His numbers definately took a slide in 2016, but then again, Carson Palmer isnt doing all that well either. Might partly explain why
After a quick look at all of his targets:
My Novice analysis.
1. A lot of the deep throws to him were under or over thrown. He usually gets some separation but not always and not a lot if he does. So in man to man he has to improve in his jump ball ability which he was great with last year. In zone he finds the open part of the field.
2. On shorter out routes he does create separation but more often than not Palmer throws the ball late allowing the DB to contest the catch. That happened a lot. Brady throws before the break while Palmer often throws after which may be a trust issue between Palmer and Floyd.
3. He has dropped some balls that hit him right on target. A couple of big play drops including as a pass that would have given the Cardinals a first down and closer to the Field goal during their 3 to 3 tie. Confidence issue?
4. He has made some nice tough catches as well. He will go after balls that are thrown too low or high. Palmer will throw to him in double and occasionally triple coverage.
5. He bobbled a few sideline catches. Two or three.
6. He has dropped a few when immediately getting hit after the catch. A few I thought he should have hung onto but that might be being picky.
With that said a majority of Palmers throws were off target or late so it's tough to digest Floyd's completion percentage. I would estimate that he would be closer to 60-65 percent if Palmer was a bit more accurate. Another consideration is that a lot of his targets were deep passes and I imagine that reduces catch percentage as well. Unless, of course, he was running his routes, both short and deep, poorly which I'm not able to tell.
The good news? In Arizona he often received #1 CB attention which I doubt he'll receive here. So he may get a little more separation and be able to win a few more contested balls. Additionally he'll have Brady throwing to him which will give him a better ball to catch. (A lot of Palmers deep throws had less arc on them than Brady's do.)
So I like the guy or I like giving the guy a shot. If he can regain his confidence from last year he will be a valuable weapon especially in the red zone. However I would not rate him above Mitchell or Hogan as a between the 20's receiving threat but would consider him a possible equal or better red zone threat.
Side note: I think four of his first incomplete targets were against Butler. Butler actually performed one of his classic strip in the end zone moves on him.
Side note 2: If Floyd ran the correct routes Palmer sucks.
Anyways any feedback is appreciated.
