The Third Receiver
June 25th, 2014
Joe is confident the Bucs want WR Robert Herron to establish himself as the long-term No. 3 receiver.
Bucs general manager Jason Licht often talks about the “Dunkaneers,” the possibility of Vincent Jackson, Mike Evans, Tim Wright and Austin Seferian-Jenkins, all 6-foot-4 or taller, going up and grabbing footballs as if they are alley-oop passes at the rim on the hardwood.
But what about that all important third receiver? Most very successful teams have a reliable third receiver. Who could that guy be?
ESPN blogger Pat Yasinskas takes a gander at the possibilities.
Third wide receiver. This one is far from settled. Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans will be the starters, but the Bucs need production out of some more receivers. Veterans Chris Owusu and Louis Murphy looked good in the offseason program and the team has high hopes for rookie Robert Herron.
Louis Murphy, the pride of Lakewood High School, could be that guy. He’s a former starter but has yet to light things up in his five NFL seasons. But the potential is there for him to be that reliable No. 3. Joe would give Muprhy the edge over Chris Owusu just for the sake of history.
Lovie went after and signed Murphy. Owusu was brought in by former Bucs commander Greg Schiano.
Advantage: Murphy.
Of course, the wild card is Robert Herron. During underwear football, on crossing patterns, Herron, who runs a 4.3 40-yard dash, simply pulled away from defensive backs.
Joe believes the Bucs want him to be the long-term answer as a slot receiver, but he needs a little polish before he can grab that title.
June 25th, 2014 at 8:06 am
Speed at receiver. That would be nice. Hope he gets a lot of reps at camp.
June 25th, 2014 at 8:16 am
I don’t know if all the concussions he suffered in college. But it seems like once the pads come on Chris Owusu plays a little timid. Pulling for the kid though
Stanford Owusu hits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k-w_YOLW3o
June 25th, 2014 at 8:50 am
We will keep several WRs….probably 6 or even 7 (if one is PR/KR)…..so several of these guys will get a shot at the slot. I think miixing it up some can create difficulties for a defense because each of them have different skillsets.
June 25th, 2014 at 8:54 am
5 receiver set includes 3 Dunkaneers, Demps and Herron. The Dunkaneers and the speedsters. Since Demps can’t catch, he is a decoy.
June 25th, 2014 at 8:55 am
it’ll be a little guy. we need someone who can get lost among all the big guys. like a welker.
Imagine three 6’5″ guys going out and a speedy 5’9″ guy cutting under them, grabbing the catch and then having blockers up field. 🙂
June 25th, 2014 at 9:05 am
(Possibility)
83 Jackson, Vincent WR 6-5 230 31 10 Northern Colorado
13 Evans, Mike WR 6-5 231 20 R Texas A&M
11 Murphy, Louis WR 6-2 200 27 6 Florida
85 Streeter, Tommy WR 6-5 215 25 2 Miami
80 Owusu, Chris WR 6-0 196 24 3 Stanford
14 Herron, Robert WR 5-9 193 22 R Wyoming
Designated KR/PR
17 Page, Eric WR 5-10 180 22 2 Toledo
June 25th, 2014 at 9:08 am
I think Murphy will get the nod out the gate. However I do see Robert being used also with that kind of speed. My son played basketball with Murphy & they won a State championship together. His father Pastors a large Church, and I am in clergy & friends with him. So I am bias in choosing Murphy but as a football fan I do think he edges out the rookie. I am stoked that he was signed by my team, as I use to joke with him about that all the time.
June 25th, 2014 at 9:13 am
Please give Jimmy Graham WR money (hehehehe)
June 25th, 2014 at 9:25 am
Murphy is this year’s version of Kevin Ogletree, remember him? I liked him at UF, but if the light was going to come on for him in the NFL, it would’ve already happened. He’s probably a decent WR4, but expecting solid WR3 production from him might be a stretch.
Herron, if he can avoid drops might be the guy worth taking a shot with. They drafted him for a reason, and the kid has the attitude, quickness and speed you want out of a slot guy.
The rest of them unfortunately are mostly street FA quality. They might make a splash play once in a while, but they’re on the bottom of a depth chart for a reason. I’m not buying into their ability to compete and win consistently on Sundays.
June 25th, 2014 at 9:33 am
I’m most curious as to which position group gets shorted . Will they carry extra TE, extra WR, or extra RB to complement Tedford’s O? Meaning the other group(s) will be a little smaller.
June 25th, 2014 at 10:00 am
Louis Friend says
“Murphy is this year’s version of Kevin Ogletree, remember him? I liked him at UF, but if the light was going to come on for him in the NFL, it would’ve already happened.”
While I agree that the light probably won’t magically ‘turn on’ after several years, isn’t that what we’re hoping with McCown?
I’m hoping that both of them beat the odds.
I’m a Buc fan. The only thing I can count on is optimism.
June 25th, 2014 at 10:07 am
How important is our 3rd receiver if we have a lot of 2 te sets?
June 25th, 2014 at 10:27 am
@Hawk
Optimism is a great thing. I like Murphy a lot, I think he’s one of those good guys worth cheering for. I just don’t see his skill set being useful as a WR3, but who knows? Maybe being here will inspire him to dig deeper and pull every last scrap of talent of himself out for the world to see. I hope so, but his history says it’s unlikely.
June 25th, 2014 at 11:04 am
The 3rd WR is huge since the big bodied boys don’t give us the speed in space underneath.
What is cool though, if we want a different look and stretch the field, Tedford has the option to. Herron, Murphy, Owusu all have speed to line up outside and let VJax see some reps in the slot.
I really am pulling for Murphy to break out this year.
June 25th, 2014 at 1:20 pm
We are going to see multiple players line up in the slot on different plays…. Herron, Charles Sims, Jeff Demps, Louis Murphy, Vjax, T Wright, ASJ, maybe Owusu & Eric Page… I honestly can’t wait to watch our highly-creative attack-mode offense!! It should be so much fun to watch… Seriously. How the hell is anyone going to stop us?!?
June 26th, 2014 at 12:05 am
Throw in our Offense being a mystery along with we will also have the advantage early since Lovie smartly practices our team in hottest periods during he day. Also our Offense has their new plays memorized thanks to Josh’s leadership. You can count on Lovie knowing how to use Preseason to prepare our starters in contrast to Dumb Schiano failing to do so..
June 26th, 2014 at 8:09 am
I agree with ‘Buc the Haters’, that the potential match-ups could be downright scary. I just hope that Tedford has designed plays that take advantage of those skills (flood a ‘zone’, drain an area in ‘man’, etc).
June 26th, 2014 at 8:19 am
How I see it, Herron is our slot receiver of the future with Louis Murphy as a quality back up to give us depth behind Jackson or Evans god forbid one of them gets nicked up. Having quality depth like Murphy and Owusu behind our starters is something we have lacked for years. See last year when mike Williams got hurt look at the slot receivers at best we were asking to line up on the outside (Tiquan Underwood).
June 26th, 2014 at 8:23 am
Also don’t rule out Tim Wright getting a lot of work lining up in the slot. Not only has he proved to be a receiving theat he would also be a lot more punishing of a run blocker to run behind than either Herron or Murphy would be. It’s going to be a group effort. I’m excited to see how this offense works