I think Hill is going to start off kind of slow and then come on strong in the second half of the season.
Stephen Hill is a rookie without immediate star expectations. His performance in college and in his first camp leads nobody to think that he's going to be a strong player this year. In that light the wise move for the Jets would be to work him into the scheme of things slowly. Start Holmes and Kerley right off the bat. Have Hill come in in the 3-wide formations and move Kerley to the slot. Minimize the risk to Hill early on by letting him watch how professional defensive backs operate against a two receiver set. Let him do this from the sidelines with a trip into the game every couple of series for a few snaps in the multi-receiver sets. Put him in to block for Tebow in whatever they're going to do with Tebow when he's in. So, along about game 6 he'll have his feet a bit more on the ground. He'll have more information to work with because he has been watching Holmes and Kerley match up in the normal sets and he has seen what the DB's do against them. Then the Jets can work him into the rotation a bit more firmly with Holmes and Kerley coming off the field for him now and then alongside the 3-wide work. By game 9 or 10 maybe they feel he is ready to go on the field as a starter. He's gotten a lot of looks at that point without having all the pressure on him. He has more film on the guys who will be covering him than they have on him. He's set to have his best rookie results by then. He's had a half-season to settle in and the speed of the game effect should be less for him. That's the right way to do it. The Jets get the benefit of a good long look at Kerley on the outside. Hill gets a good long look at the NFL game on the outside. Everything should be setup for success at that point.
I sort of expect him to have a few big plays here and there with a few "how the heck did you miss that" plays too. Hopefully by the 2nd half of the season he really turns it on.
We grabbed Schilens and drafted Hill to play opposite Holmes. Both are 6'-4" speed freaks and both come with question marks. If either player were the ONLY acquisition it may be too much for him to handle. But with two guys bidding for one position, Hill can take a bit of time to figure out the NFL, and Schilens won't have to deliver on every snap of the ball. With two guys splitting reps, Chad may stay healthy and Hill will have some of the pressure taken off so he can develop at a more normal pace. Hill is a better blocker in the run game so look for Hill on 1st or 2nd down. Schilnes has more NFL experience so look for Schilens on 3rd downs. Both would be OK in red zone play.
Kind of confused about something. At other positions, I can see where it makes a lot of sense to have someone sit back and watch, mainly, because them failing at the spot while learning has serious negative consequences for the team. Like an Olineman missing blocks and allowing sacks. Or a D lineman getting trucked. Or a DB or Safety giving up big plays. But for a WR ? Why not put him on the field in 3 receiver formations and let him learn there ? If he gets open, great. If not, the defense still has to account for him, he serves a good purpose even if not catching the ball and he learns what they do first hand.
i'm geting more and more excited. It may come back to bite me... but hey, the predictions mean jack squat! Let's GO JETS!!!!!!
WR is widely acknowledged to be one of the most challenging positions for a rookie. QB is the other one. I think they're both challenging because they're based on communication with another player in which both players need to make moves based on where the play will be in a second, not where it is now. And in the case of the WR he has somebody on him like a cheap coat most of the time as he is trying to do this. That's what I suggested.
WR one of the most challenging for a rookie ? I'd put a bunch of positions ahead of that one. Safety, MLB, Corner, RT, Center just to name a few. Not saying that walking onto a field as a rookie and being a productive WR is easy, but I can't see where it be anywhere near as difficult or demanding as other positions. Maybe this comes down to a difference of opinion about the kind of offense the Jets should run. Here is what you said: You'd only run multi-receiver sets for a few snaps every couple of series ? Is that because of needing to bring Hill along slowly ? Or is that your preferred style of offense ? Me ? I'd run 3 receiver sets all day long, except when I'm running 4 and 5 receiver sets
No, it comes down to you suggesting that the Jets use Hill in 3 WR sets and implying that I hadn't said that, when in fact that's exactly what I said. In fact you most likely didn't read my post before replying. You just scanned it briefly and started typing. It was your bad luck that you directly touched on something that I'd said and got it wrong. I completely understand when somebody blows off one of my long posts because I can get very digressive and if you're not into that you're not into it. This on the other hand was a really short post. Reading is fundamental.
WR is the generally acknowledged as the hardest position for transition into the NFL beside QB. Once in a decade you get a guy who comes into the league and lights it up as a rookie (Randy Moss). Think about Megatron, Fitzgerald, Welker, S. Smith, Nicks, Marshall, Wallace, ect. The best receivers in the NFL didn't crack 800 yards as rookies. I agree that corner is another. But S, OL and MLB? Guys routinely make an impact as rookies at these positions.
I think one reason is the technique required. In college, if you are fast and shifty, you don't need to be nearly as precise in your routes or technically sound to beat opposing db's. I'm Sure college coaches will tell you, as long as you are getting open, they don't care too much if that 7 yard in route was actually run at 9 yars. In the nfl, the little shit like that matters. For S, OL, and MLB's generally, to be elite players on the college level, it requires NFL quality technique. So when they transition to the nfl, they ae already technically sound for their positions, otherwise they wouldn't have found the success they did at the previous level.
Ummmm, no. I read your post. I distinctly saw you discuss him coming in for a couple of snaps every couple of series in multi receiver sets, and that he should do most his learning by watching from the sidelines. You know, to "work him in slowly". But again, this might come down to a difference in offensive philosophy as you prefer that we only run multi-reciever sets occasionally which would put Hill on the field a handful of times, whereas I want to run them all day. I didn't mean to imply that you hadn't said for him to be in on 3 receiver sets. I guess I should have been more clear. Again, you said a couple of snaps every couple of series, doing most his learning watching from the sidelines. I'd perfer that he be on the field as much as possible, getting as many snaps as can be had, and for him to learn there. Of course, when he comes off, he'd talk to coaches or other receivers and discuss what he saw, and what to do about it.
That's a big part of it. You can take a guy who has never played the position, put him in at WR and while he might not be the best, he can be serviceable and still help the team. Also, could be wrong here, but WR doesn't seem to be anywhere near as difficult. Play is called, you have as assigned route. At most, you have to read the coverage and possibly have an altered route based on that coverage. You see what coverage they are in, you run the correct route. For safeties, OL and MLBs, it just seems that their jobs are more complex. Take RT for example. On a pass play, the coverage scheme is given to them, but they still have to react to what the defense is doing, and they have to work in tandem with the other guys on the line to what the defensive line is doing. Very rarely is it just a straight "block this guy in front of you". You have to pick up the stunts and the blitzes. Decide when you can/should drop of one guy and pick up another. When/how you can pass one guy off to someone else, so as to not leave a gaping hole in the line. Also, if you screw up, your QB gets killed and it causes a lot of problems. I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me that if you took any number of plays and drew up a kind of "decision tree" for each of the positions that I listed, the trees for WR would be much less complicated. If defense is in X, do Y. If Defender does A, do B. For the other guys, it's much more detailed as there are so many more variables.
NEWSFLASH Br4d: HILL is AWESOME !!!! GREAT DRAFT PICK !!!! Your ideas about only using him sparingly until week 9 or 10 are patently absurd as Stephen Hill demonstrated this afternoon.
He had a great game and I hope he's the real deal. It would make a big difference in how the offense plays out this season if he caught 50 passes for 800 yards or so and 8 or 9 TD's.
