Going into week 1 of the NFL season.. what do we know about (1 Viewer)

[Righetti]

We know

1) The Steelers drafted the 5'11 rookie out of Ohio State with their first round pick

2) The depature of Randel El last year and Plaxico a year before that has left a void at WR2

3) He is immature off the field with multiple run-ins with the law

4) He plays on a team which has a run-first mentality

5) this same team has a budding young QB and has had years where their passing #'s have veen VERY impressive from a fantasy perspective

6) his QB is out for at least one week, so developing timing with him might be delayed longer than most rookie QB's

I have heard very little about Holmes' preseason, he has not put up any impressive numbers in the 4 games

week 1 preseason: 4/32/0

week 2 preseason: 1/11/0

week 3 preseason: 0/0/0 (not even sure if he played)

week 4 preseason: 1/12/0

total stats for the preseason (6/55/0).. now preseason #'s are not something to hang your hat when you speak of veterans but I usually like to see rookies show us something.. 6/55/0 is not overly impressive but I guess at least respectable.

 

[wilked]

He is a rookie WR on a run-first team. Anything else to wonder about?

 

[Godsbrother]

Holmes is currently the #4 WR behind Ward, Wilson and Nate Washington.

He missed most of the offseason workouts due to a rule where he couldn't practice with an NFL club until school was out. These workouts are critical because they go over the playbooks in detail.

Once he showed up to camp he was slowed by an injury that kept him out of the first few practices. Since then he has been making progress and has gotten better, according to Cowher.

I wouldn't expect big numbers from him, especially with Ben out but I bet he supplants Washington as the #3 in the 2nd half of the season.

 

[CrossEyed]

From last Tuesday

Holmes progressingRookie receiver Santonio Holmes has progressed rapidly the past few weeks."He has gotten better and better, he really has," Cowher said. "The other night he did a lot of really good things. I'm very encouraged by where he's at. Being around his demeanor on game day, I really like it. I think he's going to be fine."I can just see the comfort he's getting within this offense. The kid missed all the coaching sessions and came into camp. He fought through some things in camp and I liked that. He had a little bit of a groin issue. I know a couple of days out there, there was a little birdie inside and was probably saying to shut it down but he kept working through it. I respect that."

 

[DoubleG]

That a guy in our dynasty league drafted him in the 1st round above Matt Lienart, LenDale White, Jerious Norwood, Ernest Wilford, Vince Young, Vernon Davis, etc.

 

[redman]

He is a rookie WR on a run-first team. Anything else to wonder about?

While I don't think that this will radically change, they've been run-first during Ben's first two years because they've had a dominant defense, and a dominant o-line with RB's sufficient to pound the ball and shorten games by dominating time of possession while limiting the opportunity for their young QB to make mistakes that could jeopardize their chances to win. You saw the wisdom in that when Ben was forced to throw during the 2004 post-season and made plenty of mistakes. I believe that Ben showed enough playmaking ability and discretion last year that they'll give him more chances to throw going forward. They've also lost the big RB in Bettis who can take a run-heavy workload, and replaced him with Willie Parker, a very different style of RB. Correspondingly, Ben looked far better during last year's post-season. I'm not predicting Ben to look like Carson Palmer or Peyton Manning, but I do think that they'll let him throw more.

 

[CrossEyed]

Actually, the numbers don't support that they are necessarily a run first team. Down the stretch last year and in the postseason, they passed more than they ran in the first half. Sometimes by a rather wide margin. It was only after they got a lead that they clamped down with the running game. Without the big bruising Bettis-type back, you may see a much more balanced attack throughout the game.

 

[Righetti]

He is a rookie WR on a run-first team. Anything else to wonder about?

While I don't think that this will radically change, they've been run-first during Ben's first two years because they've had a dominant defense, and a dominant o-line with RB's sufficient to pound the ball and shorten games by dominating time of possession while limiting the opportunity for their young QB to make mistakes that could jeopardize their chances to win. You saw the wisdom in that when Ben was forced to throw during the 2004 post-season and made plenty of mistakes. I believe that Ben showed enough playmaking ability and discretion last year that they'll give him more chances to throw going forward. They've also lost the big RB in Bettis who can take a run-heavy workload, and replaced him with Willie Parker, a very different style of RB. Correspondingly, Ben looked far better during last year's post-season. I'm not predicting Ben to look like Carson Palmer or Peyton Manning, but I do think that they'll let him throw more.

I agree here.as we have seen in the past, although Cowher is a run-first coach there have been a few seasons when his personel have actually forced him to change his game-planin 2002 for exampleMaddox and Stewart threw for a combined 3991 yards with 26 TDS

 

[Righetti]

we now know he's going to return kickoffs

September 5, 2006, 18:01

Steelers :: WR, PR/KR, DB

WR Holmes, CB Colclough To Share Kickoff Returns

Joe Starkey, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - [Full Article]

HC Bill Cowher said that WR Santonio Holmes and CB Ricardo Colclough would likely share kickoff return duties

 

[duaneok66]

leave Holmes alone in 2006 . . . he's no factor in redrafts, and he may be worth a dynasty spot, but not on my team . . .