Brian Hartline

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Bess is a solid slot WR that can help the Dolphins in certain sets. However, Bess is not as good at getting open as Wes Welker and NOWHERE NEAR as good after the catch (Wes is probably the best in the league at making guys miss on short throws and turning them into 1st downs). This is why Bess' YPC is lower than Welker and he would never be the reception machine Welker is. Bess also doesn't have the burst or strength off the line Welker does, he's only Welker's equal in top-end speed.

Ginn killed the Dolphins against the Saints in crunch time- in a game they could have gotten a huge upset in. I say put Hartline and his 4.51 speed at Split End (just fast enough to play the X role with his all round- well built- athletic skill set), put Camarillo at Flanker and use Bess a lot in the slot in most sets- in place of the FB or in rare cases TE Fasano or Camarillo. Ginn can come in- once in a blue moon- for a deep fly pattern- but he'd probably still hurt them as much as help them with his butter fingers.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

The double identity thing is spot on Don. A "PC alert" goes out when a roster gets near 50% white or when a team lists 2 of the top 3 receivers white. No this would be racist (sarcasm)- a small minority should be made the far and away majority in football. I guess an almost fully white "Hispanic" would partially cover the minority criteria. The NFL all makes a lot of sense.

 

[Don Wassall]

There are no comments so far after this article. Maybe it's time for some. . .


<H1 =title>Brian Hartline, Great White Hope? </H1>
<H2 =subtitle>Hartline really has been doing well, it's just...is this all we have? Yes. </H2>
How can Iput this delicately? How to find the words?
Oh, yes: the Dolphins receivers are terrible.
In fact, you might say Miami's receiving corps is a bit like standing water: left alone long enough, it will turn brown, sprout mosquitos the size of housecats, and eventually bear disease that will eliminate everyone but pasty Ohians.
Which isn't to say I have anything against Brian Hartline. He's certainly proven to be Chad Henne's best bet, and the children are the future and all that, but honestly: if a rookie is the new go-to guy by default, well, may God have mercy on Greg Camarillo's soul, though he's not anyone's idea of Randy Moss, either, and that's not his fault.
Yes, the Dolphins will be pushing Hartline to the top of the crap heap as the rest of the season unfolds. They don't have much choice, of course, with Ted Ginn smearing his hands in butter during warmups and Camarillo disappearing and Davone Bess being a slot bot.
Here's the real mystifying part: nothing was ever done about the situation at receiver. At this point, with the playoffs a long shot and half the season gone, it's pointless. But it was pretty clear early in the season that reception by committee wasn't going to cut it, and though this is an administration that likes to build through the draft it would have been nice to see something happen. Anything. Chris Chambers, even, would have been a genius move in hindsight.
And not just for a lost season in rebuilding: the Dolphins have to figure out whether Chad Henne is THIS GUY, as Jon Gruden would over-say, and how can they really tell when he's throwing to second-tier or maybe-possibly-emerging-if-we're-lucky targets?
Instead, he gets to throw to players for whom this is considered an offensive coordinator's endorsement of succession:
"Hartline is coming along, we haven't pushed him to the front as much. We probably will here in the near future. We like him, he's making plays, he seems to show up very much like Greg showed up in our training camp the first year we were here, and why he's still here, because he's a consummate pro receiver. Albeit he knows, and we all know, what his shortcomings are. But if you want an accountable guy, he's an accountable guy. Now, Hartline isn't quite as accountable yet. He hasn't been through all the ropes, once in a while he'll blow this or blow that. But he's got the ability to make explosive plays, and we do need to get him the ball."
Yargh!Maybe all we'll really learn from this season is that Chad Pennington is made of moth's wings and our rookie corners have upside, leaving the biggest question of all unanswered for next season -- along with half the balls thrown downfield.
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/sports/Brian-Hartline-Great-White-Hope-78544442.html

 

[celticdb15]

This article is a joke, no mention of the receiver who should be held most ACOUNTABLE, TED GINN!!

 

[FootballDad]

All of this misery and yet Matt Jones, Mike Hass and othersare just waiting for a chance to strap the pads on.

 

[Thrashen]

This King-Waterboy writes as if he lives and dies on weather or not some meaningless team won or lost some meaningless game. I'm not even sure what the point of the article is? The Dolphins WRs, in the context of the entire league, are probably average.Edited by: Thrashen

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

The article is a typical example of the AA practice of how white WRs have to do so much more to get people off their back and make it in the NFL.

Hartline made a lot of long catches this year in limited opportunity. His selection in the 4th round was criticized harshly by "analysts" as a stupid pick, yet he's turned out better so far than OSU teammate Brian Robiskie who was selected in the 1st round by Cleveland. So now that Hartline's playing phenomenally for a 4th round WR who was labeled a bad pick before he even played- it becomes "yeah he's pretty fly for a white guy", but can we do better? The truth of the matter is that Hartline needs more looks. He's a big play threat!

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

To add to that, it looks like Hartline has the ability to turn out better than "BOTH" his OSU teammates Robiskie AND fellow Dolphin Ted "drop the" Ginn drafted in the 1st round. However, Draft Daddy was one of few sites to defend the Dolphin's Hartline pick and he was a 4th rounder for God's sake. How about instead of "pretty fly for a white guy", "VERY FLY for a 4th round rookie!"

 

[dwid]

strange how two of the top receivers from this draft class fell all the way to the 4th round (Collie, Hartline)...

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

"strange," indeed.

 

[Don Wassall]

The article is a typical example of the AA practice of how white WRs have to do so much more to get people off their back and make it in the NFL.

Hartline made a lot of long catches this year in limited opportunity. His selection in the 4th round was criticized harshly by "analysts" as a stupid pick, yet he's turned out better so far than OSU teammate Brian Robiskie who was selected in the 1st round by Cleveland. So now that Hartline's playing phenomenally for a 4th round WR who was labeled a bad pick before he even played- it becomes "yeah he's pretty fly for a white guy", but can we do better? The truth of the matter is that Hartline needs more looks. He's a big play threat!

Robiskie was drafted in the early second round by Cleveland, but everything else you wrote is spot on. The media and DWFs were all over the Dolphins for picking Hartline.

My guess is that Hartline wouldn't even have been drafted if Miami hadn't taken him.A similar receiver withvery good speed and hands, Andrew Means, was ignored in the draft and is now apparentlyfollowing a pro baseball career. I'm not even sure if he got a shot as a free agent last summer.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Yeah you're right Don on Robiskie being a 2nd round guy, it was Kenny "drop" Britt and Hakeem Nicks who were drafted at the end of round one, I thought Robiskie was in there also.

Hakeem Nicks has a very similar size and speed ratio to Hartline also and was supposed to have great hands, but to me, his hands have been average for the Giants. Nicks and Robiskie got way more hype than Hartline.

 

[Don Wassall]

Robiskie was hyped over and over again as "the most NFL ready receiver" in the '09 draft, yet he was a healthy scratch most of the season on a team desperate for WR help. Brings to mind '07 first round pick Robert Meachem's rookie season, but at least he was on a team with a potent offense. The "experts" couldn't have been more wrong about Robiskie.

 

[White Power]

His Blackness makes him more ready to play Don hence the label the pundits gave him. Hartline will start for the Phins next, as his role will be expanded and Ginn's role reduced alot. Ginn might even be shown the door out of north Cuba.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

I should really make sure I check my facts everytime rather than trusting my memory since I'm normally a stickler for accuracy- I've been doing that less lately so my apologies. I've seen some people here make mistakes like calling Brian Leonard a 3rd round pick or Jacob Hester a 2nd rounder- so we all have to help each other to make sure the site is credible.

But speaking of accuracy my rankings are looking pretty good right now- I ranked Brian Hartline as my 10 best receiver overall and Collie as my 4th and then moved him to 5th after considering Draft Daddy's analysis on Heyward Bey whose been a bust so far. And to top it off I had Crabtree 3rd behind Percy Harvin at #2 and Maclin at #1.

I was confident Harvin was going to be good, but following Harvin you could make the argument that all three under drafted white WRs (Hartline, Collie and Edelman) along with Maclin and Nicks have shown the best signs along with maturity and work ethic that they could be STUD WRs. Three of the top six rookie WRs white? Underrated white guys as usual...you bet ya!Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Just wanted to say since I brought up Devone Bess earlier: Even though he reportedly ran a 4.67 40 (Welker ran a 4.61)- I think he makes a good Slot WR. He has some poor man's Welker qualities to him because he has a quick first couple steps, is tough as nails, has great hands, is strong for his size and loses very little speed when he makes his cuts. Thought I'd clear up that although Bobby Wade sucks- you can play WR in the NFL with a low 4.7 40 time or faster (ie. Anquan Bolden)

The Dolphins should play Hartline at X, Camarillo at Y and Bess at Z in the slot if they want THE BEST PLAYERS to play!

 

[Taco]

Black rookie WR does good = great rising star in the NFL (ex: Desean Jackson)

White rookie WR does good = the receiving corp sucks (Ex: Hartline obviously)

 

[Don Wassall]

A reporter who covers the Dolphins' assessment of Hartline, who he ranks as currently the 15th best player on the roster:



15. Brian Hartline: Miami's most explosive receiver (16.3 yards per catch) shows potential to be a good, maybe even great, No. 2 receiver in the future.
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/football/story/1417490.html

 

[whiteathlete33]

A member of the media actually referred to a white player as explosive. That's something you don't see everyday.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

I forgot to mention that Michael Crabtree did well- after he restrained himself from continuing on as a Primadonna and signed with the 49ers. Mike Wallace of the Steelers also had a good rookie season. Still, out of the top 5 or 6 rookie black receivers- Guys like Harvin (the top rookie WR this year IMO), Crabtree, Maclin, Nicks, Wallace and the overrated Kenny Drop Britt- Austin Collie and Brian Hartline are right up there with them. And Julian Edelman showed top 10 rookie WR potential.

Notice though, that the white guys were drafted much lower and Edelman was barely drafted at all! Will the GMs learn? How many white WRs will we see drafted this year- in the year of the white WR?

 

[whiteathlete33]

I forgot to mention that Michael Crabtree did well- after he restrained himself from continuing on as a Primadonna and signed with the 49ers. Mike Wallace of the Steelers also had a good rookie season. Still, out of the top 5 or 6 rookie black receivers- Guys like Harvin (the top rookie WR this year IMO), Crabtree, Maclin, Nicks, Wallace and the overrated Kenny Drop Britt- Austin Collie and Brian Hartline are right up there with them. And Julian Edelman showed top 10 rookie WR potential.



Notice though, that the white guys were drafted much lower and Edelman was barely drafted at all! Will the GMs learn? How many white WRs will we see drafted this year- in the year of the white WR?

I'm gonna be very positive here ToughJ and say eight. That's every single white receiver that was invited to the combine. Also guys like Mariani will get picked up by someone even if they don't get much playing time.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

It would be serious progress if Gerhart makes it into the 1st round, Jake Sharp is drafted (even if it's in the 6th or 7th round) and AT LEAST 6 white combine WRs are drafted along with a couple other guys amongst Marc Mariani, Tim Toone, Andrew Brewer or Pat Simmonds. Best case scenario...we see 10 white WRs drafted along with 2 white HBs.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

We shouldn't get our hopes up too high though- because we usually get disappointed. If the draft goes anything close to tolerable we should be gleeful!

 

[jaxvid]

We shouldn't get our hopes up too high though- because we usually get disappointed. If the draft goes anything close to tolerable we should be gleeful!

See your post above that one.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Decker, McGaha, Shipley, Cooper, and White should all be a lock to be drafted and all at the latest by round 5. I think Meier will go in 6 or 7.
Edited by: whiteathlete33