Lofty Expectations

I just have a feeling that this is going to be a big year for white players and will top the year that Stokley and Bennett both topped 1000 yards receiving. A lot of these players on my following list have been held back in recent years either by injury, poor QB play, or sitting behind a black veteran but are posed for a big year this year IMO. Obviously this is a best case scenario of a dreamer like me, but here are my goals.



At RB:

1. Brian Leonard gets 500+ yards rushing on at least 4 yards per carry, 250+ yards receiving and 5+ total TDs

2. Heath Evans gets 400+ yards rushing, 100+ yards receiving and 3+ total TDs

3. Garrett Mills gets a chance with his new team and becomes an H-back running for a token 100+ yards, but grabs 400+ yards receiving and 3+ total TDs.

4. Kyle Eckel gets some token carries and records 3+ total TDs for the Patriots



At WR:

1. Kevin Curtis has a breakout season now that he is finally a starter and grabs 1400+ yards receiving and 10+ TDs.

2. Matt Jones finally catches his grove despite unspectacular play from Gerard and records 1100+ yards receiving and 10+ TDs as Gerard's favourite red zone target.

3. Drew Bennett gets 1000+ yards receiving and 7+ TDs playing mostly second WR.

4. Joe Jurevicius or Wes Welker step it up in a healthy season and get 1000+ yards receiving and 7+ TDs. Both get at least 700 and 5.

5. Mike Furrey or Brandon Stockley record 1000+ yards receiving and 6+ TDs. Both get at least 700 and 4.

6. Kevin Walter (I'm adding him to my list b/c he has far exceeded my expectations so far ) records 750+ yards receiving and 4+ TDs.

7. Anthony Gonzalez excels as a slot receiver specialist and records 700+ yards and 4 TDs.



The following WRs are guys that are fighting to stay in the league and need some game action to prove something or they will wind up as Kevin Kasper like "caste" offs:

1. Jeremhe Urban records 15+ catches and 1+ TD.

2. David Anderson records 10+ catches and 1+ TD.

3. Mike Hass grabs 5+ catches and records his first career season TD. Why does he have to have Lovie as his coach? This dude is better than David Anderson, but unlike Anderson never sees the field.



At TE:

1. Veterans Todd Heap, Jeremy Shockey or Jason Witten record their first 1000+ yard season w/ 8+ TDs. All record at least 600 and 4.

2. Dallas Clark, Owen Daniels or Heath Miller pull in 1000+ receiving yards w/ 8+ TDs. All record at least 600 and 4.

3. New wave athletic TEs Greg Olsen or Tony Sheffler grab 700+ yards receiving and 5+ TDs, both get 500 and 3, showing a sign of things to come.

4. Chris Cooley does his usual and grabs at least 700+ yards receiving and 5+ TDs.



Lets check back at the end of the season:

If half of these things have happened it will be a good season for us.

If two thirds or more have happened it will be an amazing "caste breaking" season

If between a third and half of these things have happened it will be a mediocre season.

If less than a third of these things have happened than that's just the good old NFL and a sign that Shack Harris may become the next commish. Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

damn, that's some hefty expectations...

Chris Cooley is good, but not that good!!

ToughJRiggins, no one can say you aren't an optimist!

1. Heath Evans and Brian Leonard get 500+ yards rushing 5 TD's and 300+ yards receiving.

To me, those numbers seem too optimistic for Evans, and not high enough for Leonard

Deadlift said:

Chris Cooley is good, but not that good!!

Click to expand...

clearly...

2004 Washington Redskins 16 37 314 8.5 6
2005 Washington Redskins 16 71 774 10.9 7
2006 Washington Redskins 16 57 734 12.9 6

and apparently their offensivecoordinator is going to use him much like he used Tony Gonzalez back in KC, so 750/6 would actually be quite conservative for Chris.

backrow said:

Deadlift said:

Chris Cooley is good, but not that good!!

Click to expand...

clearly...

2004 Washington Redskins 16 37 314 8.5 6
2005 Washington Redskins 16 71 774 10.9 7
2006 Washington Redskins 16 57 734 12.9 6

and apparently their offensivecoordinator is going to use him much like he used Tony Gonzalez back in KC, so 750/6 would actually be quite conservative for Chris.

Click to expand...

I think deadlift was just teasing about the typo in Riggin's post: Cooley is listed as getting 750 TD's, not yards. So yes, Cooley is good... but not that good! Edited by: White Shogun

oh, lol, my bad

I just caught the typo , yeah I meant 750 yards. I would have picked him for 900 and 8, but I can't stand the Skins so I hope it's Shockey that has the big season for white Tight Ends. I also am hoping that Olsen and Sheffler show their stuff as a sign of being the two next Antonio Gates/ Tony Gonzalez type TE's. Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

Scheffler will have a hard time with Daniel Graham and Stephen Alexander getting their share of receptions...

oh and btw i just noticed that Brandon Stokley is listed as a starter on their latest depth chart. stay healthy Brandon, this is your chance!!!

whiteafflete15 said:

1. Heath Evans and Brian Leonard get 500+ yards rushing 5 TD's and 300+ yards receiving.

To me, those numbers seem too optimistic for Evans, and not high enough for Leonard

Click to expand...

I disagree b/c Leonard is playing behind the second or third best RB in league and probably will average about only 7 carries a game. That's 112 carries on the season. Leonard also hasn't been dominant this pre-season. He will get some passes thrown his way also and some snaps as a blocker too though.

Evans has shown that he is a good runner in limited action. He ran for 4.5 yards a carry in his only start in a game a couple years ago. He has been dominant running the ball this pre-season.

Also if you recall the Patriots used a two back system last year with Dillon as the power runner and Maroney as the scat RB. I don't expect Evans to be used as much as Dillon but he should get some carries as the second RB/running FB this season. Especially when the backups are Sammy Morris and Kevin Faulk who haven't done much in their careers.

backrow said:

Scheffler will have a hard time with Daniel Graham and Stephen Alexander getting their share of receptions...

oh and btw i just noticed that Brandon Stokley is listed as a starter on their latest depth chart. stay healthy Brandon, this is your chance!!!

Click to expand...

Wow, great news! I thought he was going to be used in that traditional white role known as the slot...This means I am upping the expectations for Stokley!

I still have high expectations for Scheffler. This is after hearing that Shanahan compared him to Antonio Gates last year and seeing that he is listed as the projected starter from the two fantasy magazines I read.

I also forgot about my man Mike Furrey and added him to the list! Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

Changed things a little making the statistical goals a little easier so I won't be let down. Still very optimistic though!

I still can't believe that Kircus and Standeford were released.

Yeah, but Morris and Faulk will get carries before Evans does, definitely to start the season at least. I'd say 300-400 yards is realistic.

I Updated the lofty goals list for our men on offense for this season. I'm sure some of you guys may consider this cheating changing the list at almost mid-season, but the fact is that different players have emerged than I thought would emerge. We are still keeping pace to have the amazing season I thought could happen. I kept the goals at about the same level as before, I just inserted alternate players to accomplish them.

An example of a change I made would be inserting anther white WR in place of David Kircus who isn't even in the league anymore. Another example of a type of change I made was separating Jason Witten and Dallas Clark into separate groups of candidates to break 1000 yards, but still keeping the same goal of having two TEs top 1000 yards as I had hoped for.

I originally proposed 4 different groups of white WRs that had at least one white WR that I had most hoped would top 1000 yards. I wanted at least 3 to accomplish this goal to meet the criteria of 2/3's goals fulfilled and to top the recent year where two white WRs topped 1000 yards.

However, Matt Jones and Drew Bennett appear already to have failed unless a miracle happens, so I separated the groups of WRs to still have a shot of 3 WRs in different groups on the list topping 1000 yards. I also made the list more math friendly by having 18 goals which makes it easy to figure out the 2/3's 1/2 fraction of goals met.

I may still change the list one more time, but have decided that changing the list after mid season would be cheating. I am going to take a look at the players on my list after 8 games played to project which players are on pace to be our "caste breakers." Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

yeah, too bad that Jurevicius and Bennett played pretty much all season (so far) with nagging injuries, and Matt Jones is being treated like a leper.

ToughJ.Riggins said:

I just caught the typo

, yeah I meant 750 yards. I would have picked him for 900 and 8, but I can't stand the Skins so I hope it's Shockey that has the big season for white Tight Ends. I also am hoping that Olsen and Sheffler show their stuff as a sign of being the two next Antonio Gates/ Tony Gonzalez type TE's.

Click to expand...

Bah. Cooley already with 4 TDs, even if his yards are low due to having to stay in and block. Can't stand the 'Skins yet a Riggo fan? You must've cheered for the Jets.

Here's a mid season check of the lofty goal list:


At RB:

1. Brian Leonard gets 500+ yards rushing on at least 4 yards per carry, 250+ yards receiving and 5+ total TDs

After 8 games:77-276-3.6YP C-0Td Rec:18-129Yds-0Td
Projection 16 game: 154-552-3.6YPC-1TD Rec:36-258Yds-1Td

Analysis: He has the yards, but it doesn't look like he'll make it unless he gets some blocking to up his yards per carry and find the endzone.



2. Heath Evans gets 400+ yards rushing, 100+ yards receiving and 3+ total TDs

After 8 games: 19-58Yds-3.1YPC-1Td Rec:1-29-0Td
Projection 16 games: 38-116Yds-3.1YPC-2Td Rec:2-58-0Td

Analysis: Maybe if the Patriots keep blowing teams out and running up the score they will pull out their starters and give Evans 10 carries a game as a HB. This could allow him to reach my goal, but somehow I doubt it.



3. Garrett Mills gets a chance with his new team and becomes an H-back running for a token 100+ yards, but grabs 400+ yards receiving and 3+ total TDs.

Stats: nil; WTF he isn't being used at all. This guy broke records as an TE for Tulsa. Man I hate the Vikings!



4. Kyle Eckel gets some token carries and records 3+ total TDs for the Patriots

After 8 games: 23-50Yds-2.2-1Td
Projection 16 games: 46-100Yds-2.2-2Td

Analysis: I think Kyle will make it, with the way they are starting to use him in blowouts, but I'd really rather have them run Evans!





At TE:

1. Veterans Todd Heap, Jeremy Shockey or Jason Witten record their first 1000+ yard season w/ 8+ TDs. All record at least 600 and 4.

Heap at 5 games (missed 2): 19-201Yds-1Td
Projection 14 games: 53-563Yds-3Td

Shockey at 8 games: 31-358Yds-2Td
Projection 16 games: 62-716Yds-4Td

Witten at 7games:&nbsp ;42-540Yds-4Td
Projection 16 games: 96-1232Yds-9Td

Analysis: All is going pretty well, but Heap is going to have to step it up after he returns from injury after the bye week this week. And he better b/c he's on my fantasy team. I should have drafted Witten! Witten should become the first white TE to top 1000 yards since Mark Bavaro did it in 1986 with 66 receptions for 1006 yards! What a beast after the catch Bavaro was!



2. Dallas Clark, Owen Daniels or Heath Miller pull in 1000+ receiving yards w/ 8+ TDs. All record at least 600 and 4.

Clark after 7 games:32-388Yds-6Tds
Projection 16 games:73-886Yds-14Td

Daniels after 8 games: 35-427Yds-0Td
Projection 16 games:70-854Yds-1Td

Miller after 7 games: 24-333Yds-4Td
Projection 16 games:55-763Yds-9Td

Analysis: Clark certainly looks impressive as the Colts red-zone threat, but he'll need more looks to top 1000 yards or at least have a couple real long receptions. Daniels is going to have to grab some Tds, I'm doubting this one will work out.



3. New wave athletic TEs Greg Olsen or Tony Scheffler grab 700+ yards receiving and 5+ TDs, both get 500 and 3, showing a sign of things to come.

Scheffler at 7 games: 10-115Yds-2Td
Projection 16 games:23-265Yds-4Td

Olsen at 6 games (sat out 2): 21-255Yds-2Td
Projection 14 games:49-595Yds-4Td

Analysis: This goal could be met b/c both teams are starting to use these players more. I don't know why Scheffler was in Shanahan's doghouse before, but he has an outside shot at getting 500 yards and is on pace for 3 Tds. Olsen could definitely get 700 yards and pull in 5 Tds.



4. Chris Cooley does his usual and grabs at least 700+ yards receiving and 5+ TDs.

Cooley after 7 games:23-219Yds-5Td
Projected after 16 games 53-504Yds-10Td

Analysis: Cooley's Td stats are impressive, but it looks as though he is getting mostly occasional dump off passes from media darling Campbell, who has trouble throwing the ball down-field. I hope Cooley's catches go up when Campbell realizes his long ball efforts are futile. My guess is he'll come up just short.


Edited to add: Tomorrow I'll evaluate the WRs and project where we stand on the ranking of the season from a caste point of veiw. Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

Cooley's stats have also taken a hit due to the fact that their o-line has been decimated by injuries forcing him to block more. Overall your lofty expectations for the most part seemed unreasonable when you originally posted this, but man you are pretty close on a lot of them! I hope they can all exceed these expectations.

yes sir! if only Leonard could get what you wanted for him!