From ESPN.com Charles Clay, FB/TE, Miami Dolphins A fullback/tight end hybrid, Clay caught 16 of 25 targets for 233 yards and three touchdowns. That works out to a sparkling 62.1 percent DVOA rating, which would rank as the highest for any running back or tight end with a minimum of 25 receptions. (Our DVOA ratings are defined here.) He had some really long catches for a fullback, with five receptions on balls thrown more than 15 yards through the air plus a 20-yard gain on a DPI. If the Dolphins decide that Anthony Fasano's salary isn't worth carrying on their payroll, Clay will be an even more valuable asset, helping to fill-in until rookie Michael Egnew is ready to take over as the No. 1 tight end... Picked that up from another site.. small sample size yes..But if Egnew can come in and play fast, have his speed translate with that natural size to the NFL game, combined with the completely complimentary skillsets in that unit, it might make up some of the loss of Marshall just from a weapon standpoint.. Fasano..all around player, great hands, crafty, good blocker.. Clay..more speed, more athleticism, can move anywhere on the field, including carries, seems to understand his reads against the zones, good hands. Egnew..Big and fast, good hands, can flex out, dude at 6'5 250 can run a bubble screen, whens the last time we seen that? Their skillsets just seem to fit like a puzzle for an entire unit.
What I wrote on another board in a thread about the same subject... Clay is intriguing. Four of his 16 catches were for 29-30+ yards. Plus another 22 yarder, a 21 yarder, and a 20 yard DPI flag he drew. That kind of stuff interests me. You're trying to figure out potential for a guy with limited opportunities. Having 1.5 yards per pass snap is pretty good, for a rookie tight end. But when it involves 14.6 yards per reception and 10.5 yards per attempt...that's even more interesting. It's the kind of thing that earns him more snaps, and a bigger footprint on the offense during the snaps he does get. Even more intriguing is that his worst game was probably the one he had to replace Fasano in against NE. He said it was the first time he's played a true TE position ever, and his "head was spinning". Let's say the Dolphins take that into account and try and streamline his responsibilities to what he's good at. In the games outside that NE game he averaged 1.9 yards per pass play, 15.5 yards per catch and 12.0 yards per pass attempt. The last time the Packers really had a situation similar to this was probably 2009 when they had Donald Lee (an all-around guy not unlike Fasano) and Jermichael Finley. That year during the games in which they played together, Finley had 334 pass snaps and Lee has 274 pass snaps. Lee had 616 total snaps to Finley's 574 so Lee still got more reps just not necessarily more pass reps. I don't think Clay's pass reps will outnumber Fasano's so let's take those reps and make them 304/304 instead of 334/274. That would put each at 304 out of 577 pass reps. In Miami that would've translated to 300 pass snaps each for Fasano and Clay in 2011. That would translate to 47 attempts, 34 catches and 527 yards for Charles Clay...just based on increased playing time and not even figuring in increased skill. Upside to that would be increased skill, and increased TE reliance in the offense period since this offense doesn't have the receivers the Packers did even back in 2009.
He really looked comfortable in the passing game last season. I'm excited to see what Coach has in store for him this year. A dynamic passing attack would be incredible.
Clay was the guy in last year's draft class that interested me the most. I like what he showed last year and think he'll get better, especially in this type of offense. Add in Fasano and Egnew and we could have a dangerous attack over the middle.
Was actually looking for the hyperlink that was in that quote which took you to their explaination of their DVOA ratings.
Egnew has VERY comparable measurements to Gronkowski coming out of college. Stat-wise they're not too far apart. Blocking...lol. Egnew is not a competent blocker. He's not good with his hands, doesn't naturally engage defenders, and is horrible to the point of lazy down field at blocking. He would have to work on that if he wants to be great. We're not going to be the Packers of 2011 so our TE has to block with a 5 YPC player in the backfield.
I'm pretty confident we didn't draft Egnew to block lol I hope he doesn't have Jermichael Finley's hands.
Michael Egnew is closer to Jimmy Graham if you insist on comparing Egnew with one of the elites. Graham was raw as they came as a blocker, actually in just about every phase. But the seed of physicality was there in Jimmy Graham. I always go back to a play where he physically strung J.J. Watt all the way out to the sideline and buried him into the bench. I don't know if I've seen that kind of "seed" in Egnew. As for Gronkowski where physicality is concerned, that wasn't a "seed," that was a full grown live oak. Michael Egnew will never, ever have that kind of physicality. No I can't "know" that but I can be pretty effing sure. I think the Jermichael Finley comparison is actually surprisingly good. I took a closer look at what Jermichael Finley has done with the Packers and kind of compared it play for play with some of the things Michael Egnew has done and it's kind of crazy how similar they are at times. It would be a valid comparison even if Joe Philbin weren't the coach in Miami.
This thread is turning me on (yeah, I'm 60 now and that's what my life is down to ) about our WCO passing attack down the middle.
So what's DVOA? Divorced On Arrival? DPI sounds like a macroeconomic variable - Dollar (or Dolphin!) Price Index ... (or something potentially pornographic).
How many pass snaps did Green Bay's fullbacks typically get in this offense? I know they used Kuhn a good amount as a short yardage runner, but I'm not sure of his pass snaps. You have to figure that Charles Clay will continue to be used as a hybrid FB/TE, and they also need to get Michael Egnew pass snaps if he shows good wares as a pass receiver in the NFL.
