaps to higher paid free agents and he doesn't see the field enough. I think they wasted a solid #2 receiver there. Same with Aiken.
I keep hoping for the law of averages to work for the Ravens and wide receivers too. Ever notice how each AFC North franchise drafts/develops certain positions badly no matter the coach, GM or owner? Steelers - DBs, Ravens - Receivers, Browns - QBs, and Bengals - RBs. Does it really take a Bill Bellichick to figure this out and fix it?
B&G, your post made me realize that of all those Ravens CBs I mentioned, only one was drafted before the 3rd round. Let's get all Ravens and Steelers fans to start a petition to switch WR and CB scouts for 1-2 years, then switch back
Yup, that was a wasted 6th rounder for a former 1st rounder. Still hard to believe all the players Cleveland passed up to draft Gilbert #8 (?) overall. Khalil Mack, Mike Evans, Anthony Barr, OBJ, Taylor Lewan, Aaron Donald, Zack Martin, Shazier, CJ Mosely just to name a few all taken after their initial pick at #4.
Pretty sure they have one now in Mixon, provided he can keep his head on straight and stay on the field. They just haven't had many true work-horse, 3-down backs. They - like many teams have done it via a committee approach, which makes it hard to feel like you really have someone for more than a couple years at a time.
All true, and it makes my point that since Corey Dillon/Rudi Johnson they've HAD to go with a committee. Bernard and Hill were both 2nd rounders and considered potential 3 down guys. Rudi Johnson was a great value pick in 2001 (rd4). But they've had a drought since then. I also don't much success at RB before Dillion either. I think you'd have to go all the way back to Ickey Woods for that and even then his career ended real early.
Orlando Brown is signing with the Colts. Looks like Hurst will compete with Zeus Jr. to start at RT. Also, Tony Jefferson restructures is contract and opens up another $3.3M in space boosting the cap total to about $8.6M.
I'll say this: Whatever your opinion on Lamar Jackson, he's done more to put the Ravens in the spotlight immediately than perhaps any other drafted player. In fact, it took Flacco winning a SB and MVP to get ANY positive press for him or the team. Right now there's a lot of positivity towards the Ravens in the press that I'm not used to seeing.
