Wide Receivers

It seems some of this board has been calling for a big-name WR or a playmaking WR/TE. Why is this? I'm not saying you guys are wrong, I just find it kinda funny you want more passes instead of Lynch.

The philosophy is set around Lynch. You do NOT need playmaking catchers. You need speed with this philosophy. I feel like a decent amount of people are calling for playmaking catchers.

The Hawks do not need a big WR. They just need a receiver who can get the job done. They're not dependent on the pass. If they were, then I'd understand the need. But the team wants Lynch to get the MVPs, so why waste money on catchers when they should use it on Wilson and blockers who can get the job done? Baldwin, Kearse and Richardson get the job done. They have playmaking ability, + the speed that this offense requires. No need to spend money on catchers when you have the best back in the league.

I sound a bit repetitive, all I'm saying is be careful what you wish for.

pretty much tells you WHY

M.M.

I have to disagree. More and more teams are going to employ physical CB with size against the Hawks. Need to combat that with size not speed or guile. WR group is one of the weakest links on our team. Just getting a #1 type receiver w/ size would relieve pressure on the others. Don't believe me ask...Golden Tate.

can't run every play...gotta have some dependability down field and some sure hands...we don't have that.

We're missing Sidney Rice, who would often get open deep when Russell would scramble around. We're missing Golden Tate, who would get many yards after catch for us. We need to find reliable replacements for these kind of abilities.

Imagine Russell having a tag team like Romo has in Dez and Murray!

Cyrus12":2cbn93l5 said:

can't run every play...gotta have some dependability down field and some sure hands...we don't have that.

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Kearse and Baldwin are dependable downfield. You just don't see that often because the Hawks run the ball more.

I just don't think the receivers position is a big need that other people think.

The whole passing game lacks an identity other than deep shots set up from the running game. A revamp needs to take place in the passing game. Receivers cannot get open vs. man to man, routes vs zone lack imagination.

New receivers + new philosophy would really open up the running game.

If they can get a big play wr that buys into this system of course they will take them.. Sidney Rice was good but injured too much.. Harvin they gave up a lot for him but he just didn't buy into the system.. But clearly they want weapons for Wilson..u think if they could sign a Fitzgerald or Cobb they are going to say nah we are a running team forget them

I don't think they need a big receiver either, although Matthews gave us a glimpse of the boost that one could bring. They need to improve the position, period, I don't care if the guy is big or small, as long as he can get open against man coverage. We aren't going to be able to rely on making magic happen every time we need to call a pass play forever.

:13:

Yeah because small fast guys has gotten us so far. They can never get open. Baldwin is a slot guy being paired against teams best corner. It's a mismatch most games, especially when play a good secondary like NE's.

It basically boils down to us needing a player to replace Sidney Rice's production and size. Bigger receiver who can use his size to win match ups and make the occasional awesome sideline catch. Have a fast ass dude on the other side like Richardson, and a small quick guy like Baldwin in the slot. That'd be a strong receiving group. But instead we have 3 receivers who are just meh and can't get open. Russell was dropping dimes to Matthews in the SB until they put Browner on him. Imagine if we had /draft a rookie that doesn't dissappear when matched up against a teams bettter/best corner.

And honestly, we even did alright when we had Tate as our 1 last year. Dude could play a jump ball like he was 6'5". We just need a damn playmaker on the WR corp who is consistent and doesn't drop balls.

What this team needs is the original Kellen Winslow, WR speed but size and great hands that will block.

Our receivers aren't all that great... Kearse is inconsistent as hell with his hands, Baldwin has great hands, but he doesn't have the size to beat larger DBs out for the jump ball and is better fit for the slot. Lockette... pretty much the same as Kearse.... great physical ability, but really inconsistent. All that aside, the biggest problem I see with our passing game is the design of our passing plays. Our passing plays do nothing to split coverages and worse than that, even with Lynch here, Bevell seems hell-bent on trying to make this a passing offense vs. a running offense that works off the play-action. What's the point in having Lynch if you're not going to use him to set the tone or rely on him in critical situations?

For me... Their is absolutely no reason at all to ever ever have an empty backfield. The entire premise of our offense depends on making the defense respect the run. You take the back out of the backfield, the defense no longer has to respect the possibility of a run happening and we've ran empty backfields so many times this year, it's sickening. If our guys got open consistently and got one on one matchups consistently, but they just got physically beat; I'd say the receivers are our main problem. Our guys don't even get open consistently because they're doubled over in coverage. The design of half our passing plays are so basic and simple, it's like they were pulled from Madden. They don't do hardly anything to redirect coverage, split coverage or rub off defenders. Our passing plays are easy for Safeties to diagnose and easy for defenders to make transitions on in zone coverage.

We could use a homerun threat at receiver that can adjust to the ball well downfield and has semi-reliable hands, but the biggest problem with our passing game is the passing plays we run. People need to face facts... If we didn't have a QB that could scramble and improvise, we'd have - bar none - the worst passing game in the league. We have an amazing QB that's able to bail out bad plays with improv. Eventually... I'd like to see what Wilson could do when we have someone calling passing plays that are actually designed to get receivers open and exploit coverages. I tried to let a few days go and look at Bevell's plays from an overall perspective without looking at the last play of the Super Bowl, but the more I looked at the plays we've ran this year, the more I think we need to move on from Bevell. He's gotten away from the offensive system this team was built for. He might be really good at getting a QB to do the right things and make the right decisions, but he doesn't do anything to help the passing game with his play design or his playcalling. Look at our games this year. Almost half of the passing plays that turned out well, turned out well because Wilson scrambled, extended the play and a receiver went sandlot... deviating from the play that was called.

dumbrabbit":o8e087dw said:

Cyrus12":o8e087dw said:

can't run every play...gotta have some dependability down field and some sure hands...we don't have that.

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Kearse and Baldwin are dependable downfield. You just don't see that often because the Hawks run the ball more.

I just don't think the receivers position is a big need that other people think.

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No they are not. Especially against physical corners.

Baldwin is a #3 receiver (slot) on any other team.
Kearse is a #4.

We don't need elite receivers, but what we do need is a couple players on the outside like Rice/Tate who can challenge defenses in multiple ways. It'd be nice to have a TE that we could shift around and rely on to make catches, too.

I'm not asking for a lot. But honestly, having at least league average talent on the outside would help a lot.

We make do, but our outside receivers scare no one. We need to move Baldwin back to the slot. Hopefully Richardson can get healthy and break-through and we find one more solid guy to play opposite him.

DavidSeven":ytp6d58d said:

We don't need elite receivers, but what we do need is a couple players on the outside like Rice/Tate who can challenge defenses in multiple ways. It'd be nice to have a TE that we could shift around and rely on to make catches, too.

I'm not asking for a lot. But honestly, having at least league average talent on the outside would help a lot.

We make do, but our outside receivers scare no one. We need to move Baldwin back to the slot. Hopefully Richardson can get healthy and break-through and we find one more solid guy to play opposite him.

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I wouldn't count on Richardson in 2015 if ever.

Dear lord I miss Sidney Rice...

So your premise is that since we run the ball, we don't need a home run receiver?

Nope. Disagree.

Remember the Cowboys in the 90's? They ran the ball too, extremely well, but they also had Michael Irvin who was one of the top WRs in the league at the time. The threat of the deep ball opened things up for the run, and the constant body blows of the run opened things up for the pass. It's a two headed monster.

Having that big play receiver is absolutely part of the plan, it's why we paid big bucks for Rice and Harvin and why we were reportedly in the thick of activity for Marshall, Vincent Jackson and every other big name receiver to come up since. Don't let the fact that Doug and Kearse have filled in admirably fool you into believing they're the plan. They’re not. I fully believe we'll go after another big play receiver this year. Hopefully we can draft one early and get him on the cheap than selling out for a Marshall type.

Okay let me help here. First off even if we are a run first team, with Lynch you still need to throw the ball some. Also let me remind you that Lynch has had a lot of mediocre at best first half's only to kick butt in the 2nd, Part of that is the need for the passing game to show teams why they cannot stack the box, and the other part is Rw showing why they need to pay attention to him as well, Thus helping Lynch.

Now back to Wr it is pretty simple really our best wr Badlwin is a #3 at best on any good team. At best on some teams he is a 4. For example

Luck has Hilton, Nick, and Wayne. Baldwin is not better than any of them
Manning has Thomas, Welker, Sanders and again Baldwin is not better than any of them
Brady has Gronk, Edleman, Amendola, again Baldwin is not better than any of then though Gronk is a te but I could add Lafell in and it is questionable Baldwin is better than him
Rodgers has Cobb and Nelson. Baldwin is not better than either of them.

I can go on and on the reality is our best Wr is nothing more than a #3 or #4 on most good teams. We need a #1 Wr that can get open and draw double teams to help the others.

All that said I agree the play calling on pass plays is pathetic.

I haven't read the rest of the responses, but I'll tell you why. Go back and watch Chris Matthews in the Super Bowl. Watching a big man plucking the ball out of the air is beautiful. Whether Matthews is that guy, or if we need to draft a Dorial Green-Beckham, or go get Brandon Marshall. I want some more of that..... Russ throws a beautiful 50/50 ball. Would be nice if we had a weapon to take advantage of that.