2014-15 NFL Season: Heroes and Goats

[MadCardDisease]

Good lists. Not much to add other than I think Foote was worthy of a Hero nod. He was the heart and soul of the defense and a fantastic leader. He lessened the pain of losing Dansby and his leadership on the field.

So if I were to make one change, it would be to drop John Brown off the list and replace him with Larry Foote. I think Brown showed that he was clearly a rookie later in the season. The long 16 game schedule seemed to take a toll on him and he wasn't as reliable later in the season.

 

[iRobot]

John Abraham did some stupid stuff this past offseason but he went on IR, its not like he quit on the team for no reason.

I cannot agree with this.

2. John Abraham, OLB. --- It was pretty obvious he wanted more money and was upset. He went on "mulling retirement" to come back and get his salary guaranteed and then quit for the season. He even recently took to Twitter to say he believes he still has a good two years in him.

Before he left ATL, he was cited as being unhappy he wasnt getting paid more than what ATL was giving him and/or offering him.

 

[kerouac9]

Good lists. Not much to add other than I think Foote was worthy of a Hero nod. He was the heart and soul of the defense and a fantastic leader. He lessened the pain of losing Dansby and his leadership on the field.

So if I were to make one change, it would be to drop John Brown off the list and replace him with Larry Foote. I think Brown showed that he was clearly a rookie later in the season. The long 16 game schedule seemed to take a toll on him and he wasn't as reliable later in the season.

I think that Foote's leadership on the field was valuable, but he wasn't a very productive player, and he was a straight-up liability in the last quarter of the season. I mean, his best attribute was helping to keep Kevin Minter off the field from wire to wire.

 

[kerouac9]

John Abraham did some stupid stuff this past offseason but he went on IR, its not like he quit on the team for no reason.

I cannot agree with this.

2. John Abraham, OLB. --- It was pretty obvious he wanted more money and was upset. He went on "mulling retirement" to come back and get his salary guaranteed and then quit for the season. He even recently took to Twitter to say he believes he still has a good two years in him.

Before he left ATL, he was cited as being unhappy he wasnt getting paid more than what ATL was giving him and/or offering him.

Yeah, I think the charitable reading is that he was legitimately injured and went on IR. That story seems pretty fishy to me--particularly coming back and playing for one week and then mulling retirement before going on IR.

 

[BillsCarnage]

Abraham is a goner, imo. He opted not to retire to collect the paycheck, nothing more, imo.

 

[kerouac9]

Abraham is a goner, imo. He opted not to retire to collect the paycheck, nothing more, imo.

Well, he's a pending free agent, so I'm thinking that's probably right.

 

[daves]

Can Michael Floyd be as good or better a #1 receiver than Jordy Nelson, Jeremy Maclin, and 70% of the other top receivers around the NFL?

No question in my mind.

If Floyd can be as good as or better than Jordy Nelson - especially the 2014 version of Nelson - i will do cartwheels on the Great Lawn. Nelson's last 4 years:

Year	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Lng	R/G	Y/G
2011	16	9	96	68	1263	18.6	15	93	4.3	78.9
2012	12	10	73	49	745	15.2	7	73	4.1	62.1
2013	16	16	127	85	1314	15.5	8	76	5.3	82.1
2014	16	16	151	98	1519	15.5	13	80	6.1	94.9
Total	60	51	447	300	4841	16.1	43	93	5.0	80.7
Avg	15	13	112	75	1210		11

...dbs

 

[82CardsGrad]

I don't think this is fair. Is Michael Floyd going to be a #1 receiver like Dez Bryant and A.J. Green? I don't think that was ever really in his skill set. Can Michael Floyd be as good or better a #1 receiver than Jordy Nelson, Jeremy Maclin, and 70% of the other top receivers around the NFL?

No question in my mind.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see Floyd ever reaching the level of production of guys like Nelson and Maclin...

 

[kerouac9]

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see Floyd ever reaching the level of production of guys like Nelson and Maclin...

I don't think we'll see Floyd reaching the production of Nelson because I don't think we'll ever see a quarterback the quality of Aaron Rodgers throwing him the ball.

I like Jeremy Maclin a lot; I just represented him in a mock contract negotiation for overthecap.com. That being said, Maclin never had 1000 receiving yards in a season before this one, and had only had 10 TDs in a season once before this year.

 

[82CardsGrad]

I don't think we'll see Floyd reaching the production of Nelson because I don't think we'll ever see a quarterback the quality of Aaron Rodgers throwing him the ball.

Yep... Same for Fitz, however, it seems Larry doesn't get the slack that appears to be offered Floyd...

I like Jeremy Maclin a lot; I just represented him in a mock contract negotiation for overthecap.com. That being said, Maclin never had 1000 receiving yards in a season before this one, and had only had 10 TDs in a season once before this year.

Yes... and still, I am not sold that Floyd will reach Maclin's production...

 

[kerouac9]

Yep... Same for Fitz, however, it seems Larry doesn't get the slack that appears to be offered Floyd...



Yes... and still, I am not sold that Floyd will reach Maclin's production...

Maybe you should check Nelson's stats to get an idea of what the kind of difference a QB makes. It's the difference between 1000 yards and 1700 yards.

As for the Maclin comparison, here's Floyd's last two seasons: 112 receptions, 1882 yards, 16.8 YPC, 11 TDs.

Maclin's second and third seasons: 133 receptions, 1823 yards, 13.7 YPC, 15 TDs.

If you don't think that Michael Floyd has already reached Maclin's level of production, you're not paying much attention.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Maybe you should check Nelson's stats to get an idea of what the kind of difference a QB makes. It's the difference between 1000 yards and 1700 yards.

As for the Maclin comparison, here's Floyd's last two seasons: 112 receptions, 1882 yards, 16.8 YPC, 11 TDs.

Maclin's second and third seasons: 133 receptions, 1823 yards, 13.7 YPC, 15 TDs.

If you don't think that Michael Floyd has already reached Maclin's level of production, you're not paying much attention.

I totally get what the impact can be to a WR when benefiting from a stud QB. Which is why I often use that argument when discussing Fitz...
As for the Maclin / Floyd comparison, we'll have to see if Floyd takes the next step up in his career...Thus far, he's averaged 52 catches and the most TD's he's had in a season is 6. Maclin has averaged 69 catches and has had 10 TD's twice in his career. Again, I hope I'm wrong, but I have doubts about Floyd reaching that level of production...

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I totally get what the impact can be to a WR when benefiting from a stud QB. Which is why I often use that argument when discussing Fitz...
As for the Maclin / Floyd comparison, we'll have to see if Floyd takes the next step up in his career...Thus far, he's averaged 52 catches and the most TD's he's had in a season is 6. Maclin has averaged 69 catches and has had 10 TD's twice in his career. Again, I hope I'm wrong, but I have doubts about Floyd reaching that level of production...

The question is does the team need Floyd to be that productive, or just do his job/role on the team ?

I don't know, but it will be interesting to see how the Cardinals would distribute touches without Fitzgerald out there.