Unpopular question, perhaps a stupid thought, but...

[O-Ther]

 

I hear what you're saying.  I think this coaching staff hyped us up with this kid because most of us before the draft probably didn't consider him a potential great receiver early on.  If we considered drafting him, it would be because we had KB.  Yet we took him and the coaching staff had a 1st round grade on him.  All that being the case, I would like to see more of him on the field.  Even with all that aside, he HAS to be better than Philly.  That is why this is so frustrating.  Of course if KB were playing, and we didn't see any of Funchess, I would care less.  I just feel our situation demands he plays.

He IS playing you moron. Look at the snap counts Voth posted on BBR. We had 58 offensive snaps vs. Tampa and Funchess was on the field for 26 of them (45%) Bersin was on the field for 21 of them (36%) and was the leading receiver. Funchess just isn't getting open yet. This thread is horrible. And we don't owe Washington jack-poo for snatching Delaire off of their practice squad. No picks. No cash. No first-born children. NOTHING. 

[Ricky Spanish]

 

I hear what you're saying.  I think this coaching staff hyped us up with this kid because most of us before the draft probably didn't consider him a potential great receiver early on.  If we considered drafting him, it would be because we had KB.  Yet we took him and the coaching staff had a 1st round grade on him.  All that being the case, I would like to see more of him on the field.  Even with all that aside, he HAS to be better than Philly.  That is why this is so frustrating.  Of course if KB were playing, and we didn't see any of Funchess, I would care less.  I just feel our situation demands he plays.

Take a look at what philly has done the past two games and you will see some very pedestrian numbers that you would think could be replicated by anyone. Why not Funchess? But Philly has value in his speed, something Funchess doesn't have.

Brown has been used as a decoy the past two weeks pretty much exclusively. Teams respect his speed when he's on the field and when you have two fast guys like Ginn and Brown, you have to keep help over the top clearing out the underneath routes for our possession guys like Olsen and Bersin, etc. as well as opening more running lanes by preventing another safety from stacking in the box. Shula is doing what he can with what he's got in order to make things work... and I can't believe I'm about to say this, doing a pretty decent job as O-Coordinator for us this year...

[Matthias]

A lot has to do with play calling and schemes against the defenses you face. He's not a gamechanger, not yet at least, so he doesn't need to be out there every snap. Yesterday we worked with a short field the majority of the day and worked with our speed guys on the majority of the day as well. Perhaps TB didn't have the speed to contend with Ginn and Brown, hence why we used them more. It's not like we didn't try and work him into the rotation, he had a goal-line target on a third down but couldn't come down with the throw. 

Bersin, while not a speed guy, is a guy that Cam has worked with extensively over the past few years and has hands like glue. He is more familiar with the offense and has better hands than Funchess, hence his call up and utilization this week. No problems here because it worked. 

I'd be more inclined to bitch about his use if we weren't actually winning or producing on offense, but the offense has looked surprisingly competent even with Shula at the helm. If things stall, look for personnel changes. Until then, Funchess has to earn his playing time and it's too early in his career to hit the panic button. 

 

I disagree in that things have stalled because of receiver play.  That was the case even a couple of times yesterday.  When it comes to receivers, I think our offense is more geared toward having a tall receiver, someone who can go up and get it.  Once KB went down, perhaps we shifted slight away from that, but with Funchess, we don't necessarily have to.

We can certainly find a roll for him, we are simply not using him.  As I said, if our receivers were producing, or if we had a KB producing, I wouldn't care about Funchess' majority absence.  We aren't going to beat good offensive teams the way we are playing right now because our receivers stall our offense.  Given our situation, Funchess should be out there.

I hope Cotchery gets back soon and Bersin takes Philly's spot because right now for whatever reason, Funchess is doing nothing when the situation demands more of him regardless of where he is at mentally.

[Ricky Spanish]

No, Cotchery is NOT that.  Cotchery proved last year that beside his "cool vet guy" he isn't much of a threat on the field.  He's not even that sure handed like everyone says.   We also already had a ton of possession guys.   There was a ton of WRs available that we didn't get or even look at, it seems.   Ginn is a #3/4 at best.  What we needed was a #2 beside KB, someone like Stevie Johnson or along those lines.   He isn't a #1 but we sure would be in a better spot right now.  It was silly to think that Funchess would be ready or Ginn/Brown anymore than a 3/4/5 receiver.   I wish people would take off the homer shades and realize Gettleman took a chance with the core and swung and missed when KB went down.  Just like Chandler/Bell "answer on the roster" last year.  It happens.  

I mean you can spin it your way (which is so negative bro, why so glum? we're 4-0). but honestly, Ginn has really stepped up since Benji went down. All those other Vet guys that were out there? They're still out there. No one wants them. There are other teams that need WR help too, the fact they haven't been signed must mean something. Shula's offense doesn't run on playmakers at the WR position, it runs on possession guys, something we have in spades. Surprisingly enough, it seems to be working. I'm not holding my breath and please Get back to me in 4 more weeks after the rough patch in our schedule, but it seems like the personnel we have is exactly who Shula needs in order for his offense to work. It is methodical and it runs through Cam, not through the WRs. Cam is making our WRs look better which is awesome. 

[chknwing]

I'm starting to get the sense that Funchess was more of a Gettleman guy than Rivera, Gettleman fell in love with his measurables but the coaches have no idea how he fits or how to utilize him

or maybe hes still a fuging rookie and has to learn the game at the pro level.  jeebus people. take off the tin foil hats and come out of your fallout shelters.

[the butch]

Huddle going full retard again. 

[Swaggasaurus]

Someone stop this madman 

[TN05]

1) No. Another team would pick him up. He's only had three catches, but they were three damn good ones.
2) Muhsin Muhammad (also a second round pick) only had 25 catches his rookie year and 27 the year after that. Most receivers take time to develop.

[juliosantos]

to be honest i understand what you are saying but that would be masuguna to send funchess to the ps man. every team would pick him up . he honestly sucks so far but there is some hope he will be good one day im not counting on it in my mind he is dwayne jarrett 2.0 and thats being generous hell id rather have stephen hill over funchess man. we get way to positive which is understandable but we had expectations of him being better than kelvin when hes not even half the player bersin is and that says alot. FUNCHESS SUCKS 

[tiger7_88]

Should we send Devin Funchess to the practice squad?  Right now, it's painstaking to watch his non productivity.  The main reason of course being, we literally have zero receiving production for most of the game.  Of course that's not to say Ted Ginn and Bersin made no contribution because they obviously have.  However, when you draft a guy in the second round (someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe we traded up for him), you expect him to make some contribution, even this early in the season.  Here we are, dying for a receiver to step up, with the position practically begging for anybody to be the starter, yet Funchess is doing absolutely nothing for all intents and purposes.

 

All I'm saying is if he's not ready to the point of playing at least 20% of offensive snaps, with a squad where anybody could be our starter, then maybe he needs to be on the practice squad to give another guy a chance who might be more prepared to play.  By my count, we only looked his way two times yesterday.  One pass was batted away, and he dropped a semi-difficult pass in the endzone.

[Matthias]

1) No. Another team would pick him up. He's only had three catches, but they were three damn good ones.
2) Muhsin Muhammad (also a second round pick) only had 25 catches his rookie year and 27 the year after that. Most receivers take time to develop.

Of course with Moose, I got to believe our receiver production from the starters during his rookie and sophomore years were greater than what we are seeing right now.  If this was Moose instead of Funchess, I have to believe we would be seeing more from him.  The same with Smitty, of course he had an added ability with the return game.

[Chaos]

Worst thread I've seen in a long time.

That's saying something

[Matthias]

Overall this is what I'm saying.  We should be seeing more from him considering our situation.  Key words "considering our situation".  I'm not asking him to play 100% of the snaps, even though in terms of starters he should at least start over Philly.  I'm just saying he should be in there enough to get more than two targets a game or less.  Forget the rookie growth stuff.  Throw this kid into the fire, and watch him sink or swim.  The situation demands it.

Let's be honest, we aren't beating good offensive teams with our current offensive production.  If Stew and our running game were lighting things up, that would be another way where I wouldn't care about our lack of WR production and lack of Funchess.  Yet we stall on offense when we should be putting games away. (Go back and watch the Texans and Saints games)  We could have had the same struggle against Tampa had it not been for our defensive splashes.

Our defense won't be able to shut down guys like Aaron Rodgers for a whole game.  We need our offense to be consistent and that's not going to happen without decent receiver play.  Ultimately maybe Ted Ginn will increase his production, and Bersin will increase his, but who knows.  We should simply be seeing more of Funchess at this point, regardless of any rookie learning curb.

[Chaos]

I'm not here to pile on, but offer an olive branch to the OP.  I get what you're saying - you want #17 to get more time to develop, and I agree with you there, he's not ready for game action yet, but because we are so thin at WR, he sort of has no choice except this trial by fire.

If KB were healthy, he might be inactive these days.  But he's going to have to learn a little bit more each week, and we're all going to have to be patient with his maturation process.

Now, go have a Fresca.