I think there were a few draft receivers available late 3rd and after who i'd expect to make more of an impact than any of our 4/5/6's and maybe even eventually Gibson, that said you can hardly say a 4th receiver is or was a priority for a team with as many holes as Miami especially given Matthews isn't a bad option when healthy. Hopefully he'll recover quickly and others will step up in his absence, its not as if there's no free agency help available if we want or need it and its hardly the biggest issue facing the team.
Was rooting for Mathews. Showed some signs last year in limited time. He'll probably get cut now though. Sadly.
Thought I'd add this to the discussion... snap distribution among the top 4 receivers for Green Bay and Miami last year. First is the overall snap counts for the year, then three single-game snapshots to isolate variables like injuries etc which affected the yearlong totals. WR Offensive Snaps 2012 Green Bay Packers Jones 1000 Cobb 631 Nelson 593 Jennings 416 Driver 150 Boykin 93 Ross 2 Week 17 Jones 63 Jennings 62 Nelson 37 Boykin 8 Week 8 Cobb 59 Jones 66 Driver 23 Boykin 22 Week 1 Nelson 65 Jennings 63 Jones 58 Cobb 35 2012 Miami Dolphins Hartline 893 Bess 738 Matthews 232 Moore 196 Naanee 121 Binns 96 Gaffney 89 Armstrong 69 Week 17 Matthews 59 Hartline 54 Binns 49 Moore 3 Week 8 Hartline 50 Bess 49 Moore 13 Gaffney 11 Week 1 Bess 54 Hartline 37 Armstrong 34 Naanee 27 I expect we'll see more balance and snaps for the #3 and #4 this year with improved talent and depth. Mostly those top three. That #4 WR spot is not going to see the field as often as many seem to suppose, imo, because Dustin Keller is excellent in the passing game and already has great chemistry with Tannehill.
The problem with receiver Rishard Matthews’ knee injury -– expected to keep him out several weeks –- is that it happened during training camp, which means the Dolphins cannot stash him on the PUP list for the first six games of the season. So if he’s not healed by the opener, Miami must decide whether it's worth keeping him on the roster or whether to cut him and potentially re-sign him when he's healthy. Matthews impressed the team during the offseason program. Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/#storylink=cpy
UGH this really sucks ***, I really was looking forward to him having a breakout year but this knee injury is not good news.
Well, was looking forward to him contributing early, thought he was ready but we cant project injuries, no worries, Mccnutt can contribute from that fourth position until he gets back, Bumphis as the fifth..
I had Woods and Allen in roughly the same range. I liked Woods a little better, but not a ton. Allen I thought had a higher ceiling, but a lower likelihood of reaching that ceiling.
I'm not exactly sure if this applies to injuries during training camp. We could put him on IR and bring him back to practice after week 6 and activated to play by week 8, according to the agreement reached by the NFL and NFLPA last year. We're only allowed to do it for 1 player though, so we must be careful.
This does apply. I just read about it the other day. He can go on IR if need be, and if a player during the season goes on IR that they think they will need more than Matthews, then they will keep Matthews. But, if no talented player goes on IR who could return in the seasons, then Matthews could be a significant return. But, they do need to be careful another player doesn't fit that bill.
We still have 5 weeks before the first game, he knows the system, if he needs that much time to recover he really jacked that knee up.
