Seattle WRs (1 Viewer)

[tombonneau]

Obv. trading for Branch, SEA is going to run a lot more 3-4 WR sets. Accoring to FBG latest depth chart, DJax is the only starter, with Branch, Engram & Burleson as "situational".

Now SEA did not give up a first for Branch to be part of a WR rotation. I'm guessing they want him solidifyihng the #2 spot next to Djax, and probably are hoping for him to blossom into more of a 1b type of guy given their investment.

My question to Seattle homers, how long do you think before this happens? Reportedly Branch has been picking up the playbook, and Stallworth's quick ascension in Philly goes to show WRs don't need an entire offseason of studying to be effective.

Could we see him as a major contributor as early as week 5-6?

As a Pats homer, I think Branch is going to excel as the second option. As a WR1, he was easily taken out of games when double-teamed, but put a teams #2 CB on him and he should thrive. I could see him by mid-season as a mini-Housh in that offense.

 

[TWindis]

Burleson will have to be in the mix because of the money they spent on him in the off season!

 

[Kleck]

Burleson will have to be in the mix because of the money they spent on him in the off season!

It kills me that people really believe this. Holmgren cares about wins. Bottom line. Wins. He'll put his players in a position that allows them to be most successful.Further, Burleson's contract structure was a joke. It was retaliation for what the Vikings did to them with Hutchinson. He'll never see that contract through. Never.

 

[mad sweeney]

Burleson will have to be in the mix because of the money they spent on him in the off season!

What money? He got a decent 4yr/$14.5 mil. Please don't tell me there are still people out there that think the 7/$49 mil was the real term of the contract. He's well paid but not enough that he stays on the field automatically because of his salary. Especially when he's dropping so many balls, 5 by my count including a TD last week.As soon as Branch is up to speed with the offense, Burleson becomes something like the WR2d. Djax/Branch 1a/1b. Engram (Mr slot 1st down) will ALWAYS be the WR3.However, Nate will see the field often enough to keep on your squad as a WR3 since Hass will see 4 WRs on the field a lot. And any injury to DJax, Branch or Engram will of course put him in the WR2 spot.

 

[tombonneau]

Burleson will have to be in the mix because of the money they spent on him in the off season!

It kills me that people really believe this. Holmgren cares about wins. Bottom line. Wins. He'll put his players in a position that allows them to be most successful.Further, Burleson's contract structure was a joke. It was retaliation for what the Vikings did to them with Hutchinson. He'll never see that contract through. Never.

So Shick, as the boards resident Seattle Homer, how long do you think it will take Branch to become fully involved in the offense? (Like many owners who drafted early Sep, I got him real late, and am just trying to get a sense of when I can expect meaningful contribution in an effort to plan for WR bye weeks........)

 

[remote controller]

DJax is on an island by himself as #1, now, and until he gets reinjured(hopefully not). The other three will have roles, as shown last week. They will all get their turns to produce, especially in SA's absence. I see DJax getting more looks in the payzone, but I also see an increase in Mack Strong in the payzone. I see Branch and Burleson splitting catches with Engram between the 20's.

 

[Kleck]

Burleson will have to be in the mix because of the money they spent on him in the off season!

It kills me that people really believe this. Holmgren cares about wins. Bottom line. Wins. He'll put his players in a position that allows them to be most successful.Further, Burleson's contract structure was a joke. It was retaliation for what the Vikings did to them with Hutchinson. He'll never see that contract through. Never.

So Shick, as the boards resident Seattle Homer, how long do you think it will take Branch to become fully involved in the offense?

My guess is right away. I expect him to start and play well this week in Chicago. Perhaps on the road at Chicago is not the best measuring stick, but I still him expect him to be full integrated into the offense this weekend.I expect Hasselbeck to complete an average of 18-20 passes per week. I expect breakdown to look like this each week...Jackson: 6Branch: 5Engram: 4TEs and others: 3-5Obviously they'll fluxuate, but I see this sort of distribution taking form right away.

 

[tombonneau]

Thanks for the insight. Hopefully you are correct in your ratio. I'd be thrilled if he were able to contribute 4-6 catches/gm immediately.

Do you see him close to his 13 YPC career avg? Or will he be used more underneath thus dropping his ypc slightly? With Burleson/Djax more the field stretchers?

 

[Sheriff66]

Shick!, I like Hasselback in this game, think he will have close to 300 and 2-3 TDs, am I nuts here ? Would you go with Favre or Matt this week if you had to choose...?

 

[Britney Spears]

I still have this feeling Jackson is gone after this year.

 

[mad sweeney]

Burleson will have to be in the mix because of the money they spent on him in the off season!

It kills me that people really believe this. Holmgren cares about wins. Bottom line. Wins. He'll put his players in a position that allows them to be most successful.

Walrus does have a soft spot for some players though. Koren Robinson comes to mind, and as you pointed out in an earlier thread, he had Pork Chop in at guard over Spencer as part of Holmie's man-love of certain veterans. However, he has no such connection with Burleson, no reason to favor him. He'll certainly put the better WR out there as #2 no matter who it is. Even Hackett if he played better than Branch and Burleson.

 

[suchislife]

Burleson will have to be in the mix because of the money they spent on him in the off season!

It kills me that people really believe this. Holmgren cares about wins. Bottom line. Wins. He'll put his players in a position that allows them to be most successful.Further, Burleson's contract structure was a joke. It was retaliation for what the Vikings did to them with Hutchinson. He'll never see that contract through. Never.

So Shick, as the boards resident Seattle Homer, how long do you think it will take Branch to become fully involved in the offense?

My guess is right away. I expect him to start and play well this week in Chicago. Perhaps on the road at Chicago is not the best measuring stick, but I still him expect him to be full integrated into the offense this weekend.I expect Hasselbeck to complete an average of 18-20 passes per week. I expect breakdown to look like this each week...Jackson: 6Branch: 5Engram: 4TEs and others: 3-5Obviously they'll fluxuate, but I see this sort of distribution taking form right away.

I seem to remember an article or thread about WRs changing teams and their production. I did a few searches but came up empty. However, the point of it was to show how WRs as a rule struggled in the new offense in the first year. Obvioulsy we've seen some exceptions recently (Owens, Stallworth) but why are we just accepting as fact Branch will become a stud in Seattle? He's never finished top 10 in any catagory and now he's changing teams having missed all of training camp.I'm not trying to imply he can't be productive, but I seem to think he would be an exception. Can anyone dig up the article/thread I'm referring to?

 

[ditka311]

Why all the manlove for Branch? The guy has never cracked 1000 yds receiving or more than 5 TD's in his career. With all the threads about him you could swear they just got Steve Largent.

 

[Tommy Collins]

Shick!, I like Hasselback in this game, think he will have close to 300 and 2-3 TDs, am I nuts here ? Would you go with Favre or Matt this week if you had to choose...?

Bears are allowing 184 yards a game and haven't given up a passing TD all year. Sure Seattle will definitely be passing a lot because they have 3 good WRs and their starting RB is out of the game. But it will be difficult because I would expect the Bears to be prepared for their passing attack as the running game with Maurice Morris won't scare anybody. They saw the 4 wides last week against NYG so Seattle doesn't have any tricks in their bags. It won't be that easy to cover all 3 WRs but this is the Bears defense we're talking about. They've been one of the best for years and will most likely be putting some pressure on Hasselbeck as well to get him flustered. You can bring up the argument that they only played against Det, GB and Minn but it's still impressive to give up under 200 yards through the air with no TDs through 3 weeks. I have DJax and I think I'm going to sit him.

 

[Sheriff66]

Shick!, I like Hasselback in this game, think he will have close to 300 and 2-3 TDs, am I nuts here ? Would you go with Favre or Matt this week if you had to choose...?

Bears are allowing 184 yards a game and haven't given up a passing TD all year. Sure Seattle will definitely be passing a lot because they have 3 good WRs and their starting RB is out of the game. But it will be difficult because I would expect the Bears to be prepared for their passing attack as the running game with Maurice Morris won't scare anybody. They saw the 4 wides last week against NYG so Seattle doesn't have any tricks in their bags. It won't be that easy to cover all 3 WRs but this is the Bears defense we're talking about. They've been one of the best for years and will most likely be putting some pressure on Hasselbeck as well to get him flustered. You can bring up the argument that they only played against Det, GB and Minn but it's still impressive to give up under 200 yards through the air with no TDs through 3 weeks. I have DJax and I think I'm going to sit him.

They caught GB before they got it going, DET hasn't lit the world on fire and Minny hasn't scored a TD in forever. I think the Chicago D and O are both overrated right now, and with the mismatches at the 3rd and 4th WR to the Bears 3rd & 4th CB, I think Hasselbeck is going to have a shockingly nice day, not to mention the Seattle D bringing the Chicago O back down to earth and putting the ball back in Hasselbecks hands...

 

[taz]

Burleson will have to be in the mix because of the money they spent on him in the off season!

It kills me that people really believe this. Holmgren cares about wins. Bottom line. Wins. He'll put his players in a position that allows them to be most successful.Further, Burleson's contract structure was a joke. It was retaliation for what the Vikings did to them with Hutchinson. He'll never see that contract through. Never.

So Shick, as the boards resident Seattle Homer, how long do you think it will take Branch to become fully involved in the offense?

My guess is right away. I expect him to start and play well this week in Chicago. Perhaps on the road at Chicago is not the best measuring stick, but I still him expect him to be full integrated into the offense this weekend.I expect Hasselbeck to complete an average of 18-20 passes per week. I expect breakdown to look like this each week...Jackson: 6Branch: 5Engram: 4TEs and others: 3-5Obviously they'll fluxuate, but I see this sort of distribution taking form right away.

Don't underestimate Hass' comfort level with Engram on third down. I still think he gets plenty of looks as the Seahawks try to move the chains, and Branch won't seriously impact those numbers.DJax is still the clear No. 1 and will get the majority of looks on 1st/2nd down. Branch brings a more legit home-run threat than Burleson, and will score his share of 30+ yard TDs. I just don't see Branch consistently getting more catches than Engram.

 

[King of the Jungle]

I am in the boat of Hasselbeck lighting the Bears up. I think Seattle will come out throwing, and IMO the Bears secondary is overrated. I think they will be exposed in a big way this week. We shall see.

 

[tombonneau]

Burleson will have to be in the mix because of the money they spent on him in the off season!

It kills me that people really believe this. Holmgren cares about wins. Bottom line. Wins. He'll put his players in a position that allows them to be most successful.Further, Burleson's contract structure was a joke. It was retaliation for what the Vikings did to them with Hutchinson. He'll never see that contract through. Never.

So Shick, as the boards resident Seattle Homer, how long do you think it will take Branch to become fully involved in the offense?

My guess is right away. I expect him to start and play well this week in Chicago. Perhaps on the road at Chicago is not the best measuring stick, but I still him expect him to be full integrated into the offense this weekend.I expect Hasselbeck to complete an average of 18-20 passes per week. I expect breakdown to look like this each week...Jackson: 6Branch: 5Engram: 4TEs and others: 3-5Obviously they'll fluxuate, but I see this sort of distribution taking form right away.

I seem to remember an article or thread about WRs changing teams and their production. I did a few searches but came up empty. However, the point of it was to show how WRs as a rule struggled in the new offense in the first year. Obvioulsy we've seen some exceptions recently (Owens, Stallworth) but why are we just accepting as fact Branch will become a stud in Seattle? He's never finished top 10 in any catagory and now he's changing teams having missed all of training camp.I'm not trying to imply he can't be productive, but I seem to think he would be an exception. Can anyone dig up the article/thread I'm referring to?

I don't think anyone has any illusions about Branch being a top 10 NFL or FF WR. In fact, Shick's projections net him out at about 65 catches, which makes him a solid WR3 bye week guy in my book, which is all I need him to be on my roster.Intention of my post was to get a sense from Seattle homers Branch's timeline for getting worked into offense, i.e when can we expect the 5-7 catch games vs. last weeks 2 catch game.From the sound of it, that is sooner than later, which is fine by me.As far as the concept of WRs switching teams taking awhile to adjust, I have always had the same mindset, but this year seems to be debunking this fallacy. Between the play of Stallworth, Walker, Bryant and in limited action Owens, WRs switching teams are adjusting just fine as far as on-field production.This gives me higher hopes than I normally would have for Branch in SEA.

 

[Tommy Collins]

Shick!, I like Hasselback in this game, think he will have close to 300 and 2-3 TDs, am I nuts here ? Would you go with Favre or Matt this week if you had to choose...?

Bears are allowing 184 yards a game and haven't given up a passing TD all year. Sure Seattle will definitely be passing a lot because they have 3 good WRs and their starting RB is out of the game. But it will be difficult because I would expect the Bears to be prepared for their passing attack as the running game with Maurice Morris won't scare anybody. They saw the 4 wides last week against NYG so Seattle doesn't have any tricks in their bags. It won't be that easy to cover all 3 WRs but this is the Bears defense we're talking about. They've been one of the best for years and will most likely be putting some pressure on Hasselbeck as well to get him flustered. You can bring up the argument that they only played against Det, GB and Minn but it's still impressive to give up under 200 yards through the air with no TDs through 3 weeks. I have DJax and I think I'm going to sit him.

They caught GB before they got it going, hasn't lit the world on fire and Minny hasn't scored a TD in forever. I think the Chicago D and O are both overrated right now, and with the mismatches at the 3rd and 4th WR to the Bears 3rd & 4th CB, I think Hasselbeck is going to have a shockingly nice day, not to mention the Seattle D bringing the Chicago O back down to earth and putting the ball back in Hasselbecks hands...

What's so exciting about the Seattle D? Their run stopping has been great but Chicago hasn't gotten a running game going. So it's Chicago's 4th best passing attack against Seattle's 20th best passing defense.

 

[Sheriff66]

Shick!, I like Hasselback in this game, think he will have close to 300 and 2-3 TDs, am I nuts here ? Would you go with Favre or Matt this week if you had to choose...?

Bears are allowing 184 yards a game and haven't given up a passing TD all year. Sure Seattle will definitely be passing a lot because they have 3 good WRs and their starting RB is out of the game. But it will be difficult because I would expect the Bears to be prepared for their passing attack as the running game with Maurice Morris won't scare anybody. They saw the 4 wides last week against NYG so Seattle doesn't have any tricks in their bags. It won't be that easy to cover all 3 WRs but this is the Bears defense we're talking about. They've been one of the best for years and will most likely be putting some pressure on Hasselbeck as well to get him flustered. You can bring up the argument that they only played against Det, GB and Minn but it's still impressive to give up under 200 yards through the air with no TDs through 3 weeks. I have DJax and I think I'm going to sit him.

They caught GB before they got it going, hasn't lit the world on fire and Minny hasn't scored a TD in forever. I think the Chicago D and O are both overrated right now, and with the mismatches at the 3rd and 4th WR to the Bears 3rd & 4th CB, I think Hasselbeck is going to have a shockingly nice day, not to mention the Seattle D bringing the Chicago O back down to earth and putting the ball back in Hasselbecks hands...

What's so exciting about the Seattle D? Their run stopping has been great but Chicago hasn't gotten a running game going. So it's Chicago's 4th best passing attack against Seattle's 20th best passing defense.

I think the numbers are skewed for both the Chicago passing game and Seattle passing D, they gave up a lot of yards to the Giants in the passing game last week, but they were up by so much, the G men had no other choice but to pass the whole game. Chicago O has seen some marginal teams so far, and Seattle limited Fitz and Boldin to marginal days with 0TDs, and Mosse and Berrian aren't Fitz and Boldin by an strech of the imagination.

 

[Wingnut]

Why all the manlove for Branch? The guy has never cracked 1000 yds receiving or more than 5 TD's in his career. With all the threads about him you could swear they just got Steve Largent.

Alot of that had to do with New Englands ability to spread it around....and I mean REALLY spread it around. From 2002 through 2005, heres how TD passes by position breaks down:New England TD passes by position since 2002:

2002 (28 TD passes): WR(13), TE(9), RB(5) - Patten(5), Brown(3), otherWR(5)

2003 (23 TD passes): WR(16) TE(6), RB(1) - Givens(6), Brown(4), otherWR(6)

2004 (28 TD passes): WR(16), TE(9), RB(2) - Patten(7), Branch(4), otherWR(5)

2005 (28 TD passes): WR(14), TE(9), RB(1) - Branch(5), Dwight(3), otherWR(6)

You wont see it spread around like that in Seattle. New England uses TEs BIG TIME, and Hass is more the type to throw to WRs. NE threw 9 TDs to TEs in 3 of the last 4 years. Thats alot.

In comparison, Seattles TD passes by position since 2002:

2002 (19 TD passes): WR(9), TE(6), RB(4) - KRob(5), DJax(4)

2003 (27 TD passes): WR(20), TE(4), RB(3) - DJax(9), Engram(6), otherWR(5)

2004 (23 TD passes): WR(15), TE(4), RB(4) - DJax(7), Rice(3), otherWR(5)

2005 (25 TD passes): WR(17), TE(6), RB(1) - Joe J(10), DJax(3 - injured), Engram(3), otherWR(1)

SEA has thrown 6,6,4 and 4 TD passes to TEs in that span. Big difference. NE's low TE Tds was 6, and only in one season. The WRs will get most of Hass' TDs.

SO...heres the percentage of TD passes that have went to WRs from 2002-2005

2002: NE(46%) SEA(47%)

2003: NE(69%) SEA(74%)

2004: NE(57%) SEA(65%)

2005: NE(53%), SEA(68%)

EDIT: Some numbers dont add up...for example, in 2005, NE had 28td passes but only 24 are listed by position at FBG and profootballreference.com

 

[Kleck]

Thanks for the insight. Hopefully you are correct in your ratio. I'd be thrilled if he were able to contribute 4-6 catches/gm immediately.Do you see him close to his 13 YPC career avg? Or will he be used more underneath thus dropping his ypc slightly? With Burleson/Djax more the field stretchers?

I don't think that's a stretch. I would guess somewhere of a mix between Jackson (historically the deep guy in this offense, don't buy into thinking that it was ever Koren Robinson) at 14 YPC and Engram at 12 YPC.

 

[Kleck]

Shick!, I like Hasselback in this game, think he will have close to 300 and 2-3 TDs, am I nuts here ? Would you go with Favre or Matt this week if you had to choose...?

I see this being a low scoring game with both teams flexing very solid defenses. I doubt either team sees multiple touchdowns in the air.

 

[Kleck]

Burleson will have to be in the mix because of the money they spent on him in the off season!

It kills me that people really believe this. Holmgren cares about wins. Bottom line. Wins. He'll put his players in a position that allows them to be most successful.

Walrus does have a soft spot for some players though. Koren Robinson comes to mind, and as you pointed out in an earlier thread, he had Pork Chop in at guard over Spencer as part of Holmie's man-love of certain veterans. However, he has no such connection with Burleson, no reason to favor him. He'll certainly put the better WR out there as #2 no matter who it is. Even Hackett if he played better than Branch and Burleson.

Valid point on Womack. Holmgren did commit to him even though it appeared obvious that Spencer would be the better fit. With that in mind I think I'm sounding hypocritical. Perhaps not if you think of Burleson as just in courtship and Womack as a long term relationship.

 

[Deadzone21]

Burleson will have to be in the mix because of the money they spent on him in the off season!

It kills me that people really believe this. Holmgren cares about wins. Bottom line. Wins. He'll put his players in a position that allows them to be most successful.Further, Burleson's contract structure was a joke. It was retaliation for what the Vikings did to them with Hutchinson. He'll never see that contract through. Never.

So Shick, as the boards resident Seattle Homer, how long do you think it will take Branch to become fully involved in the offense?

My guess is right away. I expect him to start and play well this week in Chicago. Perhaps on the road at Chicago is not the best measuring stick, but I still him expect him to be full integrated into the offense this weekend.I expect Hasselbeck to complete an average of 18-20 passes per week. I expect breakdown to look like this each week...Jackson: 6Branch: 5Engram: 4TEs and others: 3-5Obviously they'll fluxuate, but I see this sort of distribution taking form right away.

I can see the 4 WR set giving D.Jax more 1-on-1 coverage opportunity giving more targets at WR1. If were talking 20 completions, my estimate would be more like...D.Jax: 7-8D.Branch: 5Engram: 3Others: 4-5

 

[Sheriff66]

Shick!, I like Hasselback in this game, think he will have close to 300 and 2-3 TDs, am I nuts here ? Would you go with Favre or Matt this week if you had to choose...?

I see this being a low scoring game with both teams flexing very solid defenses. I doubt either team sees multiple touchdowns in the air.

Sooooo.....I'm nuts then ???

 

[footballguide1]

DJax is the unquestioned starter and he and Engram have the most familiarity with Hass, add to the fact that DJax has more talent than Engram and it is an open and shut case.

With all things being equal I still think that DJax has more talent than Branch, and the fact that he has been Hass' `#1 target since he came to Sea. If anything Branch will steal a few TDs perhaps 4-5 while adding the same amount to DJax's total as he will see more single coverage. I am projecting DJax to have 1200 and about 10-11 TDs this year and Branch to have 900 and 4-5

 

[Kleck]

Shick!, I like Hasselback in this game, think he will have close to 300 and 2-3 TDs, am I nuts here ? Would you go with Favre or Matt this week if you had to choose...?

I see this being a low scoring game with both teams flexing very solid defenses. I doubt either team sees multiple touchdowns in the air.

Sooooo.....I'm nuts then ???

Well. One of us, but I didn't want to point the finger at you. I've noticed that finger pointing leads to new embarrassing sigs.

 

[Bri]

Branch should hopefully make Jax's life easier. He's excellent at getting to a spot and making a tough catch in traffic there. He's not the graceful "go deep" star people desire in a high priced WR but he should pay big dividends once they learn to play off each other.

 

[Sheriff66]

Shick!, I like Hasselback in this game, think he will have close to 300 and 2-3 TDs, am I nuts here ? Would you go with Favre or Matt this week if you had to choose...?

I see this being a low scoring game with both teams flexing very solid defenses. I doubt either team sees multiple touchdowns in the air.

Sooooo.....I'm nuts then ???

Well. One of us, but I didn't want to point the finger at you. I've noticed that finger pointing leads to new embarrassing sigs.

I might just have to play Favre this week, but the gut is telling me Hass is going to be BIG tomorrow night....

 

[tombonneau]

Going into the 4q, stat lines:

REC YDS TD LG D. Jackson 5 62 0 22 D. Branch 3 57 0 31 B. Engram 4 33 0 12 N. Burleson 1 19 0 19

so branch has been getting worked in, but djax still looks clear cut number 1, with engram & branch seeming to share the wr2 role (?)