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Why not Marlon Brown? (1 Viewer)

Sabertooth

Footballguy
I was poking around thinking of players I'd like to acquire and I was focusing in on Terrance Williams. Initially I offered a first round pick to the Williams owner, and then thought which player of mine I'd include with him and almost clicked Marlon Brown. Then I started comparing the two players and thinking about their relative fantasy needles and more importantly WHY their needles are not in sync despite them having a lot of similarities.

Marlon Brown -

Pros - Big tall and fast. He's 6'4" in listed at 205 on MFL. He tied the Ravens rookie TD record last year with 7 (Torrey Smith). In part because of his height. He has a nice TD catch in the snow here vs. the Vikings. Steve Smith doesn't make that catch. I don't even think Torrey Smith makes that catch.

Cons - draft pedigree. He wasn't drafted and had to earn his spot the old fashioned way. But I found it interesting that he was a top 5 high school recruit and was considered the heir apparent to AJ Green in Georgia. He's had his share of misfortune to say the least. Apprantly his ACL injury was pretty bad and caused by a defensive player putting a helmet on his knee.

He isn't a player that came out of nowhere exactly. He just had some misfortune along the way. But last year playing on a surgically repaired knee, he was a pretty good.

So why are people largely ignoring him? Opportunity? I don't know that Steve Smith or Torrey Smith offer anything close to what Brown offers as far as height. Footballguys is projecting a stat regression which is strange for a sophomore who was playing injured much of his rookie season.

 
People hang onto their original "brand" perceptions way too long.

Wrote this profile of Brown after Week 3 of the pre-season last year (but didn't post it to the blog until 9/12). Holds up pretty well so far.

 
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Opportunity is the key here and I won't argue that people may be a bit short sighted since Steve Smith is nearing the end of his career. Both seems to have some skills that may point to a nice career but Williams should be starting along with Dez Bryant and most feel should be able to easily assume the Miles Austin spot making him a young 1000 yard receiver. Brown looks to be playing behind the Smith's and will not have that immediate impact.

 
Opportunity is there for good players. Randall Cobb always comes to mind. He was drafted onto a team with Jordy, James Jones, Driver, and Jennings. And he gave exactly zero ####s about that and ascended the depth chart anyway. The Ravens were a disaster last season and Marlon was one of the few bright spots. I think Steve Smith is well past his prime and I'm not concerned about him much. Torrey Smith is ok but he kind of seems on par with Mike Wallace. Pitta is pretty solid but again, he's not elite. The opportunity is there.

Say for instance that Brown, now recovered from his injuries, continues his upward trajectory and becomes as good as say Marques Colston, because I think he's got the talent to do that. Where would a 24 year old Colston fit into that mix?

 
He's getting overlooked because of the system change with Kubiak. Historically the 3rd receiver in that offense hasn't been productive.

But I agree, he's a good young talent with actual production on the field. I was pleased as pie to get him at WR77 in a recent startup.

 
It's the offense. If Smith is the WR2 there it will be a wasted year for Brown.

I am willing to take a peak next year. For dynasty purposes, he's a decent buy. But even then I think his upside is WR2, assuming he stays the TD machine he was last year.

 
Could Steve Smith be headed for a possession type receiver. He's got the my ball mentality and would guess he still has speed enough for the short and intermediate routes

 
I don't understand why he's rated behind rookies like Robinson or Adams. Those guys are in for wasted years as well and neither has any production yet.

With Browns size his best comps are Aj Green and Vincent Jackson.

 
I don't understand why he's rated behind rookies like Robinson or Adams. Those guys are in for wasted years as well and neither has any production yet.

With Browns size his best comps are Aj Green and Vincent Jackson.
The big problem is that Torrey Smith receives the bulk of the targets in Baltimore and Steve Smith signed to take some more.

Value-wise, I traded Mark Ingram for Marlon Brown. Then I traded Marlon Brown for Emmanuel Sanders.

I don't think Baltimore wants to be a pass-first football team and if that's the case, I certainly don't want the 3rd string receiver on the team. I have no questions about Brown's talent though, he's definitely sufficient.

 
I don't understand why he's rated behind rookies like Robinson or Adams. Those guys are in for wasted years as well and neither has any production yet.

With Browns size his best comps are Aj Green and Vincent Jackson.
All Robinson needs is a Cecil Shorts injury. Stranger things have happened.

I think it's easy to say Robinson and Adams have more upside. Brown has great height, but he's not that great an athlete, not that strong, smaller hands. Robinson has great agility and vertical. Adams is in a great situation.

He's a big possession WR. Your Colston comp is better than AJ Green or VJax.

 
Dredging this up to see what folks think of Brown going into this season. A lot of the negatives brought up going into last season ended up proving true. Does Brown have a shot with Torrey Smith out of town and Trestman as his new OC? They didn't bring anyone in in FA, draft talk has them unlikely to spend a first on a WR, and Campanaro is a slot receiver. That height and rookie TD number has me hoping, but last year's production was abysmal.

 
If Baltimore doesn't draft a WR. I will go out of my way to get Marlon Brown. It's not like Flacco is a guy who can support 3 top flight WR. Unfortunately, I can see them nabbing Devin Smith.

 
Dredging this up to see what folks think of Brown going into this season. A lot of the negatives brought up going into last season ended up proving true. Does Brown have a shot with Torrey Smith out of town and Trestman as his new OC? They didn't bring anyone in in FA, draft talk has them unlikely to spend a first on a WR, and Campanaro is a slot receiver. That height and rookie TD number has me hoping, but last year's production was abysmal.
It's certainly not obvious what the receiver plan is. Trestman's history is to use what's given to him, but Smith, Brown, Campanero has the ring of a DP combo more than a receiving corps. The draft has some WR depth, so that's my guess, but absent significant additions Brown gets more interesting.
 

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