I’d need to go back and confirm it, but wasn’t Beckham the most successful WR in the league at slants and in routes under 10 yards his last two seasons in NY? I’m going off of memory so I may be wrong on this, but I thought it was by a pretty decent margin over the next closest receiver. It’s something that I really thought the analytics people would be pushing considering Baker’s effectiveness in between the hashes, specifically in the short and intermediate.
Yeah, this narrative of him needing to run deep to be effective just doesn't jive. He's 5' 11" and doesn't have league-leading speed - right there, we're missing the basic building blocks for a deep ball-only type of receiver. Can Odell be effective going deep? Absolutely. But he can also be super effective running within 10 yards. He's a good route runner, has quick feet, good body control, locates and catches the ball well... To say that the offense wasn't set up for success because they couldn't throw deep ignores some basic fundamentals of football. If you can't throw deep, yes the OL can largely be to blame - and I know that was the case in Cleveland. But you also have to playcall around your roster, not the other way around. Freddie should have been pounding the run, going PA and moving the pocket, and doing whatever he could to set up the deep throws - if that was indeed what he was basing his offense around. You don't let your offense fundamentally crumble because you have a poor OL. Beckham is a good receiver, and would've been well utilized on short or intermediate routes. End of story. The OL was definitely ignored, in terms of priority. And no doubt Dorsey bet on his draft pick and whiffed - a major stain against him and blow to this season. But I stick by my above assessment - if Freddie's OL was that bad, the playcalling should've changed. Scapegoating one of the best receivers in the game by saying his talents are limited to plays the offense couldn't execute is... just not accurate. To note - I didn't watch much Cleveland football this year. With a new family, I missed most Bears games. But I have the yearly Gamepass, so I do plan on going back to watch some games in depth, with game film break down as the year goes on. Gotta get some football in between seasons, after all.
There were times that Chubb simply wasn’t as effective as his stats would suggest. It will make for an interesting look when his numbers get broke down by situation instead of looking at the raw totals. How much of that is Nick’s style compared to the play call will likely make for some good conversation.
Not sure. I don't really dive into the analytics but when I think of Odell I don't think of a "possession" guy (not that that is exactly what you meant). That's Landry. OBJ is the guy that takes the top off the coverage and draws the deep safety to him. The Browns couldn't consistently hold up long enough in pass pro to take advantage of that skill set. And if we're talking OBJ I also think he drops too many passes and doesn't win enough 50/50 balls but that's just me. That kind of player could play on my team on a rookie deal but once he commanded a Top-5 salary I'd move on - as the Giants did. Add in the look-at-me bullshit and I'm definitely passing. AB is in the same boat and for the life of me I'm not sure how Tomlin kept him in line as long as he did. Looking back he doesn't get enough credit for the work he did regarding AB.
This is correct. This was part of the hype-build. Baker was the #1 QB in the NFL throwing slant patterns in 2018. Odell Beckham Jr. was the #1 WR in the NFL running/receiving slant routes in 2018 (and throughout his career). Natural to see a lot of slants in 2019. Then, Freddie hired Todd Monken who's QB's average 20 INTs per season, who prefers five- and seven-step drops, and who desires a vertical offense. The result? 6-10 and Baker regressing to sub-Josh Allen levels.
