Is Jason Licht Ahead Of Curve?
May 27th, 2015
John Madden checks in
Joe shared yesterday that pal of Lovie Smith and former Bucs defensive backs coach Herm Edwards believes tools that “America’s Quarterback,” Jameis Winston, has to work with are elite, receivers Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson.
Joe noticed some scoffed at Herm’s words because neither Evans nor Jackson will remind anyone of Jerry Rice and blow past defenders.
But hold up! John Madden seems to think the Bucs, and in turn that means general manager Jason Licht, are ahead of the curve when it comes to having trees for receivers.
Madden, the Hall of Fame coach and former longtime NFL analyst, noted in an interview with Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times that cornerbacks are just too good now and suggested that unless there is a busted coverage, receivers no longer shake receivers. Thus you need bigger targets, i.e. guys like Evans and Jackson.
You’ve talked about this being a good era for tall receivers. Why is that?
It used to be a guy would make a move, get separation and get open. Now, they get very little separation. The quarterback has to get rid of the ball quickly, so there’s not a lot of time to make moves to gain separation. So when they lost that, they did something in lieu of that, and that was to go up. So that’s where we are today.
Last year, when Licht took over, his first two picks were 6-5 Evans, and 6-5 tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins.
Based on Madden’s explanation of the NFL receiving game, it seems like he either consulted with Licht or the Bucs GM saw the trend coming and was ahead of the curve.
The good thing about this is if you watch tape of Jameis’ freshman season, when he had tree Kelvin Benjamin as a receiver, Jameis, smartly would often throw a ball in an area only Benjamin had a chance to grab it since he towered over many corners.
A perfect example of this was the national championship-winning touchdown pass against Auburn.
May 27th, 2015 at 6:46 am
This article fires Lev up!
May 27th, 2015 at 7:46 am
Licht wasn’t ahead of the curve, Lovie specifically was though. B. Marshall and A. Jeffrey.
May 27th, 2015 at 8:08 am
The Saints Drafted a tall corner this year, wonder why
May 27th, 2015 at 8:22 am
I find some off yesterday’s comments comical because what madden stated was what I was thinking in regards to separation. Someone made a comment about Vjax nor Mike wouldn’t win many foot races with corners in this league and I immediately thought to myself that hell even the great Randy Moss with his blazing speed was rarely by himself on go patterns down field. Most of the time he was strong arming a ball away from two sometimes three defenders. This notion that speed in a game filled with teams that have speed is none since. I never see Dez Bryant running down field by himself. I see him out muscling corners all the time though.
May 27th, 2015 at 8:55 am
The Bucs are not the only team with tall receivers, the puttie cats in our division have tall ones too. Them stinking Panthers, that’s the NFC South foe I want to see the Bucs maul viciously.
May 27th, 2015 at 9:30 am
i am certain WR height will be the major reason Jameis will not throw the number of INTs the doubters expect. people forget he wasn’t prone to them as a freshman when Benjamin was there to throw to. now even his TE is taller then every non-DE on the field.
May 27th, 2015 at 9:36 am
Getting caught at the 1 for the loss though…. Twice
May 27th, 2015 at 10:16 am
Decent drafts so far. Horrible free agencies both years.