Ladarius Green

[Sec-E4]

Like you guys have mentioned in here, If he was such a freak, They would of found a way to get him involved in more plays. Green some how became the greatest player to not play much and Fans made him out to be a Hall Of Famer based off a handful of nice plays.

Green has managed to be the mystic player on the Chargers roster. It seems to be a stigma a few forum members have given him. Green was the Rookie Sensation, The Future star, All this while playing behind a Futrure HOF and never having the stats/snaps, All because he hasn't had the right opportunity and yet he's been labelled the greatest that never was.

Members seems to think of him as a Michael Turner type of weapon, Yet he hasn't performed like it.....So is it because they don't give him snaps or because he hasn't derserved to get those snaps ? Albeit: It's hard to get in there when Gates has been on an uprise at the TE position.

IMO, This season was just the worst time to try and get Green involved, With our thin shell at O-Line and at RB, Also having Floyd and Gates holding it down didn't help...There was noway Reich was going to put Rivers at a bigger risk by playing green more snaps, Members seem to think Green is a decent blocker, But I think his amount of snaps proves different.

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

I don't see Green as a big WR at all. He is a pass catching TE, but still a TE. He just doesn't run routes or have the athletic ability to beat NFL CB.

The point was not that he IS a WR or even that he should be. Rather, that he could play situationally as something other than an inline TE where his unique size and skills (even accepting his shortcomings) could be turned to our advantage. I think he can win matchups like that if the will is there, particularly in the position our offense found itself in late in the year with injuries and when oftentimes we could do, literally, nothing. If Antonio Gates can line up in the slot and win match ups, a player with Green's athleticism can too. If you want to get hung up on terminology of WR-TE-receiver, that seems Reichian IMO but if you disagree, that's fine and we disagree.

As far as getting him on the field, when the run blocking is so dreadful, there is just no way to get him on the field, especially when Phillips and Johnson are the better blockers. That was exactly what happened last year, Green got almost all his snaps as the 2nd TE, and got most of his snaps late in the year, when we were running the ball so much more. We just have to get back to that. Then his playing time goes up, he gets to play more, he improves. It's a pretty simple formula, but it takes a lot of things coming together.

Here I think you have a stronger point, but I take issue somewhat with the premise. Yes, the run blocking was putrid. But late in the year when the injuries ravaged the line and Mathews and Woodhead were either totally or generally unavailable and DBrown and Oliver were so inconsistent that Ronnie Brown was closing out games, we largely had shut down the run game. We gave up nearly all pretense of trying to run, save the "threat" of the inside handoff out of the shotgun. In that situation, I'd rather see Green on the field vs the likes of Tutu or even some of the backs. We went empty some and Green still didn't get a sniff. As said before, there are two possible reasons for this and neither is good or looks to change next year barring some unforeseen development.

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

It doesn't mean he was worse, but he did miss a couple of games, Floyd played in the entire season, Royal wasn't beat up like he was all last season, and Gates played as good as he has in years. There was simply nobody he was better than. Go back to some of the comments by the UT beat writers about some of the missed blocks by Green early in the season that killed drives - it was clear the coaching staff felt the other players were better options.

Royal had some injury issues (ribs) midseason. During the 3 game losing streak and the second Oak game, Royal got 11 targets resulting in six catches for 76 yards and 0 TDs. This included the KC game and Miami cluster (he was totally shut out). Royal was injured the week before the streak started in the first Oak game. Over the same stretch, Green had two targets. This is not to say Green is better than Royal or that Green should have played instead of Royal, but that with injury/ineffectiveness resulting in Royal basically being a decoy during three straight losses we couldn't do more with Green? Put another way Green had 36 targets in 2013 incl two playoff games and only 23 in 2014. In 2014 thats only double the number Tutu got. So either Green got worse as a receiver, or received less PT/emphasis than last year. Yes, pass pro was an issue but I'm still not buying that he was totally without value to the extent that even Tutu gets 19 snaps in the finale and Green gets 7. Again, not a knock on Tutu at all, but come on. So we're back to the two possibilities, neither good, unikely to change stance.

[richpjr]

Royal had some injury issues (ribs) midseason. During the 3 game losing streak and the second Oak game, Royal got 11 targets resulting in six catches for 76 yards and 0 TDs. This included the KC game and Miami cluster (he was totally shut out). Royal was injured the week before the streak started in the first Oak game. Over the same stretch, Green had two targets. This is not to say Green is better than Royal or that Green should have played instead of Royal, but that with injury/ineffectiveness resulting in Royal basically being a decoy during three straight losses we couldn't do more with Green? Put another way Green had 36 targets in 2013 incl two playoff games and only 23 in 2014. In 2014 thats only double the number Tutu got. So either Green got worse as a receiver, or received less PT/emphasis than last year. Yes, pass pro was an issue but I'm still not buying that he was totally without value to the extent that even Tutu gets 19 snaps in the finale and Green gets 7. Again, not a knock on Tutu at all, but come on. So we're back to the two possibilities, neither good, unikely to change stance.

Last season Green had 17 catches in 16 regular season games.
This season Green had 19 catches in 14 regular season games.

Last season Green was targeted 30 times in 16 regular season games (1.875 times per game).
This season Green was targeted 23 times in 14 regular season games (1.642 times per game).

Looks like he was used about the same as last season.

[Steve]

The point was not that he IS a WR or even that he should be. Rather, that he could play situationally as something other than an inline TE where his unique size and skills (even accepting his shortcomings) could be turned to our advantage. I think he can win matchups like that if the will is there, particularly in the position our offense found itself in late in the year with injuries and when oftentimes we could do, literally, nothing. If Antonio Gates can line up in the slot and win match ups, a player with Green's athleticism can too. If you want to get hung up on terminology of WR-TE-receiver, that seems Reichian IMO but if you disagree, that's fine and we disagree.

Sorry, sometimes it is hard to tell when people are hung up on the terminology and when it is something else. I don't think he is a good enough route runner at this point, that he needs some help, like a play action fake or bootleg action to get open. Almost every time he gets used, it is in one of those situations. The flip side of that, is if you don't put him on the field and let him run more routes, it is going to take a lot longer to get him to develop, if at all.

Here I think you have a stronger point, but I take issue somewhat with the premise. Yes, the run blocking was putrid. But late in the year when the injuries ravaged the line and Mathews and Woodhead were either totally or generally unavailable and DBrown and Oliver were so inconsistent that Ronnie Brown was closing out games, we largely had shut down the run game. We gave up nearly all pretense of trying to run, save the "threat" of the inside handoff out of the shotgun. In that situation, I'd rather see Green on the field vs the likes of Tutu or even some of the backs. We went empty some and Green still didn't get a sniff. As said before, there are two possible reasons for this and neither is good or looks to change next year barring some unforeseen development.

I don't see how getting him on the field in those situations helps. It runs the risk of tipping our hand, since he is a slightly stronger run blocker then regular pass receiver (regular being non-play action routes), and in the 3 WR sets, you have moved the DB out of the middle of the field already by alignment, so you don't need the extra help of a TE.

[oneinchpunch]

Playing time from the KC game:

Tight end -- Antonio Gates 51, John Phillips 16, David Johnson 11, Ladarius Green 7.

I think it really must just be what Green himself says - he needs more work in all areas of his game.

If John Phillips is seeing more snaps than you...you have issues.

[Faded blues]

If John Phillips is seeing more snaps than you...you have issues.

Concur.

I think it is incumbent on phil and green to spend the offseason together working on their timing. Green as of right now is our most explosive asset in the wr/te corp.

I don't think gates is coming back.

[Boltx]

I don't think gates is coming back.

What makes you say that?

[richpjr]

What makes you say that?

Gates already said he is planning on playing next year.

[Boltjolt]

If John Phillips is seeing more snaps than you...you have issues.

He wouldnt be if the OL was worth a shit. Green isnt a TE you use when you need blockers. Denvers TE Julius Thomas cant block either but their OL is much better than ours so they dont need him to block much.

[richpjr]

I wonder how much his ankle was bothering him down the stretch. IIRC, he hurt that the same game he got the concussion.

[richpjr]

From the Tom Krasovic chat today:

Has Antonio Gates made any remarks regarding how much longer he will play? Is Greene the heir apparent? Lot of folks raved about him, but he barely sniffed the field this year.

Gates has said he'll play through this season and see where things stand. He explained why he's excited for 2015 -- http://tinyurl.com/p98g84x.

As for Ladarius Green, I think Gates was a factor. He had a very good year. Could the coaches have done more to involve Green? Did Green's lack of playing time reflect coaches' reservations about his present ability to contribute? Yes on both counts.. Green's blocking struggled in the opening-night loss didn't help, I suspect. But by Game 3, in the second half at Buffalo, the Chargers got him more involved and he responded well. It is odd that he pretty much disappeared thereafter.




As noted earlier, it was "odd" that Ladarius Green "disappeared". It seems to me that offensive personnel decisions favored the "conservative choice" rather than the "more dangerous player" choice, such as Donald Brown vs. Branden Oliver. It seems to me that more dangerous players will keep opponents from locking on receivers, helping the offense overall. Who makes the personnel decisions?

Mike McCoy, ultimately, is where the buck stops. Win-loss record determines his long-term employment in this job. It stands to reason that if he believed Green could help the Chargers win more games by getting more snaps and targets, that would happen.

Ladarius Green is special in terms of straight-line speed and height (6-foot-6). In what other aspect is he special or even NFL average? Wiggle? Agility? Elusiveness? Blocking? These are things coaches consider.