Ball and Clowney

as far as smith goes, i think i was wrong. when ppl on here said the coaching staff should focus on 1 or 2 things for him to do, i said screw that, let him do it all from time to time.

but he seems to have become a novice of all trades, master of none. when he lines up behind center, it's always the same fake play. he's never in one place long enough to develop the finer points of any one position.

welker did good running slants as #3, but i cant help but think that if brad played that role for 2-3 seasons, he could become the most dangerous receiver in the nfl. talk about yac.

he'd also be great at the half back option, but if that's the only play he runs, then coles will ge double teamed every time.

does anyone know if brad has any experience at nt?

 

I'm pretty sold on Brad Smith. The first year, they really concentrated on him as a receiver and teaching him the position. Last year, they tried to make him into an NFL quarterback, something he clearly isn't, and they wasted a lot of his time that he could have spent improving. I think that's why he took a step back.

There's very little to dislike about this kid. He is, literally, a choir boy. He is a gifted athlete, and a very hard worker. He's exceedingly coachable. He's NEVER PLAYED WIDE RECEIVER at any level until recently, but he has good instincts to play the ball in the air and good body control.

When you look at how much his production jumped last season, I think, with a full off-season spent working out as strictly a receiver, he could easily catch 50 balls next year. That would be a huge boost to our offense, and might help compensate for any decline an older Laveranues Coles might have.

-X-

 

I'm also in this camp concerning Smith. It was a great experiment while it lasted (having him play umpteen positions), but come on... the cost has been that he hasn't been able to excel at any one position.

He's a good athlete. I certainly would keep him on the team, but any further efforts at developing him as a QB is a waste of his time and ours, quite frankly. Grab Flacco if he's available without too much of a stretch and work on his development, then let Smith work on perfecting his other offensive skills.

 

I think Flacco is a fast riser. I certainly think he'll go pretty high when people look at the rather unimpressive group in front of him. You've got three system guys in Brennan, Brohm, and Woodson and a guy in Ryan who is rather inconsistent, turns the ball over, and isn't physically astounding. I could see Flacco going late in the first round or early in the second, for better or worse. His ceiling is just much higher than any of these other guys.

-X-

 

I?m with you. He won?t be a NFL-QB. But i don?t think we should give up on him as a WR and he?s a great ST-player, too. I think he?s a hard worker, and i hope he can improve his hands and his route running (things hard working WRs are ususally very good at).

i already said in the Ryan thread, that i think Flacco?s stock will rise. I wouldn?t even be surprised, if he would work himself up to the #2 QB spot. He , Henne, Cromatie and Ellis were the big winners of the probowl. He won?t last till the 3rd, i can also see him go late 1st, early 2nd (i don?t think he gets bye KC in the second). So we won?t be in position to take him (we can?t use another second on a QB).

I hope we take josh Johnson in the 4th. I?m really looking forward to what he can do at the Combine (haven?t seen him play, yet. only read a lot of good things about him).

 

In no way do I think we should give up on Smith. When he gets the ball in his hands, he is very very dangerous and a great weapon. If people didnt think there'd be growing pains w/ him playing reciever..they were kidding themselves..and even so, he's made alot of plays for this team.

Keep an eye on Chansi Stuckey...he was a monster in TC and if he stays healthy he could be a factor in the passing game.

 

It takes the elite WR prospects 2 full years before you see them breaking out. You have to be willing to give a guy like Smith longer than that. The problem with Smith is the lack of depth at Wr forced him into a starting job before he was ready for that.

There is absolutely no reason to give up on him yet, he still does enough things well to have a roster spot. We just cannot rely on him to be the #3 WR and first guy off the bench if a starter goes down.

 

Smith is way too valuable on special teams to give up on... I was one of those people sitting in the stands watching him drop all those balls ready to kill him. I say give him one more year at the wide out spot he certainly cant do much worse. Stuckey is another person I cant wait to see get on the field. But again he seems kind of fragile....

 

Actually he played more WR this year than he did last year.

I'm not sure what I think of him yet, but this year I really was unimpressed with the guy. Didn't he have a couple of TD drops that could have won us the game...maybe against the Skins and Ravens? I forget...I just wasn't impressed with him.

I think as this team gets more talent in the upcoming seasons Smith's role will slowly diminish and eventually he'll just be gone...