Who's your breakout candidate for 2013?

[MTK]

Who's taking that big step forward this year? Last year outside of the obvious ones like RG3 and Morris we had guys like Rob Jackson, Logan Paulsen, and Kai Forbath who all stepped up and made some huge contributions.

Who's going to do it this year? Jarvis Jenkins? Keenan Robinson? Hankerson? Aldrick Robinson? Maybe one of the rookies?

[RedskinRat]

Brandon Merriweather.

[SmootSmack]

DeVery Henderson

Seriously though. All the names mentioned are good choices. I'd add Richard Crawford and Tom Compton as options.

Forced to pick one, I'll say Keenan Robinson

[Lotus]

I would say Compton, who IMO will arise as a real RT.

My other choice would be Paul as a receiver. I think he will fix the dropsies.

[CultBrennan59]

Crawford.

I'm not sold on Hankerson breaking out and I'm not sure if Aldrick Robinson can run all the NFL routes. So I'm ruling those guys out.

Crawfords been getting rave reviews in training camp so I'm gonna go with the guy who is getting noticed by different news outlets.

[KI Skins Fan]

Jarvis Jenkins.

I haven't seen him yet this year but the knee brace is off and Haslett is liking what he has seen from Jenkins during OTA's. Now that he's healthy and he has a year of experience under his belt, I think he could break out.

[SirLK26]

Leonard Hankerson.

I've loved the guy ever since he came out of Miami, and he's been decent, but I think this year is the year he breaks out and becomes the number two behind Garcon. His dropping problem was always way overblown, and now he has a full offseason under his belt. On top of that, Shanahan is impressed with him too.

Shanahan has praise for Hankerson and Robinson | Comcast SportsNet Washington

[KI Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by SirLK26

Leonard Hankerson.

I've loved the guy ever since he came out of Miami, and he's been decent, but I think this year is the year he breaks out and becomes the number two behind Garcon. His dropping problem was always way overblown, and now he has a full offseason under his belt. On top of that, Shanahan is impressed with him too.

Shanahan has praise for Hankerson and Robinson | Comcast SportsNet Washington

Not overblown. Must be fixed.

[SirLK26]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

Not overblown. Must be fixed.

Hankerson is just a guy that people love to hate.

Need to Know: Big offseason for Hankerson - Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Quote from that article:

Per PFF, Hankerson was targeted 55 times and he had 38 receptions and three drops. That gives him a drop rate of 7.32 percent. Of the 82 NFL wide receivers who played at least 25 percent of their teams’ snaps that is the 28th-best drop rate.

That’s not great but it was the best on the team. Pierre Garçon caught 44 passes and dropped five, a drop rate of 10.2 percent (51st in the NFL). Josh Morgan’s caught 48 and dropped seven for a rate of 12.73 percent (67th). Santana Moss, with six drops and 41 receptions had a rate of 12.77 (68th).

[MTK]

Originally Posted by SirLK26

Hankerson is just a guy that people love to hate.

Need to Know: Big offseason for Hankerson - Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Quote from that article:

Don't let pesky facts get in the way of a good hate parade.

[SirLK26]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

Don't let pesky facts get in the way of a good hate parade.

Hankerson's "dropping problem" was always way overblown. And it really grinds my gears when people say things without knowing the facts; they just hear someone say, "Hankerson drops too many passes'', and they take it as fact. Instead, they need to search things out for themselves, and find the truth. But I digress. Carry on...

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by SirLK26

Hankerson is just a guy that people love to hate.

Need to Know: Big offseason for Hankerson - Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Quote from that article:

I don't hate him, but I also don't get the love for him. At this point, he's going into his 3rd year, and if he excels, great, but nothing on the field during last season points to that. I listed the number of catches he had compared to Garcon in the last 7 games. If he was growing and stepping up, I think we should have seen his catches rise over that period, especially with Garcon giving a credible threat on the other side.

You clearly want him to succeed, and that's great, but what stats from real games (not OTA "strides") make you think he's going to? I'm not talking about drop rate, because I don't see that as much of an issue either.

[SirLK26]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

I don't hate him, but I also don't get the love for him. At this point, he's going into his 3rd year, and if he excels, great, but nothing on the field during last season points to that. I listed the number of catches he had compared to Garcon in the last 7 games. If he was growing and stepping up, I think we should have seen his catches rise over that period, especially with Garcon giving a credible threat on the other side.

You clearly want him to succeed, and that's great, but what stats from real games (not OTA "strides") make you think he's going to? I'm not talking about drop rate, because I don't see that as much of an issue either.

His rookie year he had 14 catches for 163 yards, but he only played 4 games, so you can't look at that year.

Last year, he had 38 catches for 543 yards and 3 TDs, with an average of 14.29. That average was second on the team, to Garcon. Not great stats, but solid. This with being targeted the fewest times of all the receivers: 57 for Hankerson, 61 for Moss, 67 for Garcon, and 73 for Morgan. These stats are somewhat deceptive, though. Our WR corps was the only corps in the NFL that had the top 4 receivers all over 500 yards. If the WR group wasn't so deep, I think he would have much better stats.

Now, you said you didn't want me to look at "OTA strides", but that's a big part of it. He has went his whole career without participating in a complete offseason, very damaging to a young player. In addition, the 3rd year is usually when receivers break out, if they do. He's got great size, huge hands, and he's got speed.

With a whole offseason behind him, and with Moss slowing down, I really think he's going to take his play to a whole new level. Do I think he's going to elevate his play to HOF level? Possible, but very unlikely. Do I think he's going to be our #1 receiver for the 2014 season? Yes. We'll just have to see.

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by SirLK26

Leonard Hankerson.

I've loved the guy ever since he came out of Miami, and he's been decent, but I think this year is the year he breaks out and becomes the number two behind Garcon. His dropping problem was always way overblown, and now he has a full offseason under his belt. On top of that, Shanahan is impressed with him too.

Shanahan has praise for Hankerson and Robinson | Comcast SportsNet Washington

Shanahan praised Beck and Grossman too. His offseason praise is worth about as much as my advice on relationships - either zilch or below zilch. That said, I don't get the love for him. I've seen people say look at the end of last season, so I did, in the last 7 games he had: 2,1,1,4,2,1,1 catches. Garcon had: 3,4,8,5,6,7,3. But even more, in the games where Garcon wasn't in, and we needed a player to step up, like Hankerson is "going to", he managed to have 1 catch against Pittsburgh, and 3 at Carolina.

Maybe I am just being obstinate. On Football Outsiders website PGarcon ranks 39th, RWayne ranks 40th, and Hankerson ranks 41st. He also has very respectable catch rate of 67%, Garcon was 66%, and Wayne was 55%. So, I hope he proves me wrong, that would be grrreeeaatt!

[Monkeydad]

Do rookie defensive backs count? Without knowing how the depth chart shakes out in the secondary, I can't pick one yet. Could be any of them.



I'd like to see Aldrick Robinson used to his fullest potential as WR and on returns. He's my offensive choice.

On defense, I'll say Perry Riley. He had great numbers last year but I think he'll improve even more and become one of the top LBs at least in the NFC East. With Orakpo and Kerrigan back on the field together and demanding attention, the other LBs will have better matchups. I say 6 sacks, a ton of pass deflections and he'll get his first career INT.