Every starting WR plays a decoy at times unless you are the Seahawks where they seem to only design plays to throw to JSN.
You have some elite WR who will dog it when they are just a decoy. Randy Moss was famous for running half ass routes when the ball wasn't designed to go to him. Not as much his first two years with the Pats, but for most of his career.
AJ Brown has in the past and will in the future act as a decoy for other players to make plays. He will get his targets and he will be used to take coverage away from the Maye's intended target. That is how offenses work. Maye is going to throw 400-500 times this year. Brown will not be the primary or secondary option on at least over a hundred of them when he is on the field.
You also seem to think that every time Boutte ran a deep route that the ball wasn't thrown to him that he was acting as a decoy. Many times when he ran these routes, he was the intended primary receiver and he just wasn't open and Maye went to another receiver. I seriously doubt he was used as a decoy remotely as often as you think he was.
I am not grasping at straws. I am arguing with a guy who clearly doesn't understand football.
Dude
Let’s recap.
You tried to argue that 20+ gains are the same as deep throws
You tried to argue that Doubs is a deep threat
You tried to argue that 10 yard passes take the top off.
You tried to argue that Diggs and his 8.7 ADOT and a TE were the primary receivers pulling coverage deep not the guy with a 17.5 ADOT
Now your argument to counter the advantage we had last year if a deep threat who pulled coverage away, by design, as a key facet of the offense is everyone’s a decoy sometimes.
Let me try (no doubt futilly) to educate you.
When you design a pass play you have progressions. Those progressions vary depending upon the read of the defense.
If you have a deep threat on the boundary and you run him deep he can be both the first progression or the last depending upon the coverage.
So if Maye sees man coverage and the safety is not going to impact your deep route he’s throwing there.
Your “he isn’t open” is ignorant. Do yourself a favor and learn something. Get the all22 and watch some deep throws. Where is the receiver when the qb makes the decision to throw or releases. They get open while the ball is in the air. The qb is reading coverage and leverage.
If he sees coverage where there is a safety over the top, that is no longer a first progression and is now a case of 2 defenders being taken out of the area of the other routes.
The nature of a deep route is if you get the matchup one on one throw it and if you don’t it drew coverage. Why do you think they run so many deep routes and throw to them so rarely?
AJ Brown has not been used as a decoy, he is a primary receiver. He is a receiver who attracts attention which leads to the other receivers getting opportunities, but he is absolutely not the guy you call in the run a deep route into double coverage so you can throw to Hollins.