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Does Aaron Rodgers really know what to do with a Tight End? (1 Viewer)

L

Loss By Design

Footballguy
Title innuendo aside, has Aaron Rodgers ever demonstrated the kind of TE utilization that Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have shown (turning several TE's into fantasy studs - Dallas Clark, Jacob Tamme, Julius Thomas, Aaron Hernandez, Gronk, Bennett)?  I'm a pretty faithful Packers fan, and I can't say that I'm bullish on Martellus Bennett's upside with the Pack.  I think he's a great TE - the best they've had in a LONG time - but I'm not sure if that position can really flourish in the Packers offense, at least not with any consisetency.  I don't honestly know if it's because of Rodgers, the offense they run or having too many mouths to feed (or all 3).

Thoughts?

 
Who have they really had? Finley was over rated, everything else stinks. Cook was OK, but nothing special. Bennett may be the talent they lacked at the position. Not that any of that matters, because Rodgers doesnt need a TE to dominate the NFL.

 
Mavis said:
Who have they really had? Finley was over rated, everything else stinks. Cook was OK, but nothing special. Bennett may be the talent they lacked at the position. Not that any of that matters, because Rodgers doesnt need a TE to dominate the NFL.
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Aside from Gronk (who I think would be great anywhere), Clark, Tamme, Thomas and Hernandez are just decent without a top-flight QB.  Rodgers is a top-flight QB that does not have the habit of creating top-flight TE's.  I'm just not convinced that Rodgers and/or the Packers are really tuned to produce great stats out of the TE position.

And yes, I agree that in real football Rodgers could probably do without a TE and still dominate.  However, I'm interested in fantasy upside, and I suspect that Bennett won't top last year's numbers even with a full 16 games.

 
While Finley turned out to not be that great, he did have three seasons of:

55-676-5
55-767-8
61-667-2

Not fantasy study, but good, solid production.

Jared Cook has hands of stone, but he looked damn good last year at times in that offense. 

Bennett should be really good this year. Don't over think it. 

 
Loss By Design said:
Aside from Gronk (who I think would be great anywhere), Clark, Tamme, Thomas and Hernandez are just decent without a top-flight QB.  Rodgers is a top-flight QB that does not have the habit of creating top-flight TE's.  I'm just not convinced that Rodgers and/or the Packers are really tuned to produce great stats out of the TE position.

And yes, I agree that in real football Rodgers could probably do without a TE and still dominate.  However, I'm interested in fantasy upside, and I suspect that Bennett won't top last year's numbers even with a full 16 games.
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You are wrong about Clark and Hernandez.

 
Loss By Design said:
Clark without Manning was very average.
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Careful.  This is usually where Patriots fans jump in and yell that he was a first round pick, instead of ignoring the fact that he really wasn't that great of a TE, except when he had Manning.  And that was in years 5-7 (he wasn't worth a damn his first four NFL seasons).  

 
Loss By Design said:
Clark without Manning was very average.
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You do realize he played with Manning almost his entire career? He didn't leave until he was 33 years old and he was done, his body couldn't handle it anymore. There is a reason Clark was a 1st round pick and the Mackey winner in college. Manning made his career better, but odds are Clark was going to be an above average tight end most places he went, and he is better than anything Rodgers has ever had.

 
Ghost Rider said:
Careful.  This is usually where Patriots fans jump in and yell that he was a first round pick, instead of ignoring the fact that he really wasn't that great of a TE, except when he had Manning.  And that was in years 5-7 (he wasn't worth a damn his first four NFL seasons).  
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You mean when he was the 2nd tight end behind Pollard for his 1st 2 years?

 
I'm not sure where the whole Hernandez wasn't good thing came from. He was excellent in a two TE set. Not a great in-line blocker, but serviceable, too. I remember when their running game got so banged up and bad he was running the football. Tremendous athlete.  

I'm keeping my adulation of his talents on the field. 

 
This whole thread and a lot of the responses seem to come from some kind of bizarre alternate universe.

To reply to the OP, when has Rodgers had a TE who can even hold a job for a prolonged period with another team?  The focus is on Bennett, but he was cast off by a team that loves to run 2 TE sets.  They considered Bennett not worth keeping on their roster despite that and additionally that their TE1 keeps getting hurt.

Yet Finley had some very good success with Rodgers.  GB just attacks the seams differently than other teams.  TE has clearly been a very low priority.  If they got a TE that was competent I'm guessing Rodgers would find a way to get him the ball enough.  He has done it before pretty well with substandard guys like Finley there.

.

 
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Ghost Rider said:
Careful.  This is usually where Patriots fans jump in and yell that he was a first round pick, instead of ignoring the fact that he really wasn't that great of a TE, except when he had Manning.  And that was in years 5-7 (he wasn't worth a damn his first four NFL seasons).  
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msudaisy26 said:
You do realize he played with Manning almost his entire career? He didn't leave until he was 33 years old and he was done, his body couldn't handle it anymore. There is a reason Clark was a 1st round pick and the Mackey winner in college. Manning made his career better, but odds are Clark was going to be an above average tight end most places he went, and he is better than anything Rodgers has ever had.
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This was a  :moneybag:  post, Ghost Rider.

 
Bronco Billy said:
This whole thread and a lot of the responses seem to come from some kind of bizarre alternate universe.

To reply to the OP, when has Rodgers had a TE who can even hold a job for a prolonged period with another team?  The focus is on Bennett, but he was cast off by a team that loves to run 2 TE sets.  They considered Bennett not worth keeping on their roster despite that and additionally that their TE1 keeps getting hurt.

Yet Finley had some very good success with Rodgers.  GB just attacks the seams differently than other teams.  TE has clearly been a very low priority.  If they got a TE that was competent I'm guessing Rodgers would find a way to get him the ball enough.  He has done it before pretty well with substandard guys like Finley there.

.
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They even traded with their biggest conference rival to get his replacement.  

 
Any place where there if exceptional QB play is considered a great landing spot for a TE.  Expectations are always high in the New Orleans, Indy, New England, San Diego and Green Bays of the league.  How many hype trains have been bigger than Jermichael Finley's?

I'm in the camp that thinks Bennett is over-rated in fantasy.  Despite the prolific offense, I think Green Bay gets back to the running game and they have a deep WR corp. I just don't think TE is a huge part of their offense. His ceiling is around 60/750 with 6 TDs, which is solid but still TE8-10 range in a pass happy league.  My expectations are 50+/600+/5TDs for the 30 year old TE.

 
Ghost Rider said:
While Finley turned out to not be that great, he did have three seasons of:

55-676-5
55-767-8
61-667-2

Not fantasy study, but good, solid production.

Jared Cook has hands of stone, but he looked damn good last year at times in that offense. 

Bennett should be really good this year. Don't over think it. 
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It's nice to see someone bring actual facts to this discussion.

The reality is that McCarthy likes having a TE who is capable of drawing coverage in the seam, so that he can either open up the run or free up other receiving weapons.

I still remember the first few games of the 2010 Super Bowl season.  Before Finley got hurt.   McCarthy had Rodgers forcing the damn ball to Finley over and over - which meant Packer fans got to watch Finley drop balls on 3rd down 2-3 times each 1st quarter for about 3-4 weeks.   It was painful.

Sometime that year, McCarthy/Rodgers started spreading the ball around, and the Pack went on like a 25-game display of offensive dominance.

 
Bronco Billy said:
This whole thread and a lot of the responses seem to come from some kind of bizarre alternate universe.

To reply to the OP, when has Rodgers had a TE who can even hold a job for a prolonged period with another team?  The focus is on Bennett, but he was cast off by a team that loves to run 2 TE sets.  They considered Bennett not worth keeping on their roster despite that and additionally that their TE1 keeps getting hurt.

Yet Finley had some very good success with Rodgers.  GB just attacks the seams differently than other teams.  TE has clearly been a very low priority.  If they got a TE that was competent I'm guessing Rodgers would find a way to get him the ball enough.  He has done it before pretty well with substandard guys like Finley there.

.
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Since when is letting a FA walk "casting someone off"? The pats let talent walk instead of overpaying all the time. That's kinda their thing.

 
Wise Old Owl said:
Since when is letting a FA walk "casting someone off"? The pats let talent walk instead of overpaying all the time. That's kinda their thing.
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They could cut allen after 17 but under his current contract he makes $300k/year more than Benett.  Maybe Benett wanted more in NE but I'd guess it's more likely that BB just decided he didn't fit their plan.   Link

 
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-OZ- said:
They could cut allen after 17 but under his current contract he makes $300k/year more than Benett.  Maybe Benett wanted more in NE but I'd guess it's more likely that BB just decided he didn't fit their plan.   Link
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So your argument is mostly conjecture. This article suggests the opposite: Link

 
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Wise Old Owl said:
Since when is letting a FA walk "casting someone off"? The pats let talent walk instead of overpaying all the time. That's kinda their thing.
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Considering they paid Allen more to come on board, I'd say they discarded Bennett rather than opting to keep him at the cheaper price.  But hey, call it whatever you want.  People seem to be making up their own realities in here.  And Bennett moves on to his fifth team...

.

 
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ghostguy123 said:
So then which QBs exactly ARE good for TE scoring? 

My guess is that each QB named has a very good TE.
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Josh McCown was pretty good for barnidge.  And Winston pushed brate. But generally you're right.  Plus it helps to not have a strong wide receiver group.  

 
ya'll figure what, 100 passes to TE's in 2016 which was about the number in 2016 ?

if Bennett gets 80 of those for 60-65 catches and TD's .... that's not a bad year and its Rodgers throwing the ball, if he clicks with Bennett it could be a 75 catch year for Bennett or better

 
Listen, ignoring all the rumors, hes said on multiple occasions that he isn't gay.  :lmao:

That being said I like Bennett for their offense, i dont think he will be a fantasy stud but i think he will open their offense up even more. Incredible blocker and capable receiver, middle of the field is gonna be a mess with their offense.

 
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Bronco Billy said:
This whole thread and a lot of the responses seem to come from some kind of bizarre alternate universe.

To reply to the OP, when has Rodgers had a TE who can even hold a job for a prolonged period with another team?  The focus is on Bennett, but he was cast off by a team that loves to run 2 TE sets.  They considered Bennett not worth keeping on their roster despite that and additionally that their TE1 keeps getting hurt.

Yet Finley had some very good success with Rodgers.  GB just attacks the seams differently than other teams.  TE has clearly been a very low priority.  If they got a TE that was competent I'm guessing Rodgers would find a way to get him the ball enough.  He has done it before pretty well with substandard guys like Finley there.

.
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I seem to recall McCarthy using a fair amount of two T.E. sets back when they had Finley.  He has moved away from it because Thompson has not supplied him with T.E., working elsewhere, but Both Rodgers and McCarthy are very happy when they can use that tool.  At least they were.

 
BTW, anyone suggesting that the smartest Q.B. currently playing, and with all due respect to Drew Brees, the most accurate, would not take advantage of a weapon is a bit off base.

 
SaintsInDome2006 said:
It's funny this post got me curious, the best TE targets under McCarthy have been Finley at 92 & 87, then Richard Rodgers at 85, then... Boo Williams at 75 in 2004.
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Yeah. Just brimming with HOF TE talent.  Too bad McCarthy ran their would-be stellar careers into the ground.

 
Loss By Design said:
Clark without Manning was very average.
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Please explain to me with your infinite wisdom as to why Clark was only good because of Manning?  If you're basing it on the fact that he wasn't near as good after Manning then you're theory is extremely flawed.  He was towards the end of his career at that point and not many TEs, or players in general, are going to be putting up their best statistical years then.  Clark was a great TE in college and was great in the NFL.

 
Stealthycat said:
ya'll figure what, 100 passes to TE's in 2016 which was about the number in 2016 ?

if Bennett gets 80 of those for 60-65 catches and TD's .... that's not a bad year and its Rodgers throwing the ball, if he clicks with Bennett it could be a 75 catch year for Bennett or better
Click to expand...
Historically his catch rate is slightly less than 70%, so that's more about 56 catches on 80 targets. At 11 ypc (less than NE, but more than most of his other seasons) looking at about 616 yards. Big question would be TD's, he's a good RZ target but Rodgers spreads it around and keeps some himself. Let's be optimistic and say 8 TD's. That would have been good for TE7 last year (exactly where Bennett ranked with NE oddly enough.)

 
and with a questionable running game in GB, they rushed 374 times (unlike NE rushed 482)  .... I see Bennett top 5 TE

 
It really took two pages before the first Olivia Munn reference? For shame FBGs, for shame.

 
Someone posted Finley's biggest seasons on the first page. I think those are very reasonable expectations for however long Bennett is there. His numbers will be held back a bit not due to his talent, but I think at this point the GB offense has advanced so far and long without a quality TE that the need for one just isn't even engrained in anybody's mind there anymore. But he'll have 2 or 3 really big games this year I think.

 
Here is what Aaron Rodgers knows.....he knows how to throw the ball to the open guy...........so as long as Bennett gets open (and that should not be hard to do with Jordy and Cobb and Adams lined up wide), Bennett should have a solid year. .....65 or so catches for about 800 yards and 7-8 TDs.  You can't expect more than that.....while Rodgers puts up big passing stats, there are a lot of mouths to feed in GB.

 
Bogart said:
It really took two pages before the first Olivia Munn reference? For shame FBGs, for shame.
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I think it was quite clever. 

I know of someone who lives next door to Rodgers. And he knows that Aaron knows what to do with a tight end... all night apparently. She was quite... vocal

 
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