Witten to retire after 15 seasons

[Dallas94Ware]

On 5/16/2018 at 5:16 PM, flyingmonkey30 said:

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I was going to just mention Gonzalez and maybe Gates? But I never got to see Ditka or Winslow or any of those guys play. So just based on the past 20 years or so, that's all I got.

Gates is debatable. Gates was a vertical route monster (post, corner, seam, flex post, flex corner) whos size, speed, rebound ability and reach made him hard to defend. Put a corner on him and he gets out musled. A safety? Way too slow. A linebacker? Beaten so quickly like hes one of Adrian Petersons kids. BUT - could he block? Hardly. Could he work the middle field against tough, physical zones taking a punishment for the catch? Not consistently. Could he make yards after catch that wasnt caused by outrunning the coverage and getting a great rainbow delivered to him(aka, fight foe the extra stuff?) Again, not consistently.

Witten did it all. Gates did not. Its like Randy Moss vs TO. Owens did it all consistently. Moss was top tier at what he did best. The debate could rage on forever, depending on if you like the flash and big splash, or the consistent do it all at top level for a long arse time. 

Gonzalez? Yeah, possibly one ahead of Witten. While he didnt block as well, he did everything you could ask very well for a very long time.

Winslow... tough guy to defend in his era, but not even close to the complete route tree guy and certainly one ofnthe all time best, but id take Witten 100/100 times.

Casper? Not nearly consistent enough. Shannon Sharpe? Excellent receiver. Better TE than Witten? Meh, debatable again, but not nearly as debatable as Gonzalez, and maybe not even as much as Gates, whod id still take Witten over. So no probably not Sharpe either IMO.

Ditka? More of an old school player than what Witten was, who blended the old school with the new school.

Honestly, Id say Witten is #2 behind Gonzalez, maybe #3 depending on where youd put Gates, and at worst #4 if you just happen to really have a thing for Sharpe. But even if you just love Dave Casper or Winslow thatttttt much, and had to put one ahead of Witten, hes still top 5.

[flyingmonkey30]

28 minutes ago, Dallas94Ware said:

Gates is debatable. Gates was a vertical route monster (post, corner, seam, flex post, flex corner) whos size, speed, rebound ability and reach made him hard to defend. Put a corner on him and he gets out musled. A safety? Way too slow. A linebacker? Beaten so quickly like hes one of Adrian Petersons kids. BUT - could he block? Hardly. Could he work the middle field against tough, physical zones taking a punishment for the catch? Not consistently. Could he make yards after catch that wasnt caused by outrunning the coverage and getting a great rainbow delivered to him(aka, fight foe the extra stuff?) Again, not consistently.

Witten did it all. Gates did not. Its like Randy Moss vs TO. Owens did it all consistently. Moss was top tier at what he did best. The debate could rage on forever, depending on if you like the flash and big splash, or the consistent do it all at top level for a long arse time. 

Gonzalez? Yeah, possibly one ahead of Witten. While he didnt block as well, he did everything you could ask very well for a very long time.

Winslow... tough guy to defend in his era, but not even close to the complete route tree guy and certainly one ofnthe all time best, but id take Witten 100/100 times.

Casper? Not nearly consistent enough. Shannon Sharpe? Excellent receiver. Better TE than Witten? Meh, debatable again, but not nearly as debatable as Gonzalez, and maybe not even as much as Gates, whod id still take Witten over. So no probably not Sharpe either IMO.

Ditka? More of an old school player than what Witten was, who blended the old school with the new school.

Honestly, Id say Witten is #2 behind Gonzalez, maybe #3 depending on where youd put Gates, and at worst #4 if you just happen to really have a thing for Sharpe. But even if you just love Dave Casper or Winslow thatttttt much, and had to put one ahead of Witten, hes still top 5.

I think one of the struggles in evaluating players today is fantasy football. Witten was never a dominant fantasy asset (really good, but not Gronk, Tony G, Gates, etc), and that's the impression some people are left with as a result.