Tight Ends - Ton o Talent, will we use it?

[Scrumtrilescent]

VT homer.

[koolkatluke]

you talking about smith or moss...cause i can't tell the difference.

Smith

[Fireball77]

VT homer.

I don't really root for any college team so ONLY I can be trusted!!!111!

Think about how many truly great pass catching TEs there are out there. Not many really. I think the Cats just need GB and DR to step up a little bit and they will be fine. Having King on one side will allow the other TE to be the occasional downfield threat type guy.

[Kurb]

I actually like Kind the best because he is more versatile (RIGHT NOW).

This is a group I think can be exceptionally strong for us if they get their stuff together.

[rayzor]

I still like King. No he's not "shiny" or "flashy" but he's solid. Of course, I called him at his draft, so I have a vested interest. The others show great potential, but potential still needs $2 to buy a cup of coffee...

i can see that but if one of the other guys really steps up this year i don't see us working hard to keep king on the roster when he becomes a FA. one way or another, i can't see us keeping 3 around for very long. this year, yes...after that? hard to say. if all 3 are on somewhat equal footing then the easiest way to decide on who goes is the guy whose contract is up first. i don't really see that being the case (king getting the boot) but it is a reasonable possibility if rosario and barnidge can improve their blocking and reliability to king levels.

i do see king as being a hoover type player as far as reliability is concerned. he is good as a receiver and a blocker but his blocking skills outweigh his receiving skills. imo, we need a counterpart for him who is good filling both capacities but is a better receiver than blocker and that someone is barnidge or rosario. this year will be a competition for that TE2 spot where we find the guy who can block well and really stretch the field and is a very reliable receiver and who makes the fewest mistakes.

i've said it before...i envision rosario and barnidge taking turns during non-special teams game-time much in the same way that jarrett and hackett did last year. one game rosario will have a prominent role shot and the next game barnidge will. it won't be entirely up to the player either. jake feeling comfortable throwing to them and looking for them and them making the most of limited opportunities will be key. rosario could show to be more talented but if jake is going to look for barnidge more and barnidge does well with what he gets then barnidge will get the job.

[Kettle]

we better use the tight ends! might as well put a backup OL in that spot if you use them for nothing but blocking. Jake will hopefully be more aware of who is open this year.

[d-run]

I agree with what most of you are saying. King is a reliable TE who is a good blocker and an adequate pass catcher. It seems that is all our coaches really want/expect out of the position. Until this year it seemed like every draft there was someone screaming for us to get a tightend...but we never spent a high draft pick on one. Barnidge has the ability to stretch the field and probably has the best hands of the three, but those of you who call him a good blocker are, imo, wrong. He isn't a very good blocker, or he would already be the starting TE, and we would have no use for King. However, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like all the word coming out of mini camp and OTA's was how well Barnidge looked. If he really outshines Rosario this year during TC, I believe we may only keep 2 TEs this year.

[PhillyB]

Careful careful. The snugglers will be upon you and claim victory for your use of the word "only". Great heaps of stats are about to be dumped on you for that.

For the record I know what you mean though and you should not worry about the snugglers. They can't help that they like Jake and they have the right to. Just realize that your opinion and position on the matter will be constantly reinforced by the vehement defense that comes from the "other side". To me that always says a lot.

you have a bag on your head

[DaveThePanther2008]

You know I don't think it is a matter of whether Jake can spread it around. When Smitty hasn't been in the game he has shown he can spread it around. I think Steve proves that if Jake can get it anywhere near him, he is gonna come down with it.

So maybe the New QB coach will be able to help Jake play as if Smitty isn't in there. Man if he could ever spread it around with Smitty in there. Things would be awesome.

[Kettle]

you have a bag on your head

:rofl:

[QuasiYoda]

To be fair to Carolina Rolls I did mention Jake's contribution in the original Post.

"Hope that new Quarterback coach helps Delhomme learn to use these guys more. I love to see our Tight Ends get twice as many passes thrown their way this year and make more than twice as many catches!"

Let me say I'm a big Jake D supporter I agree with the coaches and Front office on him. He reminds me of me, Never say die, always fighting to win. But like me also his strength is his weakness. His high spirits impulsiveness fire up his team mates win games that otherwise might lose but can weaken good judgement at times and so maybe lose some games as well. It is a trade off but one we have come on the better side of more time than not. And It looks like with some new coaching his strengths will be expanded and his weaknesses contracted. He is young, high character, ambitious and desperately wanting to rise above his Playoff performance so that is fuel enough to get it done in my estimation.

Without Jake's 4th quarter fire and belief in his team and his ability we would not have been in the playoffs last year.

Also to be fair having Smitty as an option makes it hard to spread the ball around if you have a bit of a River Boat Gambler to your nature. Because your feelings want the biggest charge from every play and Smitty is the guy who can turn most any play into a big one. But what I hope he can learn is he can get a "charge" from passing to all his targets and it will give Smitty much better chance to take it to the house if the defense can't key on Smitty all the time. Imagine a defense having to defend our running game and 3 solid wide receivers and a field stretching tight end OMG :yikes: :yikes:

Those two games starting out last season could be a blessing to this team as an example of what could be for Jake in terms of spreading the ball around a bit more.

I hope to hear announcers hitting the "so many weapons" cliche' all year long.

[QuasiYoda]

To be fair to Carolina Rolls I did mention Jake's contribution in the original Post.

"Hope that new Quarterback coach helps Delhomme learn to use these guys more. I love to see our Tight Ends get twice as many passes thrown their way this year and make more than twice as many catches!"

Let me say I'm a big Jake D supporter I agree with the coaches and Front office on him. He reminds me of me, Never say die, always fighting to win. But like me also his strength is his weakness. His high spirits impulsiveness fire up his team mates win games that otherwise might lose but can weaken good judgement at times and so maybe lose some games as well. It is a trade off but one we have come on the better side of more time than not. And It looks like with some new coaching his strengths will be expanded and his weaknesses contracted. He is young, high character, ambitious and desperately wanting to rise above his Playoff performance so that is fuel enough to get it done in my estimation.

Without Jake's 4th quarter fire and belief in his team and his ability we would not have been in the playoffs last year.

Also to be fair having Smitty as an option makes it hard to spread the ball around if you have a bit of a River Boat Gambler to your nature. Because your feelings want the biggest charge from every play and Smitty is the guy who can turn most any play into a big one. But what I hope he can learn is he can get a "charge" from passing to all his targets and it will give Smitty much better chance to take it to the house if the defense can't key on Smitty all the time. Imagine a defense having to defend our running game and 3 solid wide receivers and a field stretching tight end OMG :yikes: :yikes:

Those two games starting out last season could be a blessing to this team as an example of what could be for Jake in terms of spreading the ball around a bit more.

I hope to hear announcers hitting the "so many weapons" cliche' all year long.

[Woodie]

Ok, on a scale of 1-10, here is how I rate our TE's.

King 7 - As people have said, he is reliable. He is a solid blocker as well as a solid receiver. He will probably never be exceptional at anything, but he'll always be our "old reliable." Definitely the kind of TE that would be an asset for any team.

Rosario 4 - I think he makes far too many mental mistakes and his hands are too inconsistent to be considered even an average TE at this point. His blocking is also not good enough to raise his stock. But I do believe has the potential to be a decent TE with some hard work, but until he cleans his game up, I don't think he is a legitimate threat to start.

Barnidge 7+ - Clearly I am projecting here. We have not seen enough of him to definitively say what he can become. So I am basing much of this on what I saw from him in college. Also, in the few routes he has had as a receiver, he did show an ability to separate...despite the fact that he wasn't targeted on those rare occasions. He also was a solid blocker on special teams and did not seem to make many mental mistakes when he was on the field. And during preseason, he showed all of the above along with good hands. So, I think that, at worst, he can be a 7, but if he develops as I anticipate/hope he could be as high as 8 or 9 (10 is reserved for the truly elite TE's).

[Kettle]

To be fair to Carolina Rolls I did mention Jake's contribution in the original Post.

"Hope that new Quarterback coach helps Delhomme learn to use these guys more. I love to see our Tight Ends get twice as many passes thrown their way this year and make more than twice as many catches!"

Let me say I'm a big Jake D supporter I agree with the coaches and Front office on him. He reminds me of me, Never say die, always fighting to win. But like me also his strength is his weakness. His high spirits impulsiveness fire up his team mates win games that otherwise might lose but can weaken good judgement at times and so maybe lose some games as well. It is a trade off but one we have come on the better side of more time than not. And It looks like with some new coaching his strengths will be expanded and his weaknesses contracted. He is young, high character, ambitious and desperately wanting to rise above his Playoff performance so that is fuel enough to get it done in my estimation.

Without Jake's 4th quarter fire and belief in his team and his ability we would not have been in the playoffs last year.

Also to be fair having Smitty as an option makes it hard to spread the ball around if you have a bit of a River Boat Gambler to your nature. Because your feelings want the biggest charge from every play and Smitty is the guy who can turn most any play into a big one. But what I hope he can learn is he can get a "charge" from passing to all his targets and it will give Smitty much better chance to take it to the house if the defense can't key on Smitty all the time. Imagine a defense having to defend our running game and 3 solid wide receivers and a field stretching tight end OMG :yikes: :yikes:

Those two games starting out last season could be a blessing to this team as an example of what could be for Jake in terms of spreading the ball around a bit more.

I hope to hear announcers hitting the "so many weapons" cliche' all year long.

I don't want Jake throwing any more than 20-25 passes a game, and I may be misunderstanding, but twice the number of passes to the TEs sounds like a 30+ pass game.

We are also a running team that eats up the clock with every play for the most part. That's not a big play game plan (even though the RBs do it), and I hope we see more short passes to the TEs and receivers. Passing as needed, hitting big plays occasionally to keep the secondary on their heels, eating up every second we can, and keeping the game in our control.