Randy McMichael's effect on Steven Jackson (1 Viewer)

[On The Rocks]

Help me out here.....Do you think McMichael will have a negative effect on Jackson's reception totals?

I don't have the numbers in front of me but it seems to me that the Rams TE position from a Fantasy Football pespective has been pretty non-existant.

Now they bring in McMichael, who I don't think they went overboard in paying to get is brought in. So did they get him because he was affordable or did they get him because they want a catching TE to take some of pounding that comes with catching the ball off of Jackson?

 

[PahtyTom]

No. McMichael isn't that good.

 

[Riffraff]

McMichael needs to worry about Fasano for playing time.

STL would have to trow to the TE 3 times as much as they did last year to make the TE a viable option.

Just not enough balls to go around for that.

 

[identikit]

McMichael needs to worry about Fasano for playing time.STL would have to trow to the TE 3 times as much as they did last year to make the TE a viable option.

Just not enough balls to go around for that.

Fasano?Thought he was Dallas property....

Id

 

[treat88]

Klopfenstein....Fasano....it's all the same.

 

[Riffraff]

McMichael needs to worry about Fasano for playing time.STL would have to trow to the TE 3 times as much as they did last year to make the TE a viable option.

Just not enough balls to go around for that.

Fasano?Thought he was Dallas property....

Id

He is. And I goofed it up.Still not enough passes to go around.

 

[kensat30]

I think McMichael limits Jackson's catch upside. St. Louis TEs have averaged less than 30 catches the past two years. Now, do you expect McMichael to catch only 25 passes this season? How many did he average in Miami? Why did the Ram's go out and get this guy. Watch the preseason closely here IMO.

Personally, I think it has already been decided that there will be a change in gameplan with the McMichael signing. Expecting St. Louis RBs to have 125 receptions again next year(Jackson 90+) is foolhardy. That would again be a HUGE percentage of the passing game targeted towards a low ypa position. Even the best of RBs are only getting 8-9 yards per catch, and much less per target. TEs can be used like WRs, but they can also be targeted similar to RBs near the LOS.

I see Jackson in the 50-70 reception range this season. What I see in the preseason will tell me where on the scale Jackson will fall. I personally think SJ should be a lock at #2 in PPR leagues with the LJ holdout though. He is still a high reception guy for a RB.

 

[The Man Who Met Andy Griffith]

I think it is foolish to expect Jackson to get anywhere near 90 catches this season. I noticed that Dodds has him over 70, which frankly surprises me given how solid Dodds usually is.

Part of it is just regression to the mean. Jackson is a very good receiver, but 90 catches is just not normal for a RB, unless he's named Marshall Faulk.

Part of it is McMichael. Most teams don't want their RB's catching 90 balls; they do it out of necessity. Having a solid short-medium range receiver removes the necessity. As an example, note that LT's transition from a 100-catch RB to a 50-catch RB coincided exactly with the arrival of Gates as a starter.

Finally, I doubt the Rams want Jackson catching anywhere near 90 balls. He is their franchise back and he has a moderately worrisome injury history. I think they'll use a number of players (Leonard, McMichael) to reduce Jackson's load somewhat.

I still like Jackson as the #2 pick, as he is one of the safest RB's out there, but my guess is that he'll end up around #5, with around 50 catches.

 

[surferguy]

McMichael's effect will be on the WR not the RB. I think Jackson will get a high number of passes again this year. He has shown he can catch the ball and it definately saves wear and tear on the RB.

 

[BoltBacker]

McMichael's effect will be on the WR not the RB.

Agreed, but I really feel it effects Drew Bennett most of all. As soon as STL signed Bennett I had planned on watching closely how they chose to use Bruce/Bennett as they got closer to the redzone this preseason. Really expected Bennett to be used as a redzone specialist by Bulger and take a lot of snaps away from Bruce in those situations(and he still may but Bennett will have to share redzone targets not only with Holt but also McMichael now).

 

[Bad_Mo]

I think McMichael does have the potential to impact Jackson's receptions.

I mean, there is a possibility that he will beat his wife again and get suspended under the league's conduct policy. As a result, more receptions are available for Jackson to grab.

As far as on the field....McMichael would be lucky to see 3 balls thrown his way in any game.

 

[KnowledgeReignsSupreme]

Teams have been trending towards throwing less to their RBs in favor of a TE for a while now. So I saw the McMichael move as having the biggest impact on SJ. As was mentioned before, most NFL teams pass to their RBs out of necessity not design (exceptions being a Turner or Martz offense).

 

[The Man with the Plan]

LaDainian Tomlinson 2003 without Antonio Gates (or at least as we know him now): 100 receptions

LaDainian Tomlinson 2004 with Antonio Gates: 53 receptions

I'm not saying Randy McMichael is Antonio Gates but he can play. He's only had less than 40 catches 1 time in his career and the past 3 seasons he's had 60+. If he's still got it he's going to take away those some of those outlet passes that Steven Jackson got last year.

 

[saintfool]

mcmichaels is supposed to be having a terrific camp and impressing the coaching staff. i find many people still laboring under the impression that the rams are still "the greatest show on turf". they just aren't that team. mcmichaels is a great "buy low" candidate, i think. he's got tremendous potential with a declining bruce and a largely unproven receiving corps. holt will get his every game but i think mcmichaels can do a lot in this system.

 

[Obie Wan]

LaDainian Tomlinson 2003 without Antonio Gates (or at least as we know him now): 100 receptionsLaDainian Tomlinson 2004 with Antonio Gates: 53 receptionsI'm not saying Randy McMichael is Antonio Gates but he can play. He's only had less than 40 catches 1 time in his career and the past 3 seasons he's had 60+. If he's still got it he's going to take away those some of those outlet passes that Steven Jackson got last year.

Linehan's offense has always had a strong focus on the TEMcMichael will surprise this year

 

[On The Rocks]

LaDainian Tomlinson 2003 without Antonio Gates (or at least as we know him now): 100 receptionsLaDainian Tomlinson 2004 with Antonio Gates: 53 receptionsI'm not saying Randy McMichael is Antonio Gates but he can play. He's only had less than 40 catches 1 time in his career and the past 3 seasons he's had 60+. If he's still got it he's going to take away those some of those outlet passes that Steven Jackson got last year.

Linehan's offense has always had a strong focus on the TEMcMichael will surprise this year

This is what I was thinking.It seemed to me that Linehan went out and got McMichael because he wasn't overwhelmed with Klopfenstein or Byrd.Although I don't think McMichael will get anywhere near 60 catches again, I could see him getting at least close to 45 which is double the total of Klop and Byrd last season.