New OTA fix..

Except he already had Mike Wallace, Brian Hartline and Brandon Gibson to man the outsides, prior to (supposedly) his decision to part with Bess. That's already three boundary specialists when there can literally only be a maximum of two on the field at any given moment.

 

I don't know what fed into the decision to part with Bess. Perhaps it was a contract thing as Davone was in the final year of his contract. Perhaps it was an attitude thing where Bess wasn't getting along with the staff. Who knows?

It sounds like people are aware that the whole manner in which the offseason plan with the receiver position was executed was indeed confusing, and people just have a vague, generalized faith that Joe Philbin has a plan. Perhaps he does. But perhaps his plan is faulty. Or perhaps he doesn't have a plan and he just allowed the front office to do their job of evaluating and acquiring as much talent as they could, and perhaps their plan is faulty. Or perhaps it's not faulty at all, and Brandon Gibson really is a great slot receiver.

 

Bess was not dynamic in the slot. Bess brought sure hands and a decent knack for 1st downs to the slot. That's about it.

Gibson may not be dynamic in the slot either, however he also has sure hands and a solid knack for 1st downs, plus he can play outside. That trumps Bess.

I'm not sure why this is being made to be more complicated than it is.

 

What are the chances we're looking to run 2 TE sets with Keller & Egnew (and Clay mixed in as well) to where that extra designated slot receiver isn't viewed as necessary unless it was an xfactor type like Tavon Austin? After all, if we wanted one bad enough we could've easily drafted Bailey in the 3rd but we didn't.

 

I think you've also got to consider the dramatic amount of different ways this can play out.

Brandon Gibson might be getting a look in the slot early but might not actually be the slot guy. There's more than enough room for him to be productive simply spelling Wallace/Hartline given the Packers past.

It's possible this team just replaces the position with a split tight end most of the time. It's Michael Egnew's logical position, where Charles Clay got half of his receiving snaps last year, and it's a pretty likely place for Dustin Keller as well.

It's possible Armon Binns is the guy.

 

Philbin also said that he discusses with Ireland on the type of players he wants and discusses what he thinks about the players that are currently on the team.

There has also been rumors that they were not happy with Bess last season.

 

It would be a win win no matter how you would slice it.

 

It's good insurance in case of injury. Pricey I know but could well be worth it.

 

I like Allen, I like Bailey, I wanted another WR. All I'm saying is that no one should be surprised Ireland didn't go that route. After Wallace, Hartline and Gibson were signed there was pretty much no way they were gonna spend a high pick at WR.

 

And he's more of a threat in the red zone, for all of the people who like touchdowns.

 

My guess is that they saw Gibson as an upgrade to Bess in a couple of key ways. Bess has great hands and is good at finding holes in the zones. He also had a knack for making first downs. That was probably his biggest and most consistent contribution here. But he struggles at getting quick separation and is a near non-factor in the redzone. Gibson is statistically better than Bess at getting first downs so he should be able to provide what Bess did. But he does it in a different way. Gibson seems very good at instantly getting his body between the DB and the ball. He provides an immediate and easy target for the QB. I didn't know much about Gibson before the signing, but watching clips of his play, that's what stood out to me. On slants, he makes himself immediately available to the QB. On fades, he gets a quick step on the DB, but more importantly gets over the top of him right away. For those unfamiliar with the term, it means that the WR not only gets past the DB, but then moves over into the DB's running path so that the DB has to go through or over the WR to make a play on the ball. It's just perfect body positioning as it allows a WR to stay in front even if the DB is faster. My perception watching RT last year was that he was often ready to throw the pass, but had to hold it for an extra beat b/c the WR wasn't in position. Part of that early on was that he simply knew the O better than the receivers. (It was also the case late when injury caused us to use more inexperienced WRs). It seemed to me that more than few times it was Bess that RT looked at right away, but didn't throw the ball. I remember commenting on that several times while watching the games with my son. I'd notice that RT would look to throw the ball towards the slot and Bess wouldn't have his head around or still be engaged with the DB at the line. I think I recall it also happening with Fasano. I think the design of the offense calls for a percentage of plays that are quick hitters and we just didn't have the players to do it. It's easy for me to imagine RT watching film with the QB coach and repeatedly saying "I wanted to through it there, but he wasn't ready/open". I noticed that Bess actually ended up getting the ball anyways on a few of those plays, but it happened later after RT had looked at other targets and came back to Bess. Bess was decent at finding holes or getting free from man, but he tended to do it later in the play, not immediately. That immediate position is just not part of his game. That also played a factor in the redzone. In those situations the field is compressed. Everything happens faster. You need those players who can get open quickly either through body positioning or size or quickness. We didn't have many of those. Fasano was probably the only guy I'd say was good at using his size in there. I think that's part of why RT had fewer TDs. I'm guessing that when the coaches watched film, they noticed that we lacked players with the ability to get quick separation or quick position. Hartline and Bess don't do it well. I wanted Hartline re-signed, but it was for his mid-range game and obvious rapport with RT, not for his quick separation and redzone abilities. Fasano gets position, but not quickly. I think the additions of Wallace, Keller and Gibson were intended to address that specific need. I'm not sure Wallace is great at quick separation, but I think that may have been what Philbin was implying when he stated that Wallace was a complete WR. We all know he can get deep and runs those middle drags. I think Philbin may have been hinting that he thinks Wallace can work in the short zones on quick passes too. I also think the interest in Austin was largely based on that same skill. So IMO the plan was to get more players that can get open quickly and as part of that add more redzone threats. That isn't Bess' game. Throw in that Bess was in the last year of his contract and allegedly complained a bit this year and I it's not hard to understand why he is gone. Actually, as I think about it, Bailey was one of my favorite WRs in the draft and would have been an obvious target in the 3rd, but the knock on him was that he struggled with separation. Maybe that was why the team wasn't as high on Bailey as I was.

 

All that text.
Paragraphs, what are they?

 

I don't think that's the way they viewed this draft though.

They grabbed who they did in FA to find what they thought were surer bets. The draft was for exceptional talent and/or players that can grow. We traded Bess in the draft because we got a deal liked for a player we were gonna let go no later than next year.

 

Bess's limitations also made the offense very predictable. The backs are all expected to be proficient at running, receiving, and pass blocking, which should help the offense run more plays with the defense guessing wrong. The top 3 WR should stretch a defense horizontally and vertically; producing a soft middle in the defense. Since Bess is not an explosive player, the key factor is if the backs can produce a higher % of positive plays than throws to Bess.

Rafael likely nails it, while OTA press coverage may have misled the fans with Gibson role from the slot. As for base offense, Gruden's QB camp with Tannehill worth watching again. Tannehill excels at throwing outside, which begs the question if Hartline was skilled outside WR before Tannehill or if his game improved due to Ryan. Likewise, Gibson was very productive with sideline routes. Were these routes in Bradford's sweet spot or does he excel at narrower, deeper throws?

 

But there's a limited amount of picks Deej and we had a lot of holes to fill.

Look few were more vocal about their Stedman Bailey love than me. I think it was a mistake to not take him and will until its shown he's a bust. Regardless, getting Gibson will only be a mistake if he plays poorly, not because there are players we could have drafted. You must gauge each pick on the merits of the player taken, not on the players passed, otherwise when the inevitable 6th round gem comes up, every pick before can be called into question.

 

yes...that we filled in FA.

 

Not sure that's fair. Take Bailey for instance, he might go to STL and tear it up b/c he's almost guaranteed a shot to play early. Had he come to Miami he'd have a steep climb ahead of him depth chart wise. The 3rd pick in the draft, Mr. first defensive player taken won't even be starting, nor will any of our draft picks if I'm guessing correctly. If that's the case there will be a lot of guys saying "See, we shoulda taken so and so" when actually, so and so would be riding the pine if he had come to Miami.

 

I agree with you, the draft had lots of intriguing talents at WR. For whatever reason Ireland went in a different direction. My guess is that he feels between Gibson, Matthews and Binns someone will emerge as a good #3 and the other two will make good 4s and 5's.

 

Da Hell? lol...

 

I think it's just another ball next to the tee ready to be setup. Made me double-take on first glance as well.

 

That ball needs to be cut.

 

First of all, you're talking about the 3rd WR hole that wasn't actually a hole yet, since Bess was still on the roster. Secondly, there's no guarantee you get the guys you want in the draft.

Try to view it like this, you have a team that's devoid of the talent that fits your scheme. You can hope and pray you get who you want in the draft OR you can fill the major holes with YOUNG up and coming FAs (many on 1 year contracts) and draft players that can develop. Growing tomatoes makes a lot of sense, however if you want a sandwich right this minute, its ok to go out and buy some now while you get to the point where your garden is steady producing.

 

I dunno, I refuse to watch a season of St Louis Rams games but Ireland and Philbin certainly did and they must have saw something they liked. All I can say is IMO we have a solid group of 5, enough to go up tempo like Philbin wants to do. Past that they're trying out some UDFA's to see if they can find a gem, and Jeff Fuller is still trying to get some traction last I heard. Another draftee would probably have spiced it up even more but as is it's night and day better than last year at this time.

 

It would have been nice to draft a WR early but understand why they didn't. Wallace, Hartline and Gibson, along with Keller, will speed up Tanny's development even more imo.

 

That's something I didn't think of. A rookie WR probably wouldn't help Tanny at this point in his development. The fastest WR in the league, the safety net from last year and the guy with the best "important play" to catch ratio and a fast dynamic TE probably is better for a young QB than a rookie WR or two.