tukafan21

Yes, you need to be mentally aware of your feet, but when someone is talking about having "great feet", I look at that as having quick/good footwork that makes you a great WR due to route running. And sure, the first two easy/obvious examples that pop to my mind for XL when I think of his poor mental side of the game this are both feet related (the stepping out of bounds and the crossing route where he only got 1 foot down despite all sorts of room to get two), there are so many others that had nothing to do with his feet this year. Things like how often he runs back towards the LOS trying to make a play, his route running mistakes, particularly against zone, at times appearing to have no idea what the play was, etc. Even that other thread tonight about his interview with Cam, where he said he doesn't talk to Bryce off the field as much as he should, is more proof of his terrible mental side of the game for his preparation and it clearly carries over into Sundays where he has no on field mental awareness. I'm just not sure there are many (any?) examples of players who were so bad at this part of the game 7 years into their post HS career and then found a way to figure it out. You can fix a lot of things in a player, but it's hard to take someone with absolutely zero football awareness and correct it at this point in their career. I do still think XL has a future in this league, but as a Cordarelle Patterson type, who get some handoffs, some easy catches on screens, and returns kicks. Things where it's just give him the ball and tell him to run as fast and hard as he can straight ahead. The problem is usually when players shift into totally different roles like that, it's not with the team that drafted them, it's the next team that benefits.

Agreed, and while I don't want Seattle to win as I don't want to see Darnold win the SB while we have Bryce, that particular post had nothing to do with it being Darnold, I'd have said the same thing if that was the Patriots and Maye from the 14 yard line. That was solely about wanting the Panthers to still hold that record.

Really glad Darnold couldn't complete that to JSN, as if he did, it would have also ended up breaking Delhomme and Moose's record for longest touchdown from scrimmage in SB history. They have the record at 85, and that play was from the 14, so they'd have easily broken it as that was a clear TD if he could have caught it.

So the Falcons gave the Rams the 13th pick in the 2026 draft for a player they get one season out of and then never plays in the league again, lol

I don’t think XL’s problem are his feet, it’s the mental side of his game that holds him back. Until he figures out how to be more mentally aware on the field and react accordingly, he’ll never become a useful player at this level.

In the end you call plays for your personnel, and both T-Mac and Coker will be better players next year than they were this year. This year we had two RBs coming off 1k yard seasons, next year we'll have none and two very promising young WRs, there is no world where we aren't throwing it more, even with Bryce's noodle for an arm. Coker is a nice player with a solid upside, but it's nothing close to T-Mac's current ability and his own future upside. Bottom line is Coker will see a significant increase in targets and production, but none of it will come at the expense of the better player with the higher upside as he'll also get an increase of his own.

The bottom line is we saw long stretches this season where T-Mac wasn't even targeted. He had games where he went an entire half without seeing a pass thrown his way, and it lead to a bunch of games with 5 or less targets. If he's healthy and we're not up a stupid amount and only running the ball, I can't see him having more than a game or two next year with 5 or less targets. We were also only 22nd this year in pass attempts, and that was with a rookie #1 and no legitimate 2nd option for half the season. And even then, we were only 46 pass attempts above 31st place. If we go into next season with T-Mac improved in his 2nd season and a healthy Coker for 17 games, there is absolutely no reason for us to not throw it more. That right away increases both of their target totals without sacrificing any targets from each other or other players, add in them taking targets from the TEs and RBs on top of that, and your argument just doesn't hold water anymore. You can't look at targets/yards in a vacuum and think next year Coker just takes some from T-Mac. You have to look at the team as a whole and our situations this year and then project what will happen next year. If he's healthy for 17 games, I'd bet my life savings that T-Mac sees increases across the board, targets/catches/yards/TDs. Just as Coker will also see career highs in all categories, it's not one vs the other, it's shifting offensive strategy given our personnel, which next year will be much better for our passing game (QB issues aside).

C'mon now.... First, you can't switch up your argument once someone points out a major flaw in your point. You're saying we shouldn't expect a big increase in targets/yards for T-Mac, but then shift to talking about averages with Chase when I point out the significant leap he took there once you factor in his missing games. He saw an increase in targets in 5 less games, averages aside, he saw a significant increase in targets in his 2nd season, what he then did with those targets is actually irrelevant in this discussion. Puka seeing no increase is pointless, as he saw such an absurd amount of targets for a rookie, it's near impossible to see an increase. But the real issue in this post is that you think I'm proving your point by showing how Waddle had to share targets with Hill. Tyreek Hill was a 1st team All Pro who was 2nd in the NFL in yards that season. If you think Jaylen Waddle sharing targets with a 1st team All Pro and a future HOFer is even remotely in the same category as T-Mac needing to share targets with Coker... then you are certifiably insane, lol. If anything, you could make the argument that Coker is to Waddle as T-Mac is to Hill in that discussion (which would then lead to a serious increase in targets/yards for T-Mac). But even that is insane, as neither T-Mac or Coker will be as good as Hill and Waddle respectively that season. I love both of their potential, but c'mon now, T-Mac isn't getting 119 catches for 1,700 yards and Coker isn't getting 117 for 1,350 next season.

See my previous post. You're also leaving out that T-Mac was likely hitting a rookie wall, like 95% of rookies do late in their first season, combined with the added attention on him by defenses, which in turn would be why Bryce looked Coker's way down the stretch. With Coker playing like that to start next year, defenses will have to pay attention to it, which will then also make things easier for T-Mac. All of which is also ignoring that T-Mac will just be a better player next year than he was this year, assuming he works on his game this offseason, which we all know he will be. If a player who was already your clear cut #1 comes back even better his next season, you're going to make sure you're throwing it his way more often, no matter who else you have. Again, Coker's added targets won't be at the expense of T-Mac's, they will BOTH be taking targets from the rest of the team. Not to mention, we should be passing it more next year to begin with, seeing as we'll have both of them hopefully ready to go full speed Week 1, which again, will help both their target totals increase. Coker looks like a really good player, but even the most optimistic person can't say he looks like he has #1 potential, he has very solid to maybe even high end #2 potential. You're not taking targets away from the reigning OROY who looks like a true Top 15 WR already to get your #2 targets, you increase both of them by taking from the others.

Sorry, but this is a terrible breakdown that doesn't at all show what you're trying to say/project about T-Mac next year, as it leaves out key information that changes everything, it makes the opposite point that you're trying to. Chase missed 5 games that second season after playing all 17 as a rookie (and still saw more targets that second season). Puka it looks like you projected his stats out to a 17 game season (as he only played 11 games), but even still , when you have 160+ targets as a rookie, there isn't really much room to get any more the next year. Waddle saw an increase in yards, and sure, his targets went down, but he played on a team with a better WR that year who saw 170 targets for 1,710 yards during that 2nd season for Waddle... something T-Mac doesn't have to contend with on the same team (280+ targets for their top 2 WRs, if you don't think T-Mac would see more than 122 targets if him and Coker combined for 287, then you're nuts). Then Olave and Wilson both saw an increase of 19 targets in their second season. You basically just laid out the reasoning for why T-Mac should see at least 20 more targets next year, if not more, which would be a solid increase and put him easily into the Top 10 most targeted WR next season.

T-Mac averaged 7.1 targets a game this season and had games of 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, and 6 targets this year. Even with an improved Coker, there is no reason T-Mac shouldn't see a solid uptick of targets this year, he is a true #1 WR, and even with Coker, he realistically should be 8-9 targets a game next season. Love Coker's potential as a real nice #2 option in this league, but he's not good enough that we should be taking targets away from T-Mac to get more for Coker. In addition to that, I think they'll start throwing more downfield to him as well, which will only help his yardage total even if he gets the same amount of targets. Then add him catching a few more of the ones he actually dropped, plus a handful more catches on the non-drops but tough catches he couldn't complete. Also we had 191 targets to RBs and TEs next year, with Rico being our best receiving threat of any of them and he'll be gone. Even if Etienne and/or Brooks take a bunch of those, or we sign a new TE, there should be a solid chunk of those targets going to Coker either, so he won't be taking any of T-Mac's targets due to that as well. Also don't forget that while he played 17 games this year, T-Mac basically put up his stats in 16 games, as he clearly was out there in Week 17 as a decoy and not a real target threat due to him being sick, and thus his 1 catch for 5 yards on 4 target stat line.

The best part about those rookie gaffes were his actual drops (and yes, I mean ACTUAL drops, not the tough plays he couldn't make that fans chalked up as drops because they just wished he could make the great catch) were very clearly concentration drops, not bad hands drops. And seeing as he didn't have that problem in college, it's safe to assume it was more of a "trying to do too much" type of thing and he'll fix that in the future pretty easily. Which if he does, that should add another 100-150 yards alone to his total, improve slightly in a few other areas and he's going to be pushing a 1,400+ yard type of season.

Just showed up today!

Only because Smitty should have already been in, but Fitz is 2nd all time in catches and yards, he's a 1st ballot HOFer, so Fitz getting in over Smitty this year isn't a problem. The HOF is going to be missing out on some worthy WRs for a while, possibly until after their eligibility is up and they end up being senior committee selections. There is such a backlog of guys who should have gotten in, and at some point in the not too distant future, they'll start to be passed on the yards list by guys getting an extra game and playing in a much more pass happy league. Add in the new rules they made, and any non clear cut first ballot WR is going to struggle to get in right now.

Overrated? Sure, in most years his season isn't winning OROY because there would have been a QB who had a good enough season to win the award, and most WRs who win it put up more yards than him. But also remember, passing was down league wide this year, you always have to look at a players' season through that lens too. Again, look at where he finished the year compared to the rest of the league 14th in Yards (13th among WRs) 15th in TDs (11th among WRs) 10th in 20+ yard receptions 10th in 40+ yard receptions 7th in 1st Down receptions (6th among WRs) 19th in YPC (but 8th among players with 40+ rec) He was a Top 15 WR as a rookie on an offense that ranked 26th in passing this year. How do you say that player is "overrated"?!?!