Shutout said:
I wonder how many people realize that in 2009, Steve Smith, a guy that is about the exact same size as Odell, playing on the same team with the same QB, playing in a similar capacity, caught the exact same % of balls (Beckham 91/130, Smith 107/157) for slightly more yards? Beckham did catch 12 TDs to Smith's 7 but I guess it is also worth noting that we probably don't expect Beckham to maintain a 21TD season most years.
They aren't the same guy and Beckham certainly appears to have more going for him but it does underscore the idea, again, that lots of people have done something ONCE in NYC and it got talked about a lot.
I think your example fails to drive your point home. Steve Smith, after doing it once in NYC, was not heralded as the next big thing, particularly in fantasy and dynasty circles. He just got done with a fantastic year in 2009, and no one was talking about him as a top 5 WR, much less the #1 overall dynasty player. In two startups for me that year, he was drafted in the mid 4th round. Good, but nothing that NYC hype had anything to do with from what I recall.
The fact that you wondered how few people even realized how good a season he had belies the assertion that anything done once in NYC gets extra attention.
That was also in an era when people completely whiffed on Victor Cruz, also. Just because people miss things unless they are bludgeoned over the head with it doesn't make it any less true.
The facts are still there. Steve Smith was an absolute after-thought/nonthought before he ended up as a top 10 fantasy WR. Cruz came from nowhere for the same.
THE POINT was that, on this team with this QB and HC, in the city of New York, we have seen several times (even with the Jets with Sanchez for a minute or two) that guys have found themselves in a situation where they flat out tore the lid off of it and the media creates a more powerful buzz there than anywhere else and that drives perception.
Look at Larry Donnell. Wasn't there a bout a three week period during the first month of the season where he was getting massive attention? A NYC team playing games in prime time has all the fuel it needs.
I think Freelove has it dead on. It's not like people are saying Beckham isn't GREAT. But that seems not good enough. People hyping him up seems as if they will settle for nothing less than "he is what Jerry Rice wanted to be and everyone else needs to acknowledge they are playing for 2nd place".
But when you look at ALL the factors, you see that this simply isn't sustainable. Even the guys that are saying "well, teams can't adjust to him because he's had time to develop...". Come on. This is the NFL. These are people whose sole existence is to invest 100 hours a week studying what they just saw and adapting to it.
Calvin Johnson is probably the most beastly combination of a player I have ever seen. If he didn't just become Detroit Jesus for a decade, nobody will. Reggie White and Lawrence Taylor were the most disruptive defenders I have ever seen. Complete game changers. And they were spectacular and had seasons that would make fantasy owners proud. But even they didn't just roll out of bed and sustain impossible forecasts.
If Beckham starts the first month of the season with "only 350 yards and 27 catches and 4 TDs, people are going to ignore the fact that averages 7/90/1 and will be whining and moaning. Not because he's not a top WR but because he failed to live up to the expectations (and price people are currently giving).
I'm pretty sure if he averages 7 receptions, 90 yards and 1 TD a game... that'd be right where people are projecting him. Thats 112 receptions, 1440 yards and 16 TDs. I figured a safe projection for him is 100 receptions, 1550 yards and 12 TDs. I'm not sure where you and others are getting these expectations of people expecting him to put up 150 receptions, 2200 yards and 20 TDs. All the 'doubters' of him being dynasty WR1 are acting like those are the projections on him right now and anything else will be a disappointment. I just don't understand where that's coming from, show me a post or article where someone projects him anywhere close to those ridiculous numbers he was on pace for last year.
Barring injury I think he 'floor' is: 90 receptions, 1400 yards, 8 TDs
His ceiling isn't something I believe can be quantifiable. As we saw what he did over the last 8 games of the season, theoretically that's has to be his perceived ceiling. That said, even the best WR season in history imo Jerry Rice 1995 had one or two down games. So for his ceiling projection lets do this correctly and assume he plays to his highest ability like he did to end the half of last season. In those last 8 games he averaged:
9.13 receptions, 130.38 yards and 1.13 TDs per game. Now, we'll extrapolate that to 14 games to account for 2 'down' games. We come to 127 receptions, 1825 yards, 16 TDs. Now, we'll assume a down game for him by averaging his two worse games last season. So for that you get about 3 receptions, 36 yards and 0.5 TDs.
So that comes to a 'ceiling' of 133 receptions, 1897 yards and 17 TDs.
Now is this a high ceiling? No, I don't think so. Not really at least, its definitely one of the best seasons of a WR in history if it happens. That said, I don't think it's better than Rice's season simply because of the time period and rules difference. Nor would I say it's better than Calvin's record breaking season as that was a destruction season. Calvin's 5 TDs that year doesn't even tell the story as I can't even remember how many times I watched him get tackled at the 1 yard line that year. It was painful to watch. He could've easily had 15-20 TDs instead of 5 that year.
So just to recap:
Floor: 90 receptions, 1400 yards, 8 TDs
Actual Projection: 100 receptions, 1550 yards, 12 TDs
Ceiling: 133 receptions, 1900 yards, 17 TDs
I feel none of these are unobtainable based on what he showed last year. And barring injury I don't see how he fails to hit those floor numbers. He's not Michael Clayton or Mike Williams or Steve Smith, all these guys had injuries or character concerns going into their sophomore years. He has neither of those concerns. At least not right now, there's no guarantee he doesn't tear an ACL in mini-camps or preseason, it's happened before. But for this moment I think those projections are fair and perfectly normal. If you feel otherwise, I'd like to hear your reasons.