Aaron Dobson

TommyBrady12 said:

I can't believe people are knocking dobson for not fighting on that severely underthrown ball by mallett.

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While falling backwards, the person responsible for that was Mallett and an poorly thrown ball...

If he had caught it, he would have defied physics....

I am not by any means giving up on Dobson but if they're respevtive investments had been the same, I'd take Sims over Dobson right now. And I'm no 2 TD bandwagon jumper either - I've been impressed by Sims for a while.

But those TDs, things of beauty.

Can we give the kid at least HALF a season to determine whether he's a bust or not? Jeez he hasn't even played a real meaningful game yet....

Hard to look outstanding with some of the QB play he's had.

There was a number of times in the 3 games Tebow played where Dobson was wide open and the pass never came. Or when he did get a pass it was when he was draped in defenders (Mallett was mainly responsible for that).

BUT, he has looked a little soft at times, which will hopefully be sorted out.

What's a bit disconcerning to me with this kid is the fact that he double catches the ball at times. The rest of the stuff I'm not too worried about at this time.

As long as he double CATCHES and doesn't drop or fumble !

I'm just hoping they don't bury him. It takes most receivers three years to develop not one pre-season. We've had a lot of anointed receivers after a pre-season that haven't done squat after as well. If he can catch 30-40 balls for 4-500 yards I'll be very happy. If they bury him and don't give him the reps to try to improve that will be a waste.

He has been fine for a rookie. Guess he is the new guy to hate on.

AzorianPats said:

Can we give the kid at least HALF a season to determine whether he's a bust or not? Jeez he hasn't even played a real meaningful game yet....

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You'd think

Nunchucks said:

He has been fine for a rookie. Guess he is the new guy to hate on.

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I think this is more about Thompkins playing so far above his draft grade then anything else. If Thomkins turned out to be nothing I don't think you'd see this ridiculous negative backlash against Dobson.

People hating on Dobson for what was a perfectly acceptable rookie preseason are jumping the gun.

Sporin said:

I think this is more about Thompkins playing so far above his draft grade then anything else. If Thomkins turned out to be nothing I don't think you'd see this ridiculous negative backlash against Dobson.

People hating on Dobson for what was a perfectly acceptable rookie preseason are jumping the gun.

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I'm not giving up on the kid or anything, but it is hard to overlook how soft he plays. Chevss did some serious scouting before the draft and that was something he said was a major knock on Aaron even in college, so it is a little disconcerting to see it extending into his NFL career, brief as it may be.

Ultimately, no matter what other skills he develops, he'll be a JAG if that area doesn't take a significant step forward because playing physical is one of the most consistent ways to take a guy out of the game.

He looks like he has all the skills. But as others have mentioned, he seems to hold back a bit when contact is involved. Even when TB has thrown to him. Like he doesn't want to give that little extra, and gives up a bit. No hate for the guy, just hasn't excelled like the others rooks. He looks good when the ball is thrown perfectly, especially his jump ball. Hopefully he can continue to improve. As I've said before, maybe I'm a little spoiled with KT, Boyce...I'm fine letting him develop. I just hope he does. The fundamentals are there.

Still think we're getting a solid year from him.

Its not his fault people expect the sun, moon and stars from him.

He'll be just fine.

He looked okay. Not as great as we were lead to believe from TC. He has the physical tools, and even mental tools, but he seemingly doesn't fight for the ball.

The passing attack should be fine with or without dobson.

Silver said:

He looks like he has all the skills. But as others have mentioned, he seems to hold back a bit when contact is involved. Even when TB has thrown to him. Like he doesn't want to give that little extra, and gives up a bit. No hate for the guy, just hasn't excelled like the others rooks. He looks good when the ball is thrown perfectly, especially his jump ball. Hopefully he can continue to improve. As I've said before, maybe I'm a little spoiled with KT, Boyce...I'm fine letting him develop. I just hope he does. The fundamentals are there.

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That's one thing I hated about watching Brandon Lloyd. So much receiving talent, but he refused to get hit at all. As soon as he caught it, he flopped to the ground to avoid any contact. I hope Dobson doesn't turn out like that.

Sporin said:

People hating on Dobson for what was a perfectly acceptable rookie preseason are jumping the gun.

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I don't think anybody is hating on the guy, I certainly am not. It's just that we need to reset our expectations because some people thought he was going to be the next big thing based on preseason reports.

As always I feel like this boards move swings cause it to either overhype or undervalue a player and not give them enough time. I do think it's fair to say that he is fifth on the depth chart easily

Ozymandias said:

Way too early to be throwing out the 'B' word. We can all agree on the 'S' word - soft - however. His physicality is Lloyd-esque so far. Thank god for Kenbrell Thompkins.

I still think he can develop into something though, but he needs to toughen up. This is the NFL not NCAA.

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Way to take that part of my post out of context

I admit it didn't watch past the first two series last night so I missed many of his negative plays, but I think people are being too harsh on the guy. I still think he has shown enough to be the #3 or #4 WR as a outside/deep route specialist (sorta like Stallworth in 2007).

From the little I saw last night, Dobson was getting open outside and beating his guy fairly consistently there. Granted he wasn't thrown to in those drives. He has also been successful in passes in those areas during the preseason.

Yes. he has some very significant limitations at this point. He does need to work on his route running and his physicality. Both those points will limit what he runs and exclude him from plays over the middle. He definitely won't be fighting for a starting job until he does.

I still think has the potential be what Torrey Smith was for the Ravens his first two years on a lesser scale (as a back up rather than a full time starter). Not saying Dobson will be as nearly as good as Smith in his rookie season, but both receivers came into the league playing soft and having a very limited route running tree (Granted those are still two knocks on Smith today three years later). Smith, his first year, just ran go routes for the most part all season. Unfortunately, that means that Dobson could be very hot and cold like Smith is and have an excellent game one week and pedestrian game for the next two.

Stallworth would probably be a better comparison in this offense, but I am trying to look for a player who had similar limitations as Dobson coming out of college who was at least moderately successful his rookie year. Torrey Smith is probably the best example since not only do they have the same limitations, they have similar speed (Smith ran a 4.41 at the combine while Dobson ran a 4.42) and strengths.

I was never expecting a huge year from Dobson to start. I thought he would win the starting job though which obviously won't happen (at least to start the season). But I think he could still get 500-600 yards and a handful of TDs as a route specialist off the bench.

Something being overlooked so far in this thread - the guy can seriously block.

Every time they've shown a replay of him engaging a defender in the running game he's taken them right out of the play and leaving some nice holes for the runner.