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Week 8 GDT: Houston vs Miami


Pastor Dillon

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7 minutes ago, Texansfan713 said:

Only reason Dez had a "down" year with the Cowboys last season is because Dak is mediocre as is the Cowboys offense

If this is the case, then why hasn't anyone signed him yet? There are other teams that have a need a WR, but nobody is calling Dez. The one team that did has arguably the biggest need at WR currently, but they didn't even bother offering Dez a vet minimum deal.

Why do you think this is if Dez is a player that would produce for us?

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2 minutes ago, Texansfan713 said:

I'm still trying to figure out why Dez haven't been signed.  You got guys like Corey Coleman getting picked up by different teams yet Dez cant get signed?

 

Edit:  Ravens offered Dez and he turned them down.

That was an "on sight" offer, much like how the Texans got Brock. Nobody really worked him out or anything - it was name recognition, it was based on reputation vs actually ability left. 

When Cleveland brought him in, they put him through an entire workout and he didn't impress anyone enough to continue the conversation. Even after they traded away Josh Gordon, no call to Dez. 

Take into consideration that Rishard Matthews was signed before Dez - coming off of an injury last season and literally quitting on his team this current season. Yet, the Jets buzzed him and gave him a contract before Dez. 

Maybe Dez does sign somewhere later, I don't know. What I do know is that he's neither a fit or a need for this team outside of some name recognition.

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10 hours ago, Texansfan713 said:

Smith and Coates aren't good to begin with and Braxton definitely isn't good.  Only reason Dez had a "down" year with the Cowboys last season is because Dak is mediocre as is the Cowboys offense.  You will see the same thing with Cooper for them.  Dez gives us another redzone threat with Hopkins and that will make our offense harder to defend in that area.  I'm not even sure what Desean will demand.  I know he is 31 but I personally wouldn't give up a mid round pick for him.  If we were to make a trade I would much prefer it be for a CB.

Dez is the Colin Kaepernick of WR's - all name, no game brought up every time there is a job opening as if no time has passed since they were actually good (altho in fairness he had a much longer run than Kaep's 2 good years).   If you look at any advanced stat, Dez had been slipping for years and crashed into the wall last year.  He reminds me of Marques Colston who feasted off Drew Brees and the Payton system, until he was too slow to get open the final few years.   Bryant has always been a horrendous route runner, but made up for it with size, speed, and leaping ability - and he's lost the latter two and did nothing to adjust his game to compensate (at his fastest he was 4.5ish, he was in the 4.7ish range last year which is simply sub-NFL caliber and he's not getting faster eating paychecks on the couch).  Both Akins and Thomas played WR in college and are both probably as fast as Dez at this point and definitely taller with more vert. Coates and Smith are 2 of few players in the NFL almost as fast as Fuller as 4.3 runners.   Dez doesn't have the technique to get himself open anymore, his routes are unreliable, and most of his damage was YAC variety and "after catch" became dubious as he developed the drops - usually yelling at his young QB after them.  If you are bringing in a veteran, you want leadership and Dez is the antithesis of that as a selfish "feed me" QB killer, is useless on special teams or anything else, so if he sits he's nothing but cancer.  Dez and O'Brien strikes me as a match made in hell. 

If you want a vet in the model of Fuller, Jeremy Maclin fits the profile far more than Dez. Personally, I think Desean Jackson would be the ideal vet fit with Damaryius next, although I don't think either is necessary or worth burning more than a 4th rounder on.  Brice Butler fits the mold as a burner, but I'd put him behind Coates or Smith.   I'd rather see Kendall Wright in here as Coutee insurance.  As I said in the PS thread, I think Coates/Smith will be fine, but a bit of a step back to rookie year Fuller with some lapses and basic vert routes. Coutee is more the key.  I think our trade capital would be better spent on CB. 

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Really long post incoming.

I personally think Dez can still be a #1 caliber wide receiver in the NFL, but for the sake of argument we can say sure, those days are behind him. That doesn't mean he doesn't belong on a NFL roster period. Believing otherwise is just insane. He put up 838 yards and 6 touchdowns last year in a passing offense that was flat out anemic (just like it is this year). Dak's struggles have become pretty well documented at this point, and of course Dez's statistical production suffered because of that. The guy was more or less a 1000 yard receiver if his QB could just deliver him the ball accurately or even at all. There were a ridiculous amount of plays left on field because Dak could not get him the football. It doesn't help that Dez had his fair share of out of character drops, but it doesn't help when your QB isn't delivering you particularly catch able passes. Also, it's worth noting that not all QB struggles are equal/ the same in nature. The cliche narrative that an elite receiver will produce absolutely no matter what is ridiculous. There have obviously been receivers who have fared well with poor QB play, but along with that poor QB play that QB is still getting his elite receiver the ball regardless of whatever other shortcomings there are. If the QB can't get his player the ball even when said player is open to make a play, then there really isn't anything the receiver can do. You have to keep in mind that everyone on the Cowboys receiving core suffered last year. Cole Beasley went from 833 receiving yards in 2016 to just 314 in 2017; the receiver on the outside opposite Dez (Terrance Williams) didn't score one single touchdown all season long and only put up around 500 yards himself. Do these things not paint the picture that maybe, just maybe there were other factors outside of Dez's control? Have a look at the below video (start watching at the 7 minute mark):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRp2FNw371Q

Another thing to consider is to further look into Dez's 2016 season, the season just before his "bad" one last year that has caused people to label him as pretty much done in the NFL. The guy sprained his knee pretty early on in the season and ended up missing three games, so he played 14 out of a possible 17 games including playoffs. We'll call it 13 games instead of 14 because he sat out the entire final game of the regular season because the Cowboys played their back ups in a meaningless game. In those 13 games he had 59 catches for 928 yards (15.7 yards per catch) and 10 touchdowns. Extrapolated over 16 games that's 72 catches for 1,142 yards and 12 touchdowns while keeping in mind that he was playing hurt for a chunk of the season. Absolutely no one thought his career was in trouble headed into last season. There was a ton of talk that the stage was set for another 2014 all pro type season. At the very least there wasn't any sort of dispute that he was a #1 caliber receiver and a formidable weapon, and yet we go from that to a general consensus of "this guy is washed up and done" over the course of one singular season? How is that anything other than extremely ridiculous? Especially when considering the context of how bad his opportunities were in the last season he played? It just doesn't make sense.

Following the 2016 season no one was talking about Dez having lost his athletic ability. No one was saying a word about him being a poor route runner. That has obviously since shown up in force, but never once with any factual backing. No one has done anything to actually show it to be true. People are just content to say, "he's a bad route runner, he's lost all of his speed, he can't jump like he used to, he's just not explosive anymore" without backing any of it at all. Where are the recent examples of his supposed bad route running? If you watched the video above, you at least know that there are examples being presented to the contrary.. which honestly should win over the argument that he runs bad routes considering there is still no body of evidence proving it. Where are the examples showcasing that Dez is not as fast as he was when he was considered a consensus top 5 receiver? His speed didn't seem to be a problem in 2016, but over the course of one year (less than that actually) he supposedly lost it, which clearly makes little sense. Again, would love to see some actual examples proving that he can't run/ move like he used to because none have been presented by anyone ever. I would love to see some examples that he can't jump and sky over DBs like he used to. I saw that being said a lot in the offseason, but again, zero examples were given despite there again being evidence to the contrary (his franchise record setting touchdown last season was a score where he clearly went above the DB for his trademark jump ball score). 

With all of this being said, the reason why Dez Bryant isn't on a team is due to several things. First and foremost you have to keep in mind how late the Cowboys kicked him to the curb last year. If he had been available at the start of free agency I have a really hard time believing that no one would have picked him up. He didn't become available until shortly before the draft. It's been said that he felt like he could have gotten a better deal in the spending spree of free agency compared to the offers that he has fielded since. He could have been on a team sometime during training camp if he wanted to, but the offers weren't desirable enough for him. Even aside from the Ravens and the Browns, supposedly there have been other undisclosed offers. Regardless, it's now pretty much November, and taking a vet off the streets who hasn't been involved in football since last December and throwing him into the game plan on Sundays never really seems to be that ideal. That right there is probably the biggest reason why he is currently not on a team. It of course doesn't help that he doesn't exactly have the greatest reputation surrounding him, either (fair or unfair). 

I personally think it would make sense for the Texans to bring him in and sign him to a one year deal if they could find something that made any financial sense for them. Obviously if Dez is looking for #1 type money, then that makes little sense for the team to dish out. The guy probably has to accept the reality of his market right now and just try and establish himself again to reset his market, but I don't see that happening during this season. 

 

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Just to put a bow on this.  I don't know how far ahead refs get assigned to games, but interesting that Thursday Night football went from least experience ref last week to 19 year vet Carl Cheffers this week.  MNF had prominent respected 15 year vet ref Jeremo Boger (who is african american).  Makes me think the NFL might be getting a bit tired of showcasing incompetency in prime time with unqualified garbage like Shawn Smith.  

FYI - "Rookies" like Smith aren't supposed to get prime time games until mid-season at the earliest but usually later, so that debacle last Thursday is completely unprecedented - the conspiracy theory of the NFLRA "tanking" officiating that game to express displeasure over the mid-season firing of an official seems to hold some water - rookie ref, taking points off the board and all the anti-broadcast friendly calls like starting and ending the half with re kicks and calling the Texans out of the tunnel to take a knee.  Let's all watch and see if Shawn Smith shows up on prime time ever again.

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