Re-Post: Film Review on Torrey Smith - Another Russell Shepard, or the answer?

[Saca312]

Decided I'd repost what I originally posted in early March when we got Torrey Smith. Relevant because a lot of my criticisms (bad hands, unable to outmuscle DBs) showed up.

Here it is:

The Panthers grabbed themselves Torrey Smith after trading Worley to the Eagles. Taking on a 5M cap hit, Smith comes in as the Panthers highest paid WR on the roster. 

At first glance, it's obvious the Panthers are looking for speed and experience. Torrey Smith brings both of those to the table. Boasting incredibly athletic combine numbers (his 'lowest' athletic metric is still in the elite levels), it's fair to say he has plenty of potential. However, at age 29 it does come to wonder whether what he's shown the past few years are just a fluke, or a sign of things to come.

In this thread, I'm here hoping to bring to you guys a better picture of him overall as a receiver. I plan on showing both his good points and his bad and letting you all decide whether the trade was worth it or not. The goal is to not convince you guys on one point or the other, but to show from an objective standpoint his strengths and weaknesses.

I won't be showing you what he's done prior to the Eagles. There's already plenty of articles out there on that (i.e. this fluff piece here: https://t.co/O2SQAwFpZ9). 

Anyhow, go ahead and look below and decide for yourself.

The Good

One thing Torrey Smith does pretty well is sell the double move and get separation.

Against Josh Norman, Smith faces off coverage. Norman is playing outside leverage, so the idea is for Smith to sell his route outside to keep Norman at a disadvantage. Smith fakes going outside and remains inside with a double move, getting him separation. Wentz underthrows, but likely would've been a touchdown had someone like Cam hit him right on target.

On that play, Smith shows good recognition of the defense and a solid head nod to sell and fake out his route. This gave him the possible opportunity of running into the endzone with a touchdown.

Throughout film, he shows ability to use head bobs to create separation and working well outside the numbers. On the route below, Smith finds himself on a route outside the numbers. To get separation, he showcases a decent head bob that forces the corner to stutter a bit and let Smith get the separation he needed. While clearly the QB underthrows, he does get separation and draws a PI as a consolation prize instead.

Finally, he shows decent footwork throughout his repertoire to get open down the field. 

Against the Rams, Smith finds himself facing off coverage. Noticing the situation, he gets enough depth and stutter steps to the middle of the field into the open zone. Corner obviously remains in his role of staying deep down the field, and to his dismay finds that clearly the Eagles have found an open zone in their defense. Smith takes advantage for a huge gain.

Against Waynes, Smith's footwork allows him to get open once again. Does a quick stutter to get open inside and gain leverage against Waynes. While he certainly could be more aggressive at the catch point and catch this (which still would be hard to catch given it was a bad throw), he still shows his potential in terms of using certain moves to get open.

The Bad

Well, with the good comes the bad. Smith is by no means a perfect receiver, and he has some things he needs to work on.

In the below example, Smith is facing press coverage against the Chiefs. Ideally, you want a solid release to be able to get a step on the corner and "stack" him to get open. Smith fails with proper footwork to do so, and gets trapped. Throws off timing with Wentz and also fails to adjust to the catch as well.

Now, adding on, he does not do well in contested catch scenarios. All Panthers WRs had that issue, so this is not encouraging. Wentz is in scramble mode so expecting an in-stride pass in this situation is not logical. Wentz throws the ball in a situation where he just has to beat Sorenson at the catch point. Turns head, puts hands up, and drops what he should've caught.

In the next example, he still doesn't show the aggressiveness you want in a WR at the catch point. Against the Rams, the QB throws a perfect pass to Smith, landing right in his hands. However, Smith isn't able to haul it in, letting a DB come in and easily strip it out. In this scenario, Smith needs to be more aggressive at the catch point and come down with stronger hands.

Finally, Smith has had a really bad time with drops. So far, I've personally seen at least 8 times he should've been able to catch the ball in certain scenarios, but below are two of the more egregious.

Getting a free release, Smith finds himself wide open. Wentz throws a perfect ball that lands squarely in Smith's hands. However, much like Ginn in his time in Carolina, he drops what should've been the easy catch and fails to capitalize on a solid throw.

Below, Smith once again drops another on target catch. Getting wide open over the middle, Smith could've easily gotten the 1st down and more. However, much like Russell Shepard, he's unable to haul it in on the slant. This leads to an incompletion and failure to convert the 3rd down.

Overall

Note: The following is plainly my opinion. Ignore if you prefer not to see my thoughts.

Route Running: 6.5/10

- He does show the ability to get separation using a variety of moves, such as a double move, head bob, or footwork. However, his overall route tree is limited. He'll get predictable on hitch routes,out routes, and plenty of others, allowing most corners to easily adjust and stop him. Needs to be more consistent in selling out routes other than relying on the same moves that keep showing on film. Diversifying his skillset and moveset is certainly a fixable issue, but this needs to happen sooner rather than later.

Separation: 7.5/10

- Does get good separation when relying on speed. Mainly hampered by his route tree and being predictable, but from an athletic standpoint he'll most definitely get separation when the defense doesn't guess what he's running ahead of time. To get better, he'll need to fix his route-running tree so that he's able to take advantage of the athlete he is.

Speed: 10/10

- There's no doubting he has speed. Plainly put, he's an athlete. His combine traits are on full display when he's downfield. Get him open in situations like Ginn and refine his route-running for such, and he'll give you the benefits of burner speed. 

Release: 2/10

- Really poor against press coverage. Cannot seem to get a decent release at the line of scrimmage from examples I'm seeing. Needs to refine technique completely, otherwise he'll have similar problems to Kelvin Benjamin

Catching: 2/10

- Doesn't seem to have natural hands. Tends to bobble a bit and not seem comfortable with the simple form of catching. Very Ginn-like from what I'm seeing, and does drop the easy balls on more than one occasion. From what I'm seeing, there's at least 8 drops over a span of 8 games that he could've caught. Needs to be far more aggressive at the catch-point

- Aggresiveness: 3.5/10

- Overall, not very aggressive. Will let DBs out-muscle him on plenty of occasions. Really needs to find a mean-streak to him and instill his will to get more chances.

[Ship]

(1) Smith has great locker room leadership and super bowl experience with two teams. Much more of a presence for the young guys compared to Shepard.

(2) Last year injuries stripped our WR core down to the studs. Without Funch fighting through a shoulder injury half the year think about who we'd've fielded by the end of the year-- an all practice squad group. I am more than fine with keeping that group stocked with young talent and veteran players to pick up the slack if people go down.

(3) Smith will make some nice catches for us this year, he just isn't gonna be a WR1 or 2.

[Ace_Aladdin]

Smith has a far more notable career vs Shepard plus all the other  tangibles @Ship mentioned.

It’s good to have 2 Cotcherys for leadership role if Panthers want another SB run.

[Hoenheim]

All this ragging on Torrey Smith has to stop until we see what he does in the regular season

[FakePlasticTrees]

Smith had 1 reception last preseason. During the 2017 regular season, he had 37 receptions and 2 touchdowns for the Eagles. For the season, Smith was the fourth leading receiver for the Eagles. 

By way of comparison, Ed Dickson who had the fourth most Panthers receptions had 30 receptions. Dickson averaged 14.6 yards per catch and Smith averaged 11.9 you last season. 

These 2017 results for Smith do not inspire high direct expectations? I think the Panthers view him as a person that can stretch the field and open passing lanes underneath. In other words, his greatest value may be to increase production for other receivers.

[GoobyPls]

Weren’t you a Shepard fan lol. A guy who hasn’t done a thing his whole career being compared to Torrey, if anything Wright is the next Shepard.

[top dawg]

I never expected Smith to start, and really I still don't. I suspected either Moore or Samuel to win that job. That being said, Smith is a nice insurance policy. I remember the video that Rivera used to explain Smith's veteran savvy and experience and the benefit he'll bring to the field.

I don't think he's the answer. Who is? But he can be one answer among several. 

And, as an aside, say what you will, but he played an integral part in both Super Bowls he went to, and that's one reason he has two rings.

[Moo Daeng]

Someone really wants an analysis win.

The video game rankings are a nice touch.....lol

[Rags]

19 minutes ago, Moo Daeng said:

Someone really wants an analysis win.

The video game rankings are a nice touch.....lol

How dare someone have a hobby or passion  for writing about sports!!

Anyway on topic, Torrey will probably be what Cotch was for us. 400 yards and a nice veteran is worth 5mil on a young core.

[Moo Daeng]

48 minutes ago, Rags said:

How dare someone have a hobby or passion  for writing about sports!!

Anyway on topic, Torrey will probably be what Cotch was for us. 400 yards and a nice veteran is worth 5mil on a young core.

The writer who criticizes should expect criticism.

We also cannot rely on Samuel until he shows he can be durable.

[Rags]

2 minutes ago, Moo Daeng said:

The writer who criticizes should expect criticism.

yes, but usually criticism is required when you criticize. If you have problems with it feel free to elaborate. 

I know it's fun to be snarky and sarcastic, I literally just did it, but don't pretend that it's more than that and use that defense if you're not actually going to criticize.

[Moo Daeng]

2 minutes ago, Rags said:

yes, but usually criticism is required when you criticize. If you have problems with it feel free to elaborate. 

I know it's fun to be snarky and sarcastic, I literally just did it, but don't pretend that it's more than that and use that defense if you're not actually going to criticize.

Saca writes a lot of stuff that hasn't been correct. Which is fine because nobody really expects hobbyists to be experts. In the past instead of saying he got something wrong he would double down instead.  Its popular to be down on Smith now so hes reposting this to get a win.  Now there It is. I spelled out the obvious 

[Rags]

11 minutes ago, Moo Daeng said:

Saca writes a lot of stuff that hasn't been correct. Which is fine because nobody really expects hobbyists to be experts. In the past instead of saying he got something wrong he would double down instead.  Its popular to be down on Smith now so hes reposting this to get a win.  Now there It is. I spelled out the obvious 

I don't think that was his intention, like most of us here he just wants to generate discussion.

He stands by when he said when he posted it, and there's nothing wrong with being proud of your work. 

I do agree he's doubled down sometimes though but...a lot of people have. I've also seen when Saca has said he's been wrong too. 

[Saca312]

1 hour ago, Moo Daeng said:

In the past instead of saying he got something wrong he would double down instead.

Interesting given I have not doubled down on Russell Shepard and have indeed admitted when I’m wrong. I already admitted that blunder there. It happens.

Sure, I’ve doubled down. I’ve gotten flak for saying CMC couldn’t be a workhouse between the tackles RB and Samuel’s actually our most talented receiver. I still stand by my most of my analysis.

Most “hobbyists” or “football analysts” get things wrong all the time. We provide content for people to read and no one has a sure fire opinion that’s 100% right.

As far as where I’m wrong, I’d love for you to bring up those cases where I am wrong and have doubled down stubbornly. We can talk about such and see where you disagree and I’ll give my opinion on the subject matter.

As far as this, I bring it up as relevant discussion for things I saw from Torrey Smith in last night’s preseason game that I’ve seen been consistent in his career. Just something to discuss whether it’s a continuation of his past tendencies or just a fluke.