Laveraneus Coles' Toe (1 Viewer)

[chihawk]

If I remember correctly, Coles has been hobbled by a toe injury for the last season or two. I don't think he has been missing games becuase of it, but I think it was impacting his game...as was the inconsistent QB play.

For you Jets homers or other people with info...Is Coles healthy from his toe issues, or is this something we can expect to see this season as well?

If Coles is healthy I feel he should be able to put up some pretty good numbers considering what he did last year when that offense was a mess.

Thanks.

 

[Z-Dog]

You're going to hear a lot of diagreements about this. Coles refused to have surgery to correct this problem, and his performance in the alst few years has certainly suffered.

Thing is, nobody really knows. People will say that he's slower, that he can't seperate from DBs like he used to and so forth, but other people will blame Spurrier and the awful QB situation in NY last year for Coles' dropoff in production. What everyone agrees to is this: toe or not, Coles manages to catch a LOT of balls. Whether an improved QB situation will help him do more with those balls is the question, but few doubt that he will catch at least 70 and as many as 90 balls this season.

 

[mhrutkowski]

Jets fan here. I don't think the turf toe issue ever really goes away unless you have surgery. The problem is, the surgery is high-risk in that there is a chance that complications could prevent him from every playing again. Therefore, Coles won't have the surgery.

He's still got good speed for a WR, but he will never be the burner that he used to be. It's clear that it affects him but it's something that he decided he will live with. When I go to practices, he has a slight limp in between plays but when the ball is snapped, he gives it his all. I'm not sure his toe has deteriorated from last year, but I wouldn't expect numbers from him in his prime... he's a possession receiver with the chance to go deep with a better QB (not Pennington)

 

[redman]

You're going to hear a lot of diagreements about this. Coles refused to have surgery to correct this problem, and his performance in the alst few years has certainly suffered.

Thing is, nobody really knows. People will say that he's slower, that he can't seperate from DBs like he used to and so forth, but other people will blame Spurrier and the awful QB situation in NY last year for Coles' dropoff in production. What everyone agrees to is this: toe or not, Coles manages to catch a LOT of balls. Whether an improved QB situation will help him do more with those balls is the question, but few doubt that he will catch at least 70 and as many as 90 balls this season.

My understanding (I'm a Redskins fan) on this one is that he will never be healed of this problem unless he undergoes surgery, but he refuses to do that because the surgery could jeopardize his career. All of the things Z Dog says are true - he's not as quick into and out of cuts as he was, and he doesn't separate like he used to 3 years ago. He'll end up with around 11 yards per catch as a result, and I have a tough time imagining him having more than around 5 TD's in that offense. Still, based upon sheer volume of catches, he has some value particularly in PPR leagues.

 

[Z-Dog]

Just for the record, I think Coles' toe troubles are not as great as advertised, and I think that what holds down a WR's YPR more than any other factor, especially a WR who is targeted frequently as the 'hot' WR is the blitz protections. Bad blitz pickup usualy means quick, early throws before a WR can even make a break and seperate from his man. Coels uses his body well and makes many of those catches, but they bring down his YPR. If blitz pickup improves (which it has shown little sign on in the preseason), Coles may get a chance to beat his man one-on-one down the field and get a few ore of the 20+ yard plays that he enjoyed earlier in his career.

Just to see how deceptive the math can be, if you replace just five of Coles' 3-yard catches with 20-yard catches, his YPR goes up over a yard, from 11.6 to 12.7, so even marginally improved blitz-pickup could have a very big impact on Coles' numbers.