Floyd has played 8 seasons. He's never caught more than 45 passes in any of them. There's been some quality games along the way no doubt. I just don't see how you can be so certain he's the play with the resume that he's got at this point.
If VJax is gone, Floyd will fill his role as the #1 WR target. He is very similar to Jackson physically and has great ability as a deep threat. He also has the size the Chargers like in their receivers; Brown is smaller.Floyd hasn't had more than 45 catches in a season for two reasons:
1. He has not been able to stay healthy and on the field.
2. He has never been higher than the #2 WR in the offense; as I already posted, the Chargers' #2 offense does not typically get a high volume of targets.
Floyd's production per target has been outstanding. He has averaged 18.5 ypr over the past 4 seasons and had 16 receiving TDs on 152 catches, a pretty good ratio, particularly considering that Gates, Jackson, and the RBs were given most of the red zone opportunities.
Once again you state the #2 in the Chargers offense doesn't produce, and I'm going to say this again since didn't respond to my response to you. In the past wasn't Gates the #1 and Jackson the #2.....so the Chargers WR#2 was really the third option? Here's what I responded before:I think one needs to be careful when pigeonholing values of fantasy players based on the past numbers. I'd like to refute the above numbers by saying:
2011 - Floyd missed 4 full games
2009 - Nannee missed 6 full games
As far as Chambers, well I'm not going to dig back that far. We do have to remember that Gates could be considered their #1 WR for the years Chambers played there, so Chambers really would have been their #3 WR and Jackson being their #2 WR.
With Gates aging, doesn't that open up the #2 WR for more targets? Those that think the NFL never changes fall behind quickly. You sir are about to be one of those that fall behind. The NFL is always in flux. If it's not Brown, it's going to be a new FA or rookie they bring in that will benefit soon.....if not 2012, 2013. I'm for one that is going to be ahead of the curve on this one! I lost out on Victor Cruz last season by the same train of thought you are using now....."Nicks and Manningham is all the offense has to offer". It's the same as your thinking "Gates and Floyd is all the Chargers have to offer". BTW - Floyd is getting long in the tooth as well. One could make the argument that he's older than his age given all the injuries he's had. Floyd is a FA in 2013 as well.
This post of mine was talking about Floyd's past performance. When he was the Chargers #2 WR in recent seasons, he did not get a high volume of targets. That's not the same thing as speculating about the offense going forward. Do you see the difference?As for your first post, I didn't respond to it because IMO it isn't overly relevant to the point I made. Sure, there have been mitigating circumstances at times, whether midseason personnel changes (Chambers twice) or injuries (and, by the way, Naanee's injury was in 2010, not 2009). That doesn't change the facts of the situation, which is what I posted about.
The offense is designed to throw a lot to the TEs and RBs. Since Norv arrived, the Chargers are last in the NFL in WR targets, and by a fair margin. They targeted their WRs 1215 times over those 5 seasons; the next lowest was Oakland with 1263, the median was 1561, and the leader was Arizona with 2074. Those are huge discrepancies.
Part of our discussion here is the possibility that Jackson leaves... so you are suggesting their best WR could leave, but WR targets could go up substantially because of other personnel changes/aging. Sure, that could happen, and Brown could emerge as a stud WR who gets a lot of targets from a great QB in Rivers. But it seems unlikely IMO.
Yes, Gates is aging. One might have said the same thing about Tomlinson a few years ago and speculated that the Chargers would throw less often to their RBs, given what a great receiving RB he was for them, but that didn't happen... they threw more often to their RBs the past two seasons than in any season when LT was with the Chargers.
IMO it is likely the offense will continue to throw a lot to the TEs and RBs. If they need a new TE to do that, I suspect they'll get one.
(luckily i did)! There isn't much of Brown out there but here is a little something.
Last season, Mathews was 4th on the Chargers in receptions. He had 50 receptions in 14 games. Tolbert had 54, Jackson had 60, and Gates had 64. With Tolbert and Jackson potentially gone, it's easy to see a path to Mathews having the most receptions on the team, perhaps with 65+.
