'Raiderfan32904 said:
'daveR said:
Let me pull this all together for you. Massaquoi is still the #1 Wr on the team. He always was and any depth chart that says otherwise was simply accounting for his injury. Evan Moore is a quality TE who they are lining up in different spots to make use of him. He will be used this way throughout the season. Ben Watson is very highly thought of by the coaches. Locally, the tight ends coach was on the radio suggesting he should be all-pro. Watson is TE #1 for now & the foreseeable future. Anybody who thinks Robiskie will be a top 50 fantasy WR needs to re-think his position. Nothing he does is exceptional. Josh Cribbs will get a couple targets a game, but he is better suited to run the wildcat than run routes. Little was drafted because he is ideally suited for the west coast offense due to his RAC ability. He is being assimilated and has a ways to go. Eventually he will be WR1 or WR2 for the next ten years.
The target distribution you saw in game one is likely to continue until Massaquoi is healthy, then he'll see more.
Thanks for breaking this down. Little was dropped in both my leagues, after being drafted fairly high (12th round IIRC?). Obviously there was some hype around him a few weeks ago. He seems like value off the waiver wire, but reality is he's cut bait now. Is this your read on Little as well? (for redraft purposes only).
Browns fans perspective.
First the Browns knew that what they were getting was a raw project. Little played 1 year of WR in the past 3 the other two spent at RB and being suspended. They got a top 5 physical talent at a discount because he isn't ready yet. Before the first preseason game the staff publicly said they would try to force targets to Little (IIRC he had 5 targets the first half of that first PS game with 2 of them being not particularly good choices but obvious "get it to Little" orders from the sideline) and now in their first regular season game he is in for the highest # of snaps. It appears that they will try to accelerate his development on the field as much as possible. The fact that they only have 1 other WR worth much will help keep him on the field.
Second this version of the WC offense wants to use deep outside pressure to open up the middle of the field. This works in 2 ways. A WR can go deep and that keeps the safeties back and helps open holes in the D- Little's decent speed and great size and leaping ability make him a good choice for this role. The second part is what to look for to see that he is developing. This is when CBs start playing off the WR and he starts running slants and hitches to take advantage of the automatic separation. The Browns desperately want Little to get the ball with his size and RAC potential 1 on 1 with a CB that he outweighs by 40 lbs+.
When you see the second part of the equation happening it hints that the Coaches are feeling confident enough in his ability to read the correct routes and he will become as much of the focal point of the offense as anyone besides Hillis. I think this will take more than a few weeks and I would just watch and wait until I see some evidence of this before snagging him.
