I caught over 100 punts in camp, that's not an excuse anymore

[Wither]

Sorry, but you have to assume that there is a good chance of bad things happening when you let the ball drop right beside where all those bodies are, because those blockers have no idea where that ball is.

Obviously he screwed up; that was never in question.

[monstercat]

Obviously he screwed up; that was never in question.

Why does everybody keep arguing with me and making excuses for him then? It doesn't matter whether he misjudged the ball, just quit on it, or if he just didn't understand the situation. That turnover was 100% AE's fault any way you slice it.

[Sloth]

Nope, Jarrett never caught a break as a rookie- that was my point. But being as I'm an admitted USC homer, I'll explain why the two situations are very similar in nature. WRs at USC do one thing- catch passes. They are not conditioned nor are they playing a position to block in Pete Carroll's schemes. WRs at USC may decoy, they may drag defenders all the way down the field and they may run the occasional pick play, but they are there for one reason- run routes and catch passes.

So, when Jarrett gets drafted and has to learn all the ancillary stuff on top of catching passes against bigger, better and faster athletes than the college opponents he faced, the uneducated fan then calls him a bust.

Armanti Edwards, please pick up the white courtesy phone...

Situation #1:

Highly touted WR recruit from a big time college program. Two time All-American who set the record for receptions at said big time program and set another record for td receptions in his conference. Drafted in the second round as a WR, the Panthers let go of their established #2 WR about 8 seconds after the pick was made expecting their new WR to do big things for them. Draft pick then goes on to do and accomplish absolutely nothing for three years.

Situation #2:

Highly touted QB playing for a small Division I college program. Despite gaudy stats, doesn't meet the measurables teams look for in a QB. Drafted in the 3rd round, the Panthers immediately put out the word that they will switch his position to WR, a position said athlete hasn't played since high school. Had an up and down camp and a down preseason as a rookie, so has done and accomplished absolutely nothing for about 4 months.

Whoa, trippy.

You're right, totally the same. I bet you can't tell who is who without me dropping major hints.

[Wither]

Why does everybody keep arguing with me and making excuses for him then? It doesn't matter whether he misjudged the ball, just quit on it, or if he just didn't understand the situation. That turnover was 100% AE's fault any way you slice it.

Maybe they feel you are being too harsh on him considering his experience? I don't know.

[AceMan]

Situation #1:

Highly touted WR recruit from a big time college program. Two time All-American who set the record for receptions at said big time program and set another record for td receptions in his conference. Drafted in the second round as a WR, the Panthers let go of their established #2 WR about 8 seconds after the pick was made expecting their new WR to do big things for them. Draft pick then goes on to do and accomplish absolutely nothing for three years.

Situation #2:

Highly touted QB playing for a small Division I college program. Despite gaudy stats, doesn't meet the measurables teams look for in a QB. Drafted in the 3rd round by giving up a future 2nd round pick, the Panthers immediately put out the word that they will switch his position to WR, a position said athlete hasn't played since high school. Had an up and down camp and a down preseason as a rookie, so has done and accomplished absolutely nothing for about 4 months.

I pretty much agree with everything though. AE still has plenty time. I just believe he will not be a good returner. I think the problem is...this

DJ - Good-looking pick that ended up being horrible in retrospect.

AE - Horrible pick that, despite massive TC hype, still looks pretty horrible so far

People are not going to get over the fact that we gave up a future pick for AE when we knew he was a huge project.

I do believe that if we put AE on the practice squad or deactivate him for most/whole season...he is a bust in the making.

[Sloth]

I pretty much agree with everything though. AE still has plenty time. I just believe he will not be a good returner. I think the problem is...this

DJ - Good-looking pick that ended up being horrible in retrospect.

AE - Horrible pick that, despite massive TC hype, still looks pretty horrible so far

People are not going to get over the fact that we gave up a future pick for AE when we knew he was a huge project.

I do believe that if we put AE on the practice squad or deactivate him for most/whole season...he is a bust in the making.

I just wanted to point out that you need to be pretty f**king high to compare Jarrett's situation to Edward's.

Edwards could end up sucking at PR/KR but be a good WR. He could end up great at both. He could bust. Who f**king knows when his entire NFL experience is less than three hours spanning two whole games (that don't count) in his rookie season while he's trying to convert from QB to WR and KR/PR.

[monstercat]

Maybe they feel you are being too harsh on him considering his experience? I don't know.

IDK, it just seems to me that it doesn't take that much experience to, at least, make an attempt to catch the ball. And if he really misjudged it that badly while it was in the air, then I'm not sure there is even a chance for him as a punt returner. The conditions will never be better than they were last night and that was lazy a pop up, not a wobbly line drive.

BTW, in case you haven't read many of my post over the last few years, I promise you that I'm not one to overreact and call any rookie a bust after a couple of mistakes in preseason games, and I'm not doing that now. I just don't think AE is a return man this year. I would rather see him do something that he's actually good at and has been trained for.

[Davidson Deac II]

Why does everybody keep arguing with me and making excuses for him then? It doesn't matter whether he misjudged the ball, just quit on it, or if he just didn't understand the situation. That turnover was 100% AE's fault any way you slice it.

I certainly wouldn't argue that it wasn't his fault. They were definitely his fault.

But I would say that we can't cut off his head based on the results of a few preseason games. Anyone that thought he was going to pick this stuff up immediately was deluding themselves. Most NFL punt returners did it in college and high school and know the position fairly well.

Right now, I give Edwards a 50/50 chance of becoming a solid nfl player, but its going to take a while.

[Wither]

IDK, it just seems to me that it doesn't take that much experience to, at least, make an attempt to catch the ball. And if he really misjudged it that badly while it was in the air, then I'm not sure there is even a chance for him as a punt returner. The conditions will never be better than they were last night and that was lazy a pop up, not a wobbly line drive.

Considering he has never done it before and he has lots of big guys running very quickly at him with little to no protection, I will give him a bit of breathing room.

Also, I'm not trying to insinuate you are calling him a bust.

[DWill]

Putting him in at Qb = Insanity

Same as using him as a return man.

Same as drafting him in the 3rd and trading away a 2nd in the process. Hell drafting him period was insanity in my opinion.

[woody]

"I caught over 100 punts in camp, that's not an excuse anymore"

Seems Armanti is manning up and taking responsibility where his fan boys won't.

Now THAT is the right attitude to have AE. Get it fixed and get back out there. You have two more games to prove you can get it right.

This is 100x better than an App alum starting a thread about having seen Armanti for four years and how we are all idiots..

[woody]

Same as drafting him in the 3rd and trading away a 2nd in the process. Hell drafting him period was insanity in my opinion.

Its kinda late to still be complaining about this...dont you think?

[monstercat]

Considering he has never done it before and he has lots of big guys running very quickly at him with little to no protection, I will give him a bit of breathing room.

Also, I'm not trying to insinuate you are calling him a bust.

That's just it though, there was nobody close to him on that one, and he had plenty of time to get under the ball. That was just plain ugly, even for a guy who is new at this. And if he has caught 100 punts in practice, then surely he should be able to judge the ball in the air pretty well by now. Really 100 should be more than enough to see whether he can do it or not, unless they're making it too easy by not forcing him to move his feet to catch the ball.

[Samuel L. Jackson]

If LaFell and Edwards don't bulk up and balls up a little, they won't make it in the NFL at all...