Re: Reche Caldwell and Keenan McCardell: 2008 Plans?
I happen to think that WR is one of the biggest weaknesses on the 2007 version of the Washington Redskins. Allow me to explain:
Brandon Lloyd is worthless. If the Redskins cut him the day after the season is over, he'll be sitting by his telephone waiting for it to ring for at least 6 weeks - - and even then it won't be an NFL GM calling, it will probably be a telemarketing call.
Antwaan Randle-El is a punt/kick returner and a #3 reciever. That's it; that's all. As soon as he got hurt and McCardell and Caldwell got more playing time, the passing game got more efficient. Yes, ARE gives the Skins the ability to run a gadget play once or twice a month but his meager productivity on the field in normal play situations doesn't make that worth it. By the way,on those gadget plays this year, ARE has 19 yards passing and a net of minus-3 yards rushing. Glad the team has that potential in its arsenal...
Santana Moss is fun to watch - - if you like 8-10 yard catches and his herky-jerky first down signal. The problem is that even though WRs are ranked on the basis of number of catches, that's not what makes the really good ones really good. There's this thing called "scoring touchdowns". At the moment, Moss has been in the end zone ONCE this year. Since he's been here he's played in 40 games and has 16 TDs. That's about 6.4 TDs per year. And that's not good enough for the "lead receiver" on a team that wants to be a "contender" for something other than taking a Caribbean cruise during the month of January. And don't anyone rhapsodize about how Moss caught those two bombs from Brunell a couple of years ago to beat Dallas. That's ancient history and there have been boatloads of games since then where the Skins could have used a big catch by a big time WR to win a game. He hasn't provided it...
James Thrash is the team's most versatile receiver and the most rounded player of the lot. He actually blocks people on every running play and usually the block is an effective one. There is no way you can say that about Moss or Lloyd or ARE. But Thrash is a #3 receiver at best. When he was in Philly and tried to assume the role of lead receiver he was a bust. He tries hard on every play, but his skills are limited. Nonetheless, of all the WRs on this team, he leads the team in TDs this year with TWO. And this is December ... Scary...
McCardell and Caldwell are better all around receivers than anything else on the roster at the moment unless you want to fantasize about the untapped and about-to-explode potential contained in Anthony Mix, Stephen Harris, Jimmy Farris, Mike Espy and Burl Toler.
The Redskins should definitely keep McCardell and Caldwell next year AND look for more talent at this position.
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The Sports Curmudgeon
www.sportscurmudgeon.com
But don't get me wrong, I love sports...
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