Coeur de Lion said:
FF Ninja said:
Sabertooth said:
I like the landing spot for Brit from a professional standpoint. I'd be surprised if he can't drive his way up the depth chart (as long as he doesn't have long term consequences from his injuries). I think he's going to be out there in base sets in that case. I really don't see any direct competition for him outside of maybe Quick, who needs to make a big jump in his third year or he's going to be a journeyman. Britt and Quick could be battling each other for a roster spot.
This is his 6th year. He needs to find a place to thrive. StL isn't it. Not because of the competition from overhyped young players, but because they have no real QB. I can't see this going well unless they find a QB.
St. Louis is a horrid spot for Britt. And I own the dude in every league, so if anyone has a reason for false optimism, it's me. Check out what the top Rams' WR has done each year since Bradford showed up. And then realize that Britt might not even be the top WR there. I honestly don't know if there is a worse spot for a WR in the entire NFL -- at least the other teams with garbage at QB know that they need to upgrade. The Rams seem pretty content to keep trotting Bradford out there. On the bright side, it's only a one year deal, and I might as well keep burning the roster spot.
Have you considered the possibility there was no great place for him to land? Doing as poorly as he has in the past few years (which you have acknowledged) and getting arrested nine times in a 3-4 year span tends to restrict your options, so that was going to be his biggest issue, wherever he landed. Could he be in worse situations? Some WRs would be out of the league with a record like that. What about TEN last year, it isn't like that was a great situation, or couldn't be replicated (some other HC losing confidence in him?).This isn't like Calvin Johnson, A.J. Green, Julio Jones, Demaryius Thomas, Dez Bryant or Josh Gordon who have the talent to start for any team on the league. We don't know if he had any promises or assurances of starting (I don't think he is guaranteed in STL?) or had any better offers anywhere else. If he had, probably he would have signed there.
A factor you may be overlooking is that Fisher drafted him and may believe in him more than any other HC (in a way, it is kind of like believing in himself and his original judgement), which could increase his chance of starting. If he went to a team with a better QB but had less chance of starting among his possibly scant, meager offers, it is unclear how that would leave him better positioned for success?
Hypothetically, if Britt returns to form and this conversation is even relevant, if he has 100 receptions but because Bradford is terrible and only has a 1 yard Y/C average and Britt ends up with only 100 yards total, but is running crazy wide open for dozens of aborted 40-60-80 yard TD receptions because Bradford never throws more than 1 yard downfield, credit scouting departments around the league for being able to recognize that and for Britt to be able to rehabilitate his tarnished rep that way.
Bummer if that wastes a year, but like you said, you held him this long, what is another year (since it has been about four seasons since he strung together more than a few good games in a row). I don't have him in any leagues, but I wouldn't have dropped him in any if I had. He formerly flashed the talent that could still lead to him having upside. If he is cut by STL or doesn't start, and his prospects aren't any brighter next year, you can always cut him later. Nobody is blowing up their team to acquire him. If he does anything, even as a WR2 or WR3, at this point that is almost certainly gravy. Anybody who was counting on him to return to form (clearly you aren't) probably has unrealistic expectations. The NFL spoke and does't seem to think so (or were spooked by the off field issues, so again, STL may have been one of the only teams to take a chance on him - Fisher and Snead took recent chances on Ogletree in the first and Jenkins in the second, among other players with off-field red flags). It doesn't look like teams were beating his door down, inundating him with starting roles and lavishing him with lucrative contract offers. Reportedly (don't have a link, but might have been from a STL writer like Wagoner or Thomas) NE at first showed interest but withdrew due to lingering concerns about his knee once they looked at it. If so, was that one of the "great opportunities" you were counting?
Elsewhere in the thread (not from you, but I'll address it here), the issue came up that Bradford's numbers were inflated in 2013 due to high passing TD numbers, in order to diminish or dismiss them. This is a common critique. What isn't usually brought up is the context.
I find the critique typical in viewing this fact purely through a negative lens and in a one sided manner (it was a fluke).
Stacy only had 1 carry in the first month, and didn't become a starter until about the fifth game. He is their best RB, Richardson and Pead aren't that good. Maybe they would have had more rushing TDs during the starting QBs seven games if Stacy started immediately (ya think)? But maybe the overall offense would have moved the ball better, too, more drives could been sustained, more red zone visits, and while some of the passing TDs he had could have turned into rushing TDs for Stacy, more scoring opportunities in general could have just led to a similar number of passing TDs (albeit with a lower overall pass/run score ratio).
We should at least consider the possibility it didn't "help" Bradford to have maybe the most incompetent running game in the league the first month of the season.