Quote:
Originally Posted by SkinsFanSince91
Just imagine Calvin Johnson to one side, Santana Moss to the other, and Antwaan Ranldle El working the slot. This move could accelerate the growth of Jason Campbell.
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Wait, what?!
First of all, I have no freaking clue how putting the BMOC from Georgia Tech on the LOS 5 yards from the sideline will improve how quickly Jason Campbell learns makes the correct reads at all. Seems to the ORP (ordinary reasonable person) that the only people who affect how Campbell makes his decisions are Campbell and the dudes blocking for Campbell. Order of football operations, man! The blockers have to do their jobs so that the passer can do his job so that the receivers can do their job. Every action of a foward pass since 1930 has occured in that order.
Playing with 3 scrubs for wideouts, Campbell would mature at exactly the same rate he would with Moss, Johnson, and Cooley. The Skins wouldn't score as many points, but that doesn't mean Campbell wouldn't be learning.
Secondly, that's a 3 WR set. I'm assuming you'd also have Cooley and Portis in the game. Well, you don't have a blocker at TE or FB, so the running potential is compromised.
I firmly believe that every passing offense has a ceiling based on it's 11 players. By theory of order of football operations,
exchanging the role of one wideout for another is the WORST POSSIBLE WAY to increase that ceiling. Going to a 3 WR set with Johnson in decreases the average amount of time the protection will hold because theres one less guy there. So right off the bat, you are worse off. On top of that, your passing potential with Moss, Cooley and El is near maximum potential already. After all, you have ONE ball to go around. Moss and Cooley
already don't get enough touches as is. Both have more value after the catch than Johnson. So in theory, taking catches away from those guys compromises your offensive potential.
So what's the only way to improve offensive potential? Split Randle El's and Lloyd's catches evenly among Johnson, Moss, and Cooley. So now, you've either orchestrated a trade up costing us Ladell Betts for a guy who (best case scenario) will be thrown to somewhere between 16-24 times next year. If he's some sort of god, he will catch 80% of those passes (No receiver caught more than 75% [T. Gonzales] of the passes thrown in their direction this year) and end up with 16-18 catches. Most likely he's just a very good college receiver, will catch around 63%, or 10 to 12 passes as a rookie.
He'd be labeled a bust. And that's giving Lloyd and El ZERO catches next year. So now you have a "bust" (who is actually just under utilized), and two VERY unhappy players behind him.
And that's a best case scenario. More than likely, bringing in Calvin Johnson will HURT our offense because he will steal catches from Moss and Cooley, both of whom are going to be better players at this point in their career. So the most likely outcome is that bringing in Calvin Johnson will hurt our offense next year.
Did I mention that while hurting our offense, we still have done nothing to bring ANY help to our pathetic defensive line?
The whole philosophy having multpile skilled targets in the passing game is that they will ALL be underutilized equally. Basically, spread the ball around and make it harder for the defense to defend us. But no matter how much you pass, it will be IMPOSSIBLE for ANY of the skilled targets to earn what he is making. There's just not enough chances to do so.
And if the best player of the group is not getting as many catches as he reasonably can, you are hurting your offensive potential.
Moss and Cooley are both underutilized as is. Bringing in Calvin Johnson makes this underutilization more prevalant while costing us Ladell Betts and any chance to get D Line help.
Such a trade would be an unmittigated disaster. Randle El and Lloyd only make up a very small percentage of the offense. Using a top 10 pick to reassign that responsibility is an utter waste at best, grounds for firing all involved at worst.