Norwood Timetable

[O-Ther]

I get what you're saying.  And we seem to be splitting hairs.  The lone argument here is another team snapping him up.  To me, the potential risk of losing him from the PS is the reciprocal of him potentially being our number 3 NEXT year.  It's all equivalent conjecture.  Meanwhile, tangible results are waiting on the PS.  Look what happened with our RB situation:  Patriots snap one draft pick up (that wasn't going to contribute that year anyway) and we go out and get 3 more solid running backs, having to release one.  

There's less demand and more supply of RBs, tho, while the opposite is true for WRs, since every team has a 3 or 4 WR set but few teams ever have more than 2 RBs in the backfield at any point. RBs are more expendable.

RBs usually see the field quicker than WRs when they're rookies, since there's less danger of a RB fumbling than a defense picking off a pass because the WR isn't used to all the nuances of NFL-level route running and playing speed

And the tangible results are well known commodities to the front office and coaches, and he's insurance for another injury, but they know what his ceiling is, and apparently feel that Norwood can have a higher ceiling if he's developed properly. This is sacrificing in the short term for better long-term production and it's what responsible GMs do

[IGSaint]

I know it's against Kentucky, but still like to look at this and think of the possibilities...

 

Dude's got some fire in him. I want to see him on the field. 

[the butch]

There's less demand and more supply of RBs, tho, while the opposite is true for WRs, since every team has a 3 or 4 WR set but few teams ever have more than 2 RBs in the backfield at any point. RBs are more expendable.

RBs usually see the field quicker than WRs when they're rookies, since there's less danger of a RB fumbling than a defense picking off a pass because the WR isn't used to all the nuances of NFL-level route running and playing speed

And the tangible results are well known commodities to the front office and coaches, and he's insurance for another injury, but they know what his ceiling is, and apparently feel that Norwood can have a higher ceiling if he's developed properly. This is sacrificing in the short term for better long-term production and it's what responsible GMs do

Fair points.  So, we essentially get an early draft pick on the roster (this is, of course, considering he doesn't produce for us this year).  I guess we liked him THAT much that we opted for him over prudent draft board research?  Again, this is assuming Norwood doesn't produce much this year.  If he does, then Bersin belongs on the PS, and all worked out.  But the argument so far has been that Norwood will likely ride the pine the whole year.  Again, I don't see how trading away a completely unknown draft pick to acquire a draft pick we passed on last year helps us THIS year.  In short, Norwood may have long term value, but I'm talking about THIS year.  Bersin provides hands THIS year.  Either we traded for Norwood thinking he'd produce this year, which that's awesome, or we traded for longterm success and benched Bersin, which makes no sense for our current WR situation.  That might have been a bit convoluted.

[KillerKat]

He won't play. We won't do anything for the WR position until week 10. Just how Rivera likes it.

[O-Ther]

Fair points.  So, we essentially get an early draft pick on the roster (this is, of course, considering he doesn't produce for us this year).  I guess we liked him THAT much that we opted for him over prudent draft board research?  Again, this is assuming Norwood doesn't produce much this year.  If he does, then Bersin belongs on the PS, and all worked out.  But the argument so far has been that Norwood will likely ride the pine the whole year.  Again, I don't see how trading away a completely unknown draft pick to acquire a draft pick we passed on last year helps us THIS year.  In short, Norwood may have long term value, but I'm talking about THIS year.  Bersin provides hands THIS year.  Either we traded for Norwood thinking he'd produce this year, which that's awesome, or we traded for longterm success and benched Bersin, which makes no sense for our current WR situation.  That might have been a bit convoluted.

IIRC on Panthers.com when the trade happened it mentioned DG liked him enough that he would've picked him instead of Boston but Seattle picked Norwood 5 spots ahead of us. And it seems DG is good at drafting, so I'm buying into Norwood and trusting that DG wouldn't have brought him here if he wasn't sure about this guy. How soon Norwood see the field is on Norwood. Norwood's used to the Seattle WR way (run a route, then come back to the line of scrimmage as Wilson scrambles) and Wilson's soft passes didn't prepare him for Cam's laser shots. Cam calls different audibles than Wilson. Norwood has to get used to Cam's timing. All that stuff only comes with repetition. Remember Cam not getting reps with his WRs last off-season hurting us? Bersin is used to it, I agree. But if Norwood was on the PS, there's a better chance of him being snatched away from us than Bersin has been. Everyone has tape on Bersin and apparently no one is impressed enough to grab him.

[Kevin Greene]

Not sure if he will contribute much at all this season. 

Yeah I'm not sure the complexity of the Shula offense will be a problem. I mean. I'm sure Norwood played High School football.

This will be a talent issue.

[GoobyPls]

Apparently learning the panthers playbook is the equivalent of performing brain surgery. You would think he would know a couple of plays by now.

[MadHatter]

I can't imagine them not throwing him in some plays with some basic routes to start, I mean get the guy some time at least to get accustom to some of the route tree in a game.

That is what PRACTICE is for.

[Dunn]

That is what PRACTICE is for.

OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!!?!?!?!?! Thank you for that mind blowing fact.  Because as a professional football player he can't run some basic routes with certain packages right off the bat or anything. 

[Navy_football]

Seriously... if your only job, in which you get paid an insane amount of money, is to learn a playbook, then I can't understand why it would take more than a couple of weeks.

For the love of... this is not calculus or differential equations. It's football. They've been doing it all their lives, and the only thing that really changes is the language - a little, and the talent level you're playing against. Some give too much credit for how much football players have to learn. Even for a QB - if you're serioius, it should not take months to learn a dang on offensive playbook.

Game experience is much more important than practice reps. If Norwood is a better option than Ginn and/or Brown, based on ability, then you play him. This team needs help at the WR position now. Not next season after Norwood's had an entire year to ease into the playbook.

[Peppers90 NC]

When are we going to bring in someone who can be ready to play within a couple weeks? is Shula's system so complex it takes months to learn? you see guys all across the league get picked up and make an impact in a short amount of time. I mean I thought the guys we bring in are supposed to be smart. It seems like a waste of a roster spot to bring in somebody this early with the intention of giving him a year to learn the system.