How Close Is Fred Davis to Being a Factor on Offense?

[kingdaddy]

Does anyone know anything about how Fred Davis is progressing? We invested a high pick on Davis and it seems to me like the shortcomings of Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas last year have made many of us forget about Davis. This guy is supposed to be a game changing tight end. I'dl love to see him on the field with Cooley, Moss and Thomas.....

[DGREENHULK]

Well if you listen to "NO S" Just Larry Michael on Redskin Nation....he says Davis according to the coaching staff was one the top 3 Skins in the off season workout program. I think the general thought at Redskin park is that Davis will contribure on O this year....That is long way from not being able to set an alarm clock....So far so good.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Hahahahaha

[IbleedBnG83]

I find it difficult to think that Davis won't have an impact this year. With everone further along on the offense and the physical abilities that Davis brings, Zorn will need to pull out all the stops. Just having Davis on the field changes what the offense is capable of.

[*VA*story]

I always thought he would be a really good player, hopefully this is a breakout year for him. I didn't understand why Zorn didn't utilize him more last year. Hopefully they don't have him doing anymore reverses tho smh

[Jahbird]

BFD is money! Err...will be money! If he can take just a little attention away from cooley, moss, and the gang I will be happy. I am not looking for HUGE contributions from any of these guys yet and will be happy if they contribute just enough to keep defenses honest, tana on an island, and the run game open.

[corn_beef_n_rice]

with cooley 1st on the depth chart, i don't see freddy contributing much at all

[ST is my boy]

Theres no reason why he shouldnt be better than Cooley. He was drafted in the 2nd round.....which in TE terms mean he should be close to ELITE in my mind. Cooley was a 3rd or 4th rounder......Davis is a bust if he cant take Cooleys job, or atleast be as good.

[sideshow24]

Theres no reason why he shouldnt be better than Cooley. He was drafted in the 2nd round.....which in TE terms mean he should be close to ELITE in my mind. Cooley was a 3rd or 4th rounder......Davis is a bust if he cant take Cooleys job, or atleast be as good.

If he takes Cooley's job he will be the best tight end in the league.

[Adam291]

I'll repost something from another thread about Fred stepping up:

Still wondering what "stepping up" would be for Davis.

Can a backup TE really make that big of an impact?

That's another thing. Cooley can get 800-900 yards and 6-10 TDs next year, so maybe Davis having an impact means he gets, I dunno, 250 yards and 2 or 3 TDs? Is that overly optimistic in itself? Anthony Fasano was a backup for Witten, and good enough to become a starter in Miami. What were his stats in 2007 which proved he was starting-caliber in 2008? 14 rec, 143 yards and 1 TD. Manumaleuna, a backup for Antonio Gates last year, got similar numbers with 15 rec, 127 yards and 2 TDs. Brad Cottam, a backup for Tony Gonzales had 7 rec, 63 yards and 0 TDs (though he was a rookie.) And Yoder had 8 rec, 50 yards and 1 TD.

So the 2nd TE behind an elite starter doesn't really do much, even if they're starting-caliber themselves. The only way Davis will have a bigger impact is if we purposely try to have a more TE-centric offense, beyond even the 2-TE sets we keep hearing about, which could make sense if we can't rely on the receiving corps. Davis or Cooley could be used a lot in the slot or something. The only other thing I can think of is if they force Davis in the lineup to force Cooley out, which doesn't seem even remotely possible. With Cooley probably being the most loved player on the team, nobody wants to see even one play taken away from him.

To be honest, I think Davis will be around for one or two more seasons, and then he'll be traded to start somewhere else. I don't really know why he was drafted, since, frankly, we don't need a TE as good as him. (This is assuming Davis really is/can be as good as people say.) Maybe they were planning to trade him eventually all along, I dunno. Thomas and Kelly are more the focus of who needs to significantly contribute. Davis just needs to be serviceable, which is probably below his potential.

[flexxskins]

IMO Zorn's coaching ability would seriously have to be scrutinized if Fred Davis is not utilized 100% more than he was last season.

I'm sorry but the fact that kids like TE Brent Celek came in and contributed to the Eagles offense in 07 and 08 right away and then D.Jackson comes in last season and becomes their number one wideout erks the **** out of me. We always seem to have some type of excuse.

[ST is my boy]

If he takes Cooley's job he will be the best tight end in the league.

Dont know about that one. I just dont get why you draft a tightend in the second round to be a backup......

Guess I'll never get anything Vinny does...

[Thirtyfive2seven]

I'm sorry but the fact that kids like TE Brent Celek came in and contributed to the Eagles offense in 07 and 08 right away and then D.Jackson comes in last season and becomes their number one wideout erks the **** out of me. We always seem to have some type of excuse.

that always bothers me too. The difference is they have a system and a qb so they have become adept at finding players to plug in. The skins have a revolving door at Head Coach and have tried repeatedly to get rid of JC (which may turn out to be the right move).

I understand what you're saying, but I feel that if the Skins drafted the same players that excel in other systems they won't do as well here.

[SkipJackSkin]

I don't care how close he is, he just better have a breakout season.

Breakout being in relative terms of course.

[RFK Lives]

There are bound to be some two TE sets that need to be used inside the opponents 10. We seemed to really hit a wall once we progressed near the goal line. It was Portis, Portis then either Portis again or look for Cooley or swing out to Sellers. Too easy to predict.

Another target over 6 feet at that area of the field can only help and that is where I think we will see Davis contribute the most.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Guess I'll never get anything Vinny does...

It's all part of Vinny's cunning plan.

If he doesn't know what the heck he's doing, how in Hell do the opposition trying to out smart him? Wait until he decides to test this theory on the coaching front, we'll be unstoppable. Totally clueless, but unstoppable all the same.

Hey, at least it's unique logic. It's genius..... kinda'. :doh:

Hail.

[honejc]

why dont we utilize the 2 te set up more? i formation with both te lined up and the wr on either side. gives us 4 main receiving options 2 wr and 2 te. it seems illogical not to do that, since we are supposed to have 2 pretty good te

[flexxskins]

There are bound to be some two TE sets that need to be used inside the opponents 10. We seemed to really hit a wall once we progressed near the goal line. It was Portis, Portis then either Portis again or look for Cooley or swing out to Sellers. Too easy to predict.

Another target over 6 feet at that area of the field can only help and that is where I think we will see Davis contribute the most.

It would be really, realy nice if we passed out of the 2 TE set, because when we usually come out in that formation I know, the opponent knows and my son who is 4 even knows that we are going to run.

[Shilsu]

Depends on how you quantify "factor".

He'll most likely be the #2 TE by the start of next season as #3, so we'll definitely be seeing a lot of him... Will he contribute? Probably. Will he make a huge impact? I doubt it. At best, I expect him to put up similar numbers to Darnerian McCants who was a WR that made his presence known primarily in redzone situations.

[SkinsTribeVA]

There are bound to be some two TE sets that need to be used inside the opponents 10. We seemed to really hit a wall once we progressed near the goal line. It was Portis, Portis then either Portis again or look for Cooley or swing out to Sellers. Too easy to predict.

Another target over 6 feet at that area of the field can only help and that is where I think we will see Davis contribute the most.

Agreed. I could see Davis only contributing sporadically between the 20's but becoming a prime red zone target. If we can get him a few TD's while in the red zone early in the season, then running two-TE sets in the red zone throughout the rest of the season could really drive defenses nuts and help raise our dismal red zone percentage from last season.

I could see Davis having nearly as many TD's as Cooley this season but only having a fraction of the yards. I'd be totally fine with that if Davis' presence was helping keep D's honest.