Royal restructures

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

Let's not forget about Dontrell Inman either! The next great CFL import.

Funny how every sentence about CFL imports always begins with 'Let's not forget about...'

[RobH]

Funny how every sentence about CFL imports always begins with 'Let's not forget about...'

It does seem like we are forgetting about our signing them. Both positions of need, WR and OLB have been addressed with two guys from the CFL, both of whom played pretty darn well up there and got a lot of reps against very good competition.

I don't think it means that they're considered the final answer, but I don't think it helps the discussion here to totally discount them, either.

[Beerman]

I consider them 5th-6th round picks essentially. They may produce, probably don't, but it's a few more guys in the mix.

[blueman]

Brown did get better towards the end of the season, but even with that he ended as a poor team's #3 WR IMHO. No way I want to count on him as our #2 WR going forward. Really think he'll be a career backup, be nice if he wasn't but...

[Panama]

Brown was bumped by Royal last season in 2 WR sets. He's the #2, not Brown.

In reality he's not even in the top 4, with Gates/Green being higher on the pecking order.

We're talking strictly WRs, not receivers generically, so Gates and Green don't come into the discussion.

I tend to think of the slot as the #3 WR and of Royal as the prototypical slot WR. I didn't mean to suggest that the team values Brown more than Royal, which is why I was quick to point out that if someone replaces Brown on the outside Brown would drop to #4, not #3. Even though I'd read it here before, I really hadn't noticed that Royal had replaced Brown in 2-WR sets. In that case, you are right to think of Royal as #2 and Brown as #3, but I think traditional depth charts will continue to list the slot as the #3 WR.

[Mister Hoarse]

Really? What exactly did he do to lock that spot up?

He went to SDSU

[Mister Hoarse]

Time to push this Brown

[Steve]

Royal didn't replace Brown completely in the 2 WR sets. One of the things I noticed was the way we used Brown like we use to use VJ as a blocker. We would either put him in motion or flex him to the weak side and ask him to wall off the backside pursuit. I just found it curious and kept looking for it. We did it some early in the season, then went away from it to some degree later on, then went back to it later in the year, along with more 2 TE sets.

In any case, who cares what other teams do. If we want to sub in an outside WR as our 3rd WR, because we would rather have the slot guy in most of the time, then we should do what we want, NFL convention be damned. We used to move Chris Chambers inside to the slot in 3 WR formations before Floyd took over full time. Carolina has done something similar with Steve Smith in the past.

I am glad we have Brown, because he is going to be good enough to get by with. That means we can focus on really upgrading, not just getting some guy to fill in. He is young and will continue to get better. How much better and who we get to push him will decide how long he can keep his job. ANd if I was Brown, I would be dedicating my offseason to finding ways to improve my performance.

[MakoShark]

Time to push this Brown

:facepalm1:

[MakoShark]

Time to push this Brown

:facepalm1:

[Panama]

In any case, who cares what other teams do. If we want to sub in an outside WR as our 3rd WR, because we would rather have the slot guy in most of the time, then we should do what we want, NFL convention be damned.

If this is directed at me, you've misread my post. (It's often difficult to tell who you're responding to as you seldom quote any of his post.) I also don't give a fuck what NFL convention is in terms of what we play, but naming conventions are useful to ensure we are talking about the same things. My comments regarding the depth chart were simply taxonomical. When one refers to the #1 and #2, one is usually referring to the split end and the flanker, not the slot.

If Royal sees the field over Brown in 2-WR sets, great: he is the better WR. Not only have I not suggested otherwise, but I have stated in at least two different posts that Royal is valued more highly than Brown. However, in 3-WR sets, Royal is usually in the slot. Since we tend to play more 3-WR than 2-WR sets, it is fair to say, as SDfan has, that at the moment Brown is entrenched as the #2 guy. And as I have previously stated, if a FA or draft acquisition pushes Brown down the depth chart, it won't be to #3 where he replaces Royal in the slot but rather to #4 behind the top flanker and split end.

[Steve]

If this is directed at me, you've misread my post. (It's often difficult to tell who you're responding to as you seldom quote any of his post.) I also don't give a fuck what NFL convention is in terms of what we play, but naming conventions are useful to ensure we are talking about the same things. My comments regarding the depth chart were simply taxonomical. When one refers to the #1 and #2, one is usually referring to the split end and the flanker, not the slot.

If Royal sees the field over Brown in 2-WR sets, great: he is the better WR. Not only have I not suggested otherwise, but I have stated in at least two different posts that Royal is valued more highly than Brown. However, in 3-WR sets, Royal is usually in the slot. Since we tend to play more 3-WR than 2-WR sets, it is fair to say, as SDfan has, that at the moment Brown is entrenched as the #2 guy. And as I have previously stated, if a FA or draft acquisition pushes Brown down the depth chart, it won't be to #3 where he replaces Royal in the slot but rather to #4 behind the top flanker and split end.

I thought you were referring to the amount of time they were on the field, since Brown and Royal split time both in terms of positions played and alignments. Then add in that all 3 of our top WR, will exchange routes in our bunch (cluster) formations, it is hard to tell who fits what role. But just from watching, I am not sure there is much difference in our offense between any of the WR positions. So, the best guy (Allen) just plays the most, and the next best Royal plays the second most, and so on. But all three will play like a FL, slot, and SE from time to time, and all play similar roles in the route combinations. We often line up the FL inside the other WR (or a TE), and have a slot formation, even when there are just 2 WR on the field, so I don't see much difference no matter who is playing. Call them what you want, but their roles are similar no matter who plays where.

That also probably explains a lot of why Brown struggled so much. A lot more to learn when you essentially have to play all 3 WR spots.