Even if Coates doesn't I'm still not excited about Wheaton this season. We saw how he fared in a full-time roll last season and it wasn't great. I'd be surprised if Pitt sees Wheaton (FA next season) as the long-term WR2 or WR3
I'm not impressed with a bunch of their non-Antonio WRs for much of the game and then one of them shows a gift that blows me away. It could be hands or speed.
IMO Wheaton is eh nothing special and then holy wow fast. He's got a sixth gear. He's not jogging or running slow to start so it seems impossible to run that much faster. Telling ya, the right highlight and Wheaton is the fastest guy in the NFL.
I don't think Coates is better than when he first came to Pitt. I have this problem with a lot of NFL WRs. I think it's possible that their stellar college career was the peak.
The Steelers don't seem to have this huge interest in developing a #2 and/or they simply can't commit to one which makes it appear as such. They sure do draft some incredible athletes to play the #2 role.
Developing WRs is a lost art in the NFL. Titans released two awesome athletes that were second round gems- geesh Hunter would fit right in in Pitt as matter of fact. He is so big and so fast. The Vikings almost tripped over Diggs by not playing him for the first few weeks and then I swear they were surprised he was very good. Coradelle, Treadwell, Charles Johnson- I like each of them but what have they done? The Lions never really found that guy opposite Calvin. They signed Burleson to be a vet fill in and later on Tate too. Broyles was so good in college but such a flop. They never really had a gem opposite Calvin.
Steve Smith in Carolina. Did he play with Muhsin? Seems like he never had help. Kamar Aiken in BAL came out of nowhere last year and as they didn't even offer him a new contract initially, they sure didn't appear to appreciate a #2. Perriman is the solution....nope. Eagles went from Maclin to Matthews, where's the #2?
Cincy didn't seem too worried about losing their two supposed real good WRs opposite Green.
KC just had Bowe and now they just have Maclin.
Cowboys had TO and then Dez.
The Giants just plugged in a rook whom was good right away. The Cards have only had success adding good right away type WRs. They haven't really developed much around Fitz.
Post Calvin- the Lions went with Andre Roberts and Anquan Boldin. Sure thing veterans. Slower, less exciting, but they know what they've got in them.
Sorry so long, it's just...We might be in an era where WRs aren't developed anymore. I mean the one's there are coached, but there isn't this big push to get the job done. It seems to me like if an NFL team wants a big and fast WR then there are tons available from college. If you don't discuss route running, training, hands etc then yeah there is a plethora available. So I am anticipating Wheaton and Coates being given the DHB option- stay in your role at a reasonable price or we'll draft another prospect who will also be big and fast.
Big and fast is enough in most offenses. The OC admits his limitations and scripts accordingly. Bad teams struggle to rely on these bad WRs. Even worse teams tend to misread the benefit and just go with 2 and 3 TE sets. As long as it's heh he's not good but the D has to account for his blazing speed....OCs make it work.
Green Bay has had some excellent WRs and even added some more. They lost to Calvin and many of these one WR teams some and always seem to beat the one WR Bears. Can you really say they are better off by being one of the few teams that still develops WRs?
In this Pitt thread, Big Ben throws for a zillion yards and Bell runs for another zillion. Is GB really a better offense?
I don't think teams really develop #2s anymore