Brandon LaFell a #2 WR? (LaFell vs Moose)

[Chimera]

LaFell runs just about every route imaginable. I don't know the break downs of what he runs, but he's gone deep, ran crosses, hooks, etc. It seems most of our pass plays are targeted at 10 yards and under.

In 2008 we threw a lot of long passes off play action. Jake's yards per completion that year was best in the league. I believe Smitty averaged upwards of 18 yards a catch.

Comparing our passing attack in 2008 to 2013 will not give an accurate picture because of the long ball vs. short ball passing.

[jtnc]

People who think Ted Ginn is honestly the solution at WR are kidding themselves. He CANNOT make difficult catches or catches that involves him taking a hit.

[panthersphan]

Moooose >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Lafell

And yes, we need a TOP WR to compliment Cam...a young talented receiver he can grow with.

[*FreeFua*]

LaFell runs just about every route imaginable. I don't know the break downs of what he runs, but he's gone deep, ran crosses, hooks, etc. It seems most of our pass plays are targeted at 10 yards and under.

I agree with your whole post but this stuck out to me because it furthers my point I believe.

The NE game was the first time I saw them involve LaFell in the short game as much as they did. He set a career high in receptions with 7. He had one catch for 17 yards. The other 6 were all under 10 yards (including a great TD catch).

If they involved him more in the short game like they did aginst NE his numbers would look alot better.

The whole offense would benefit from a legit number 1 WR who can stretch the field, but it would really open things up for LaFell who I think is most dangerous with the shorter crossing routes and hooks.

[beastlypanda]

This is why I hate numbers sometimes. Lafell isnt even half of what Moose use to be. Moose was extremely good when he was in his prime with steve smith. Our team pretty much had 2 number 1 WRs. 

[beastlypanda]

Also consider this, at the time there was a guy named steve smith in his prime putting up huge numbers. There is only 1 ball so moose had lower numbers than what his skill would indicate. Lafells numbers are inflated due to the lack of a true number 1 which is one of the reason all our WRs have a nice chunk of yards. If we had prime time steve smith lafells numbers would suffer. 

 

Its kinda like comparing steven davis to dwill stew tolbert. Different situation and this is how numbers lie. Game tape is key believe what your eyes see not the "numbers"

[jtm]

The main difference is Moose played with Smitty in his prime and accepted his #2 role and stepped up to a #1 role when needed.

[MadHatter]

This is why I hate numbers sometimes. Lafell isnt even half of what Moose use to be. Moose was extremely good when he was in his prime with steve smith. Our team pretty much had 2 number 1 WRs.

So, your gut feeling about LaFell is more valid than actual numbers and results.

Geesh.... The ignorance on this board keeps getting deeper and deeper. Most of you make the old Falcon/Vick fans look like members of Mensa.

[Jackofalltrades]

I've been a LaFell supporter for a while now, as a number 2. We need to find a new number 1. I think LaFell is about at his ceiling as a 2.

Even if we did let Ginn, Hixon and LaFell walk you still have to pay someone to replace them. You can't have just 2 WR's under contract.

I want to keep LaFell, but I desperately want to draft a young stud to fill the 1 role and I don't want to overpay for Donald.

[Mr Mojo Risin]

I'm going to use 2008 as my example since we went 12-4 and we can probably agree we all saw Moose as a solid number 2 that year.

Delhomme had 414 pass attempts and targeted Moose 108 times. 26% of the pass attempts went to Moose. Smitty had 129 targets for 31% of all pass attempts.

Cam currently has 337 pass attempts and has targeted LaFell 66 times for 20% of Cam's pass attempts. Smith has been targeted 90 times for 27% of pass attempts.

I do understand your point about the different offenses though. However, Shula's plays have Cam making alot of shorter throws. I don't have NFL all 22 so I don't know forsure but it seems LaFell is usually running a deeper route. With the OL not being able to provide Cam with alot of time I think it's affecting LaFell's opportunities.

When LaFell runs shorter routes and crossing routes, I think he typically gets a chance to make a play. Maybe someone can confirm this for me.

I do have the all 22 and while I havent zoned in on lafell I have noticed that a lot of the time cam gets pressured is because all our wrs are running deep routes and have their back to cam lafell needs to be utilized underneath and in space then use his deceptive speed to go deep

[DaCityKats]

looking at the recent numbers of guys who where considered #2 WRs on their team

 

Mike Williams 5 year $40.25 Million, $14.6 guaranteed

Brain Hartline 5 year $31 million, $12.5 guaranteed.

 

are the panthers willing to pay lafell this type of money?

 

 

[Vagrant]

The problem is that we were spoiled. Moose wasn't a number two WR. He was a number 1B to Smith being a 1A. 17th in career receptions and 24th in career yards. Remarkably similar to Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald in Arizona. Moose is one of the best 100 WR to ever play the game and was as consistent as a timepiece. People get mad at Lafell because he's not like Moose.... well there ain't a lot like Moose.

 

Lafell is good for 600-700 yards a year as a secondary option to Smith and we have an offense that works a TE into the equation that catches about the same number of yardage. That's good enough for me. Just as good as having one guy that can catch 800-900 as a more reliable second option, but if you look around the league there aren't a lot of guys that can go for those kind of yards that aren't number one's on teams that are so deep they have more than one.

[DaCityKats]

I do have the all 22 and while I havent zoned in on lafell I have noticed that a lot of the time cam gets pressured is because all our wrs are running deep routes and have their back to cam lafell needs to be utilized underneath and in space then use his deceptive speed to go deep

 

that is mostly because this scheme is a vertical attacking scheme, that puts WRs in 10-15+ yard routes. needing an OL upgrade could help, but so could upgrading the WR core with more guys who can get vertical faster.

 

that was something i noticed in all 22 LAST YEAR, when chud was calling the plays. expecting your OL to block for 5-6 second on these types of routes is asking for a lot.

[Happy Panther]

next year we will draft a number one receiver or we will grab a top-tier guy in free agency. we will keep steve smith and we will keep ted ginn to return kicks and punts and remain a deep threat.

 

lafell will not be content to play WR4, and chances are he'll demand a salary much higher than what we'd pay a WR4.

 

brandon lafell is gone

 

This is my guess too.