Brandon Banks Performance Issues/WR Position

[skins4ever17]

I have always loved Banks, and it's early, but his size and performance questions me whether or not he can play for us. Everyone knew him since the Jim Zorn era, but sadly, he has shown thus far he cannot play two positions. In theory, I believe Mike Shanahan wants young players who can play two positions. With the flashes of Crawford today, he could take Bank's job at returns, thus leading banks to nothing really.

Again I know it is early, but it's just a thought. I could see Aldrick Robinson/another WR taking that spot. What do you guys think? He really shows the heart, but he's just so small.

[MR2Drift]

Hard to tell since the Qb play was bad . You gotta ask why did they throw so much his way? Was it because he got open and the QB couldn't get it there in time? Or maybe the play was designed for him specifically and he couldn't get open. Gotta re-watch to see what was going on.

[Veckatimeister]

I'd like to see how he fares with someone other than Rex targeting him. He's got great footwork off the line and if he can beat the press, he's a deep ball threat. That being said,, his size is still the biggest issue, but maybe he can find a way to overcome that. He keeps proving his worth for a roster spot each camp, plus he is still and electrifying return man. Lets just wait and see on this one.

[NoVaSkins21]

Banks certainly didn't help his cause today and he was targeted a lot. He's gonna have to really fight to earn a spot. Special teams may not be enough to help his cause and he may be down on the WR depth chart after tonight's performance. Hopefully, he makes it, but he's got quite an uphill climb.

[amm0409]

I really don't see him being a deep threat unless he just beats the corner with speed. I see him more in the slot getting yards after the catch, even then he gets pushed around and if you smack him he could fumble easier than others. He runs smooth routes and has some moves. Will see what happens. I think we saw what it looks like to throw a ball up in the air down field to Banks today for a jump ball? (its not going to work) I think we still have other options to look at as well like Robinson and Briscoe and others. We will see we shall see.

[Renegade7]

Ya, it's obvious we were trying to get him the ball a lot tonight to prove he could be a true WR as well. He's already in the top 6 on the depth chart, and dealing with Rex and Cousins isn't a true sign of what he's capable of. A lot balls thrown his way that shouldn't of been or off target as well, but I really hate the drops he did have. I will reserve final judgment until I see him targeted by RGIII more, and in all honesty, Austin didn't make his case to kick Banks off the team either tonight...

[Rabsuz]

Every single ball Banks was thrown was thrown horribly or just chucked to him to make a play, he was getting seperation on these DBs. People are over reacting, they were targeting him covered or not for evaluation purposes, to see if he can bring a new facet to his game. By all accounts he has had a good camp and we all know about his speed, one preseason game against the Bills isn't enough to cut a young player with incredible speed and return skills. I believe he led all league kick returners in yards last year?

[Murphs56]

Listen, This is a really bad game to judge Brandon on. Most of those throws were absolutely horrible

[KCClybun]

What about the drops and the slipping though?

I mean, I'll admit that he didn't get the best throws in the world, but there were plenty of times when Kirk and Rex threw the ball right to the spot where he was supposed to be and he slipped on the play. First play he was targeted on, he slipped and almost got Rex picked off. Then he slipped again later again, and then he slipped on a route and couldn't hang on when he got hit from behind. When he does catch it he doesn't get YAC because he's kind of easy to tackle.

And again, like, he got open deep, but he'll never, ever win a contested ball. Robert Griffin III can't be expected to throw a perfect deep ball every time. sometimes you're going to need a wide receiver to make a play. And he can't.

And it's hard to say "this ball shouldn't have been thrown his way". Our whole offense is based off timing. If Brandon Banks gets open, and the quarterback throws it to the open guy, but Banks slips on the route, is that on the QB? There was maybe the one go route on the sideline that maybe shouldn't have been thrown by Rex, but other than that, what passes would people say shouldn't have been thrown?

So yeah, quarterback play wasn't fantastic, but Banks didn't really help himself with the constant slipping, the drops, and his inability to win on the outside when the ball isn't perfect. And he'll only have more trouble trying to win in the slot.

[Mr. Sinister]

Banks height will always be a serious issue. Dude is like 5'7. When you're that small, you're going to be easier to defend.

[throwback37]

Banks height will always be a serious issue. Dude is like 5'7. When you're that small, you're going to be easier to defend.

I agree with this. There's a saying that goes "Good big players beat good little players" and unfortunately Brandon's size makes a lot of other players look "big".

I'm a Banks fan, but he has not seemed as electrifying as he was in his rookie season. Factor in the increased team speed on the 'Skinz and Brandon has REALLY got to start making plays as a receiver to earn a roster spot.

[Mr. Sinister]

I agree with this. There's a saying that goes "Good big players beat good little players" and unfortunately Brandon's size makes a lot of other players look "big".

I'm a Banks fan, but he has not seemed as electrifying as he was in his rookie season. Factor in the increased team speed on the 'Skinz and Brandon has REALLY got to start making plays as a receiver to earn a roster spot.

I admittedly wanted him to make the team last, year, mainly because of his ability to return kicks. I honestly don't see how he can be reliable unless he is used in a sort of gimmicky/misdirection kind of way, getting the ball to him via screens/short passes, and letting him work in space. It's going to be harder to get him the ball in coverage (again, because of his height), unless he is a few steps in front of his defender.

[Murphs56]

You don't have to be the tallest guy to be a productive wide receiver in the NFL. Desean Jackson is generously listed at 5'10 and does pretty well for himself

[Hunter_R]

You don't have to be the tallest guy to be a productive wide receiver in the NFL. Desean Jackson is generously listed at 5'10 and does pretty well for himself

That's not a very good comparison consdering that he's bigger and faster than Banks.

[cober]

Issue is that banks requires a perfect ball and then can do really good things. Can we really expect him to get a perfect ball every throw he lost every contested ball in that game. The defender pretty much got his hands on the ball first every time. Its one game so will need to see how he does in the others but to be honest i would not rate his performance very high in the last game.

[Murphs56]

That's not a very good comparison consdering that he's bigger and faster than Banks.

Not too much bigger, not too much faster...Banks is pretty damn fast man..He's just learning the wide receiver position. It takes time to learn to get separation like Jackson is able to do. I say we give him a full preseason before we say he shouldn't be on the team. 1 game is 1 game. You know its very possible the Bears make it very tough on RG III next week too

[UltimateSkins]

With kickoffs not being returnable anymore Banks' potential impact has already been cut in half. It sucks cause when teams kicked from the 30 he was truly a weapon.

[Skins3000]

It is not so much Banks height that is killing him, see Steve Smith, it is Banks weight and strength. Banks is too easily pushed off the ball and needs to bulk up but I suspect that would cause him to lose his explosiveness.

[TSO]

Wasn't Banks a Mike Shanahan signing? He wasn't on the team under Jim Zorn at all, I don't believe.

As for his performance tonight, I really feel bad for him. I'm not one to quickly judge and so I'm definitely going to keep in mind that he's got three more games to show up at WR in... but thus far it's not good. Aldrick out-shined him in live action when Banks was doing it throughout training camp. Point goes to Aldrick right now.

The worst part about it is it looks like this was Banks time to shine. It was painfully obvious once the second team came on that the entire game plan was to get Banks the ball. Poor Rex gets the blame for a bunch of the poor plays Banks made on the ball, but it was clear Rex was going by the design of the play and Banks was the guy designed to get open.

On a few routes he slipped out of his cut, one of them almost ended up an INT because of it. There were another couple of routes where his size really was a problem (one where the DB just boxed him out and he couldn't get to the ball and another where he was hit immediately and the ball just came out). And then there was one where he just stopped when he should've moved into the soft spot of the zone. Rex thought he would keep going inside and threw it there, but Banks just stayed put. Now, there's a bit of speculation there on my part pertaining to that play but, usually, when a QB throws the ball to an area where there are no defenders and you see the WR just sitting in an area where there is one... that's usually good enough evidence to know who's at fault.

But, yeah, he's got three more games. The coaches clearly want him to be the guy. I think they know that, if he can put it all together on the field, he can be a serious danger to defense's all the time and not just here and there. I came away surprised just how much they wanted to let him shine. They gave him a huge opportunity and he didn't capitalize on it. I'm not sure if they'll do it again. For all we know, the plan is another WR gets those plays called for him next week.

[GhostRider]

I think the first thing Banks needs to do is wear the appropriate cleats, he can't be slipping like that. It's going to be interesting to see how he performs the rest of pre-season I'm rooting for him.

[MartinC]

Banks hurt himself yesterday IMO. We ran a play action pass were the receiver runs a dig route and sits inside the corner and in front of the safety at least 3 times to him. It's a play Rex hits with Santana in their sleep. Moss sits down, gets his shoulders squared to the QB and his body between the ball and the DB, makes the catch and then signals first down. It's almost automatic.

With Banks last night, twice he slipped at the top of his route and the third time his lack of size allowed the DB to come through him as the ball arrived (the throw might have been a tad late) and another incomplete. His lack of size hurts him on these inside stick routes and he needs to find a way to keep his feet under him because slips often result in picks.

So let's run him on a 9 route then and let him run away from the DB. Single coverage outside - check. No deep help - check. Here we go, but he does not get separation and the DB is on top the route stride for stride - the QB reads single coverage and throws it even though it's tight coverage but Banks is not going to win many jump balls.

There was a post pattern later on when Banks was open by a step of maybe two but Cousins got hit as he threw and the ball hung allowing the DB to recover.

Overall Banks showed why I personally doubt he will make the roster - he struggles to impact as a receiver unless you throw him a go route or a bubble screen, anything else and it has to be a perfect throw to get the completion. I thought Robinson looked a much better bet for the last receiver spot last night. But it's only game 1 ......

[TradeTheBeal!]

Let's not pretend that he set the world on fire as a returner last year, because he didn't. Dude was average at best. I just don't see any way he makes the team and I'm fine with that.

[Burgold]

The coaches seemingly really wanted to see what Banks could do. They gave him many opportunities to shine and be the man. It's only one snapshot, but he hurt his stock. Him and Niles Paul really blew their chances last night. Luckily for both, they have the opportunity to bounce back and prove themselves.

[fwo40]

What about the drops and the slipping though?

I mean, I'll admit that he didn't get the best throws in the world, but there were plenty of times when Kirk and Rex threw the ball right to the spot where he was supposed to be and he slipped on the play. First play he was targeted on, he slipped and almost got Rex picked off. Then he slipped again later again, and then he slipped on a route and couldn't hang on when he got hit from behind. When he does catch it he doesn't get YAC because he's kind of easy to tackle.

And again, like, he got open deep, but he'll never, ever win a contested ball. Robert Griffin III can't be expected to throw a perfect deep ball every time. sometimes you're going to need a wide receiver to make a play. And he can't.

And it's hard to say "this ball shouldn't have been thrown his way". Our whole offense is based off timing. If Brandon Banks gets open, and the quarterback throws it to the open guy, but Banks slips on the route, is that on the QB? There was maybe the one go route on the sideline that maybe shouldn't have been thrown by Rex, but other than that, what passes would people say shouldn't have been thrown?

So yeah, quarterback play wasn't fantastic, but Banks didn't really help himself with the constant slipping, the drops, and his inability to win on the outside when the ball isn't perfect. And he'll only have more trouble trying to win in the slot.

I'm with this point of view...I also believe (though none of us can tell for sure) that the offense was forced to try to get him the ball no matter what as part of the gameplan b/c you can try things out in preseason. I don't know if this experiment is worthwhile, but I have a hard time seeing Banks as an NFL WR.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Blaming Rex and 'bad quarterback' play is closing your eyes to the obvious.

Brandon Banks is NEVER going to be an NFL receiver. That was painfully apparent out there last night. He's 5'7, and a buck 55. He can neither go up for high balls, nor get any separation when he's tightly covered. He just doesn't have ANYTHING bodily behind him to push off from defenders. Unless it's a go route and he's burned his DB (and even then the throw has to be TOTALLY on the money), he's not pulling much of anything in. He was targeted what, 9 times out there last night. And came up with a whopping 2 receptions for 7 yards.

And worse, even worse than that, is that over the past year, he's become more or less totally ineffective as a return guy. It wasn't lost on me that two years ago, against the very same Bills in Coach Mike's debut, this undersized, undrafted pocket rocket burst onto the scene with his punt returns, electrifying us by taking one to the house for 77yds. Flip forward two years, against the same opponents, at the same stage of pre-season, and nothing. Nada.

I love Banks. I wrote an impassioned piece on him around this time last year comparing him to our greatest ever returner: http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?351005-The-case-for-Brandon-Banks.-the-Mike-Nelms-of-the-new-millennium.

But there's ZERO way I could justify a place on this roster after both his regression as a return man since then, and his more or less total ineffectiveness as an NFL wide receiver. Last night did nothing to change that view. Of all the guys that took to the field in Buffalo, Brandon did nothing to improve his chances of being around here much longer than the next three games.

Face facts. Bar a miraculous turnaround (including a growing and size spurt ..... in a 24 year old); the Brandon Banks career in Washington, and probably on the whole as a pro with much of any effectiveness, is over. It was good whilst it lasted.

Hail.