Why can't Crowder evolve into Gary Clark, Santana Moss

[Burgold]

I keep hearing that Crowder is only a slot guy, but I don't see why that has to be the case. We've had plenty of Smurfs who have been top line receivers. Charlie Brown, Moss, Clark, Coles, Ellard, etc. I think he has the chance to emerge and be a starter. Mind you, these days the third receiver is a starter and a slot receiver is a really important player, but I don't see why we have to think of him so narrowly. He seems to have the hands, the quickness, and toughness to be a good receiver period. He has gotten open short, deep, in the middle of the field and on the sideline.

 

Now, I do understand the hope that Doctson emerges and Pryor continues to realize his potential so that we have two giants on the outside and a jitterbug roaming the slot, but I'd like to see Crowder given a shot to be the number 2 receiver at least until Doctson proves something. Besides, among all three guys, I suspect that Crowder is our most polished receiver.

[Koolblue13]

I don't know, why can't he?

[Audible_Red40]

Personally, sure I think he can become a great WR.

 

My thing is, I think there's too much stock put into the phrase "number 2 WR".  Players line up all over the field now.  TE's are catching 75 plus balls.  Some offenses are built from the inside out, makes slot guys more important.  Corners are bigger and stronger and faster then ever.  On the flip side, teams are drafting nickel corners now, who would ever thought that would happen. So who cares if Crowder is "only a slot guy"?

 

Personally, I don't care what his depth chart says he is.  He's getting better and if he continues to get 67 catches for 7 TDs, then he is a valuable weapon as a "slot guy".  It's not a problem having 4 guys catching 65 plus balls a year.

[dyst]

Not every guy can catch "over the shoulder" on a consistent basis. Sure he can learn but a lot of times that is just something you have or don't have. 

 

Dont get me wrong, not saying he can't but that might be what's playing a roll in his current situation.

[Koolblue13]

He was second on the team in targets and only 2 spots behind Djax in the top 50 league wide, which makes him already in his second year the #2wr on a few teams in the league and that's ahead of Reed and Garcon.

 

So, he is pretty much Moss already because he never should have been a #1 anyway.

[Burgold]

The only thing I don't understand about that, KB is that Crowder seemed to disappear the last 1/4 of the season. Now, it felt more like Cousins just wasn't throwing it to him instead of him getting open, but for whatever reason he stopped getting the ball thrown at him.

 

At least that's the way I remember it. Be funny if the stats didn't bare it out.

[mistertim]

He is shifty and quick but not a burner like a DJax or a Moss. IIRC he ran like a 4.5 something 40 at the combine so you could put him on the outside but it probably wouldn't do you as much good because of his lack of size and pure speed which are usually the guys you'd put at the X and/or Z receiver positions. Doesn't mean he can't do it but he pretty much has all the attributes that make him a terrific slot guy so unless I had to I wouldn't line him up on the outside.

[Morneblade]

Crowder ran a 4.56 at he combine, so I think what some worry about is that he is not fast enough to make a starting CB respect the deep ball. As to whether ot not I think he can play outside, I'm not sure. But I think he is quick enough and runs routes well enough to be able to. But he might better inside.

[HTTRDynasty]

I don't see why Crowder couldn't put up the bulk stats similar to a guy like Doug Baldwin, if given the opportunity.

 

1) Jamison Crowder, Washington Redskins (3.6 separation at target)

Slot separation: 3.48 (74.7 percent of targets)
Out wide separation: 3.88 (23.2 percent of targets)
Air yards per target: 8.7

It was something of a surprise season for Jamison Crowder, who was mostly an afterthought in the national media after Washington drafted Josh Doctson in the first round. Forgetting the second-year receiver who caught 59 passes as a rookie turned out to be a mistake. Doctson ended up on injured reserve, but Crowder was a factor from the jump. He finished third on the team in targets with 99 and rather surprisingly, led Washington with seven touchdowns. Crowder averaged 3.48 yards in the slot, right in line with Cole Beasley for the best among the 15 slot receivers sampled here. Perhaps even more impressive, he led all of those receivers with 3.88 yards of separation when lined up outside, where he saw 23.2 percent of his total targets. With both Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson set to see their contracts expire at the dawn of the new league year in March, Crowder looks to be a large figure in Washington's offensive future. As a strong route-runner with better speed than you may think, don't be surprised if Crowder has a true breakout season in 2017.

 

6) Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks (3.05 separation at target)

Slot separation: 3.27 (70.2 percent of targets)
Out wide separation: 2.41 (28.2 percent of targets)
Air yards per target: 9.8

The notion that Doug Baldwin's 2015 season was a fluke and not a true career progression was flatly disproven this year. His 14 touchdowns were always going to come down, but Baldwin caught 94 passes and posted a career-high 1,128 yards in 2016. For my money, he's the best slot receiver in the NFL today, mixing technical precision with a knack for big plays. Baldwin averaged 3.27 yards of separation on his slot targets, where he obviously sees the majority of his looks. However, he's also an effective outside receiver, averaging 2.41 yards of separation on his 35 targets lined up wide. He gets open all over the field. Additionally, Baldwin is one of the best receivers operating in traffic, boasting a 50 percent catch rate when he had less than a yard of separation (40.5 is the league average). There's no longer any reason to cast doubt on where Baldwin ranks among the NFL's pantheon of receivers.

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000776994/article/jamison-crowder-leads-top10-slot-receivers-in-separation

[KingGibbs]

As much as I love Crowder? It is blasphemous to put any other receiver in the same sentence as the great Gary Clark.

[Reaper Skins]

Crowder can't evolve until you collect all 8 Gym Badges and defeat the Elite 4 using a Pikachu

[Skinsfan1311]

32 minutes ago, KingGibbs said:

As much as I love Crowder? It is blasphemous to put any other receiver in the same sentence as the great Gary Clark.

Only to us old ****s....

[KingGibbs]

2 minutes ago, Skinsfan1311 said:

Only to us old ****s....

He was more than just a great receiver. His competitiveness and the fact that he HATED and I mean HATED to lose has been unmatched since. 

 

By the way. I have 10 days left in my 40's. I'm holding onto my youth by a thread. I'll than accept my AARP membership.

 

 

[Warhead36]

I'm high on Crowder. I think people are underrated him entering his 3rd season, which is typically the monster breakout season(see Reed in 2015). I see a lot of Antonio Brown in his game.

[mistertim]

1 hour ago, Morneblade said:

Crowder ran a 4.56 at he combine, so I think what some worry about is that he is not fast enough to make a starting CB respect the deep ball. As to whether ot not I think he can play outside, I'm not sure. But I think he is quick enough and runs routes well enough to be able to. But he might better inside.

 

Yeah I don't necessarily think he couldn't do it or would suck at it, but IMO he is just too good of a slot guy to try and force him to be an X receiver. But we also have bigger guys like Pryor, Doctson, and Quick now who would be more likely X and Z guys with their size and speed combinations. So unless those guys get injured or stink it up I'd probably stick with Crowder in the slot and those guys on the outside.

[Skinsfan1311]

1 hour ago, KingGibbs said:

He was more than just a great receiver. His competitiveness and the fact that he HATED and I mean HATED to lose has been unmatched since. 

 

By the way. I have 10 days left in my 40's. I'm holding onto my youth by a thread. I'll than accept my AARP membership.

 

 

Get off my lawn!

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

I think Crowder is much more versatile than people give him credit for.  I expect Jay to keep his word and expand Jamison's role in the offense.  

 

I know these are college highlights, but plenty of over the shoulder type stuff in here.  And some vicious moves.

 

[LaRonDontLikeUgly]

Gonna be a PPR Fantasy MONSTER this year and hopefully for many years to come...

 

I was admittedly sour on this draft pick when it happened.  Not because I didn't like Crowder's game, but because I had Tyler Lockett as the 2nd best WR in that class behind Amari Cooper.  The man crush was (and still is to some extent) borderline maniacal, so when I woke up in a ditch by the highway in New Orleans at my buddies' bachelor party only to find out we traded our pick with the Seahawks, you can understand how my world came crashing down.

 

Had Crowder not turned out to be the beast he is, there's a strong possibility I would have returned to that ditch to live out the remainder of my days.... selling $2 grilled cheese sandwiches by the highway, wearing my teeth on a necklace, and a tattered Colt McCoy jersey with "Lockett" written in sharpie over duct tape on the back.

 

So, I'm glad things worked out the way they did.

[NoCalMike]

I think Crowder has the chance to evolve more into a jack-of-all-trades type of WR, like a Edleman or Amandola.  A WR that you can lineup somewhere different every snap, run all sorts of routes.  You can force the defense to have to guess where he will end up and who they would have to use to cover him.  He has already shown that he can get open downfield, but also catch the ball behind a screen and take it a long way. 

[Burgold]

Pretty sure everyone knows that I intended no respect to  Gary who is one of our best and vastly underrated in NFL circles. That was why I talked about evolving into or growing towards becoming like that kind of player. If he could become a Clark that would be amazing. That said, really happy with Crowder's development and progress so far and I think he can become even better. In fact, if given a chance we may remember him fondly years from now and talk about how the whippersnappers today can't compare to our past greats (Okay, I'm going too far now... Crowder has much to do before that, but he is on a really good trajectory).

[XxSpearheadxX]

He is such a friggin beast, competitor and good dude. He should always be on the field and I guarantee you he strikes fear into defenses.  Personally I think his ability to run option routes where he can run either left or right is so great i love him in the slot.

 

Bottom line is when you have recievers and TEs and a QB like us it doesn't matter AT ALL what they are listed as 1 2 3 4 x y z te who cares? Move them all around wherever grudens heart desires and score effin touch downs.

 

I'm so psyched for this year. Doctson (in college) and pryor and Reed have all been great in the slot also. 

[TSO]

6 hours ago, Reaper Skins said:

Crowder can't evolve until you collect all 8 Gym Badges and defeat the Elite 4 using a Pikachu

 

I recently bought my (just turned) seven year old son a 2DS with Pokemon Moon and I've been doing all of this "evolving" of Pokemon with him. I think I'm enjoying it more than he is. 

 

But, yeah, this cracked me up. Perfect timing for me.  

[Vanguard]

I'm a Crowder fan.  I'd like to see him stay in the slot.  I think that's where we need him.  That's where he'll be most productive.

[Momma There Goes That Man]

The thing is, he's great in the slot. If he is only very good on the outside I don't see why we would want him there because it's not using him to the best of his abilities. 

 

But i I guess he deserves the shot to see whether he can be great outside too.