Brad Smith has terrible hands, he's a fucking disgrace of a WR. He's a great athlete. He can move well with the ball in his hands. He can block with the best of them - on KR and downfield on offense. He can be an above average return man. However, he has no place in this league as a WR. Ever.
When he was used in a larger role in 07 he had 325 yards receiving. I believe he can be useful in a 4 wr set. He does lineup out there, so you must know better then the coaches. Return guys need good hands so that is odd-
I thought he showed some improvement in the hands department ~~~ last season, but yea, we can definitely do better than BS at WR.
Smith is effective in certain roles.. he can catch screens as a receiver, he can block really well down field, he can run the wildcat, he's a great special teams player.. but as a traditional down field route-running receiver, he's just not that good. He'll never be a reliable receiver, but if used properly he can be effective as an offensive player. There is no need for a guy like Marko Mitchell. We have the big 3 receivers, plus Keller can be used as a receiver. Then Tomlinson and (hopefuly) McKnight are effective pass catchers. Throw in Clowney, plus Brad Smith and maybe even Allison.. and there's just no room.
Up until 2009, Smith was not even rated by most Jets fans. He's finally being recognized for how effective he is as a utility player in 2 phases of the game. Probably the only people that consider him overrated are the ones who don't understand how effective he is. He has been one of the top gunners on the KO coverage team since the year he was drafted, is a great lead blocker in the KOR schemes, an excellent run blocker at wideout for the running game, and on 18 rushing attempts out of the wildcat formation in 2009 he averaged 11.5 yards per attempt. Is he a good receiver? No. But we have those now. We still need game changers in utility positions, and that is exactly what Brad Smith provides.
being the DC area i've seen him in preseason but catching a couple of fade routes against 3rd stringers doesn't impress me much.
I always liked Smith as a football player, just not as a receiving option. I'm just glad the CS was finally able to find a proper role for him.
If you don't think he'll lineup at WR you're crazy- The Wildcat/Seminole/Tiger, whatever you want to call it was too successful. He'll be on the field much more now, he's a big part of replacing Leon, I haven't heard about Brad's puke once-
??? You're right, it never occurred to me that he would do anything that he has been doing since he's been in the league... He's a great blocker in the running and screen game and he's successful on end-arounds, two jobs he typically does at the WR position. What I said was he's never going to be successful catching the ball.
Keeping him on the roster all year even though he was on IR means the CS has confidence in this kid... wonder if he'll beat out the Clown for the 5th or 6th WR spot...
