We can sit here and make every excuse in the world why Hill hasn't come into his own yet but the bottom line is, he has to start living up to his potential PDQ or he has to go. Hill doesn't have a 4 or 5 year shelf life. If he had shown SOMETHING up until now, I could understand extending his timeline but sadly, that hasn't been the case.
The Jets have a lot riding on three players who have had more ups than downs. Milliner, Smith and Hill could be the key to a deep Jets playoff run or the reason that the Jets are picking in the top 10 this season. I know Smith and Milliner have much more impact as a bust than Hill, but having Stephen Hill improve to an adequate receiver to go along with Decker, Kerley, Amaro and Cumberland would be huge for the offense. It Feels weird having so many players that aren't practice squad fodder on the team.
What Hill did in college is equivalent to the RB in a college spread who was not highly recruited but managed to put up 700 yards a year running out of the spread against a 6 man box with 4 receivers getting coverage on every play. Can that translate at the next level? Yeah it can translate but the guy is not going to be playing the same game he did in college. Hill is going to have to be a very good receiver to stay in the NFL. His two years is up and the Jets are no longer searching open boxcars for guys who look like they can stand up and maybe take a few steps.
Hill has potential and I would not write him off yet. He was open a ton as a rookie, which is at least a good sign. I think he was a project and people forgot that. However, this is a big year for him and I expect him to answer the call. Smith was a 2nd rd qb pick, if it doesnt work out, so be it. And Milner...christ give him time, hes 22 y/o and improved as time went on. Kyle Wilson has been here for 5 yrs, pretty sure Dee will have plenty of time to improve.
I'm not a Hill fanboy and I've trash talked him plenty in the past but I'll give him this season before I start bitching about it again. Last year was not really fair to judge him on.
Did you see my laundry list of WR's who took 3-4 years to provide any meaningful production for an NFL offense? Some of those guys had comparable even WORSE stats than Hill has had thus far. This is why many of us struggle with the impatient laced criticism.We're talking about a 2nd round pick who CLEARLY was a project coming out of college at a position that routinely requires some seasoning before the lights come on. I've long argued that you don't draft players solely for their year 1-2 contributions but rather their long term projections which hopefully result in a stable dynamic starter or at worse a reliable useful role player.I've since backed off on that stance given the salary cap ramifications as well as the "win now" climate league wide. Your 1st round pick has to be at minimum a contributor early. But we're not talking about a 1st round pick. We're talking about a 2nd round pick. Now the old regime made a mistake by comparing him to megatron on draft day & naming him a day 1 starter. But beyond that...what expectations did some of you have for this guy early on? If you guys wanna hate the pick b/c he was a project...hate the pick. But beyond a few miscues & some health concerns what has he really done that's so shocking based on what we knew about him & the position he plays. How quickly were YOU planning on pulling the plug on a high ceiling raw WR?
Did you see my laundry list of WR's who took 3-4 years to provide any meaningful production for an NFL offense? Some of those guys had comparable even WORSE stats than Hill has had thus far. This is why many of us struggle with the impatient laced criticism.We're talking about a 2nd round pick who CLEARLY was a project coming out of college at a position that routinely requires some seasoning before the lights come on. I've long argued that you don't draft players solely for their year 1-2 contributions but rather their long term projections which hopefully result in a stable dynamic starter or at worse a reliable useful role player.I've since backed off on that stance given the salary cap ramifications as well as the "win now" climate league wide. Your 1st round pick has to be at minimum a contributor early. But we're not talking about a 1st round pick. We're talking about a 2nd round pick. Now the old regime made a mistake by comparing him to megatron on draft day & naming him a day 1 starter. But beyond that...what expectations did some of you have for this guy early on? If you guys wanna hate the pick b/c he was a project...hate the pick. But beyond a few miscues & some health concerns what has he really done that's so shocking based on what we knew about him & the position he plays. How quickly were YOU planning on pulling the plug on a high ceiling raw WR?
Given the length of futility of this franchise, I wouldn't have drafted a raw WR in the first place. While I understand the need to develop players, I don't understand the penchant to draft guys you literally have to develop from scratch just to make them functional. If there's a choice between a guy who played well in a pro style offense and has shown not to have such a steep learning curve vs. a guy that you literally have to teach how to run a simple out pattern and catch a football with his hands, I take the guy with the lower learning curve every time. Hill may one day become a decent Wr but like you said, he's no Megatron and the Jets HQ made a mistake casting Hill in that role. Given that the last polished/NFL ready Wr we drafted was Keyshawn several decades ago, I would have preferred the Jets to draft the best WR available if that was the need. I don't think this franchise has 4-5years to give Hill to develop. The patience level of the fanbase just won't support long term projects anymore and who can blame them. 46 years is a lot of patience but like everything else, it has limits. Even Woody isn't as patient as he used to be. Time for results Kurt. The Jets can't live on "Potential" forever..
The thing that shocks me about this board is the amount of people who believe their's a correlation between fans patience/opinion and a players roster spot. If that was the case Sanchez would have been cut in 2010, Cotchery would have never left. Washington would still be a Jet, and Pennington would have never led the dolphins to an AFC win. The truth is the only people who have any impact on a players spot on the team are the coaches and that player. To think that because you as a fan have lost patience with a project player after 2 years, that the team MUST dump him is absolutely ridiculous.
I'd like to think no one here is stupid enough to believe what we think and post actually makes a difference in the real world. All the moves you used in your example should have played out and the Jets would have been better off. That's not what happened. If they keep Hill another 5 years and he's still a work in progress, that wouldn't surprise me at all. Trust me, I won't lose a second's sleep over it. It would be a mistake for the FO to take their fanbase for granted however. Just ask Fred Wilpon about fan reactions. Fans turned on Sanchez, they turned on Wayne Hunter and they'll turn on Hill too if he doesn't start to show something. Hill doesn't have another 3 years on his shelf life. The team will move on and Hill will be just another player that couldn't cut it.
That's what we have message boards for. Of course we as fans don't make the final decisions but we certainly have opinions on the decisions that are made. There were people that wanted to see Sanchez cut or benched earlier, there were people that didn't want Cotchery or Pennington or Washington gone, etc... Not all those people in those instances were wrong, btw. - in fact you could argue that the consensus opinion was right in those instances. I would think that no one here really believes that our opinions of Stephen Hill being terrible has anything to do with his roster spot being in jeopardy. It's more likely him being terrible in itself is why his roster spot is in jeopardy. Fans opinions don't mean anything.
Plus a big reason he has had major issues is that his knees have been pretty bad the last two years. Health always factors into performance when it comes to younger players.
Ok, so can we all agree we are all rooting for Hill this year? If he didn't get hurt last year people would be talking differently this year. He will be a nice threat with decker across. Hope amaro can step up and really open the field for everyone.
Every Jet fan should be rooting for him but I don't know how you can make a statement like "if he didn't get hurt last year people would be talking differently about him this year". Not based on what I saw.
Have to agree here. There wasn't much to be happy about even before his injury. Hill needs to take huge steps this year. If not, it's all downhill from there
No..the Jets haven't had much luck w/ many of their high ceiling "Potential" prospects. But I don't think it's as black & white as completely removing those types from your roster. For one, a "ceiling" gives coaches & the player development dept. some skills to work with. Once you get past the early 2nd round, most guys need some seasoning before they are ready to take off anyway. Are there exceptions? Every year there are. But those things are hard to predict. Part of the benefit of "project" types is you can usually stash them away & have faith that you're gonna have a seasoned,athletically superior player 2-3 years down the road. That was the original plan for Ducasse. He was another guy that obviously needed some time. He was supposed to be stashed away behind veterans Moore & Woody before taking over somewhere on the right side 1-2 years down the road. Unfortunately Woody retired early which put him in the spotlight & had members of this lovely impatient fan base breathing down his neck when he should've really been laying low similar to what Aboushi & Campbell were in 2013. As for the notion of "taking the more pro ready player", the Jets have gone that route in the past. Victor Hobson,Erik Coleman,Jonathan Goodwin,JP Machado,Derrick Strait among others were all "plug & play" type prospects. And sure they got on the field early & everyone was thrilled that these rookies were starting right off the bat. But where were they 2-3 years later? The exact same players they were the day they put on green. Why? Because they had no upside to work with. They became average expendable players w/ absolutely no growth. Showing impatience & urgency is what fans do. Whether it's been 4 years or 46 years..that shouldn't affect the proper way to build a roster. To me it's self defeating to give up on a raw early pick like Hill when he plays a position that requires time & you have the benefit of stashing him away on the depth chart until he is ready. Now maybe that comes to a head this year given the fierce competition & the number of options available at WR. But is it really wise to give up on a guy so early for being "what we thought he was" thus far in his career.
