Brady6
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2013
- Messages
- 15,641
- Reaction score
- 5,580
In a recent interview, Devin McCourty said Julian Edelman was more difficult to cover than Wes Welker is. I for one believe it; Edelman is bigger, strong, faster, and more athletic. I think one thing that is often overlooked by fans, posters, and the media is that Edelman was a college quarterback who converted to wide receiver in his rookie season. This makes Edelman’s tenure as a wide receiver the equivalent to a 4-year college player with one season in the NFL.
Prior to last season Edelman had never played more than 24% of the Patriots offensive snaps, and had on 108 targets in his career. To put that in perspective compare him to the players he is most often grouped with, Amendola was targeted 101 times in 2012 with the Rams, and Welker was targeted 174 times with the Patriots in 2012. Edelman did not have many reps, but last season he did, and as the season progressed he really developed as a receiver, he went from a player that was effective with the ball in his hands to a receiver who knew how to get open, draw pass interference, and command a game plan.
I think a great example of Edelman’s growth would be looking at week 2 when he was targeted 18 times resulting in 13 catches but they went for a total of 78 yards and no touchdowns. Then look at week 15 he was targeted 19 times for the same number of catches he had in week 2 – 13, but this time he gain 139 yards and scored a touchdown.
There is a general misconception among many that Edelman was the only target and this why he was so successful, but in reality, the final 8 games of the season (6 regular season and 2 playoff) were the games that Edelman played his best football. Amendola and Vereen played in all 8 of those games, and Gronkowski played in 3 of the 8. In this 8 games Edelman had 97 targets, 69 catches for a 71.1% catch ration, 729 yards, 10.56 average, 5 touchdowns. Compare that to his first 10 games, which Amendola and Vereen missed their time with injury and Gronkowski missed the first 6 games, in those games Edelman had 78 targets, 52 catches for a 66.66% catch ratio, 500 yards, 9.6 average, 2 touchdowns.
Read the article – http://blog.masslive.com/patriots/2014/06/patriots_db_devin_mccourty_say.html
In my opinion, Edelman can be even better in 2014. One thing I have noticed about Edelman is whatever he is given the opportunity to do he excels at, when he was behind Welker and never seeing the field he made the most of being a punt returner with one of the highest return averages in history. As a special teams player he was outstanding in coverage, and even when asked to play defensive back he played well for a player with limited experience. Now that he finally has a chance to play receiver consistently I think he will be as impressive as Welker was in his time here.
Prior to last season Edelman had never played more than 24% of the Patriots offensive snaps, and had on 108 targets in his career. To put that in perspective compare him to the players he is most often grouped with, Amendola was targeted 101 times in 2012 with the Rams, and Welker was targeted 174 times with the Patriots in 2012. Edelman did not have many reps, but last season he did, and as the season progressed he really developed as a receiver, he went from a player that was effective with the ball in his hands to a receiver who knew how to get open, draw pass interference, and command a game plan.
I think a great example of Edelman’s growth would be looking at week 2 when he was targeted 18 times resulting in 13 catches but they went for a total of 78 yards and no touchdowns. Then look at week 15 he was targeted 19 times for the same number of catches he had in week 2 – 13, but this time he gain 139 yards and scored a touchdown.
There is a general misconception among many that Edelman was the only target and this why he was so successful, but in reality, the final 8 games of the season (6 regular season and 2 playoff) were the games that Edelman played his best football. Amendola and Vereen played in all 8 of those games, and Gronkowski played in 3 of the 8. In this 8 games Edelman had 97 targets, 69 catches for a 71.1% catch ration, 729 yards, 10.56 average, 5 touchdowns. Compare that to his first 10 games, which Amendola and Vereen missed their time with injury and Gronkowski missed the first 6 games, in those games Edelman had 78 targets, 52 catches for a 66.66% catch ratio, 500 yards, 9.6 average, 2 touchdowns.
Read the article – http://blog.masslive.com/patriots/2014/06/patriots_db_devin_mccourty_say.html
In my opinion, Edelman can be even better in 2014. One thing I have noticed about Edelman is whatever he is given the opportunity to do he excels at, when he was behind Welker and never seeing the field he made the most of being a punt returner with one of the highest return averages in history. As a special teams player he was outstanding in coverage, and even when asked to play defensive back he played well for a player with limited experience. Now that he finally has a chance to play receiver consistently I think he will be as impressive as Welker was in his time here.
