Originally Posted by Boston Saint (Post 976038)

It’s good on paper and if Thomas stays healthy (big if). If he’s not a go then it’s a bunch of young guys and Edwards.

Originally Posted by BakoSaint (Post 976043)

A bunch of young guys means olave a 1st round pick who nearly won rookie of the year and shaheed who who led the nfl in yards per target among receivers with at least 400 yards by a wide margin once he started to be utilized last year. Its possible that we could have one of the best 1-2 receiver duos in the nfl without Thomas.

I don’t see any reason Shaheed could not be the next antonio brown. He is bigger, faster, also went to a small school, also was projected as a late round pick or undrafted free agent, had far more yards as a rookie, far more yards per catch as a rookie than any season of browns career, did it with an inferior qb, and had a similar very high catch rate as a rookie. Shaheed could be a mirage or could turn into a role player but he might also turn out to be very elite, and the stats so far indicate thats totally possible.

Originally Posted by Boston Saint (Post 976045)

Certainly could happen. They also could hit sophomore slumps and struggle with a new QB. Without Thomas, saying it’s Edwards and a bunch of young guys is still an accurate statement.

Originally Posted by BakoSaint (Post 976053)

I think Thomas is more likely to have 0 yards and less likely to have 500, 1000, or 1500 yards than Olave or Shaheed. So I think starting with Thomas’ availability is flawed. With Thomas, all we add is an extremely unreliable #3 option who could go down at any minute and has 3 years of rust. It would be like saying without a megatron comeback the Lions receiving core is just a bunch of young guys. If megatron actually came back, the young guys would start over him until he got benched or hurt. Without Thomas, which we almost certainly will be and probably are better off without, we still have a stronger receiving core than the defending super bowl champs.

Originally Posted by Boston Saint (Post 976045)

Certainly could happen. They also could hit sophomore slumps and struggle with a new QB. Without Thomas, saying it’s Edwards and a bunch of young guys is still an accurate statement.

Originally Posted by Rugby Saint II (Post 976057)

I feel better about them than you do. If Edwards replaces Thomas due to injury it is still an upgrade to what we've had the last few years. Most people expect Thomas to miss substantial playing time, and if he can play ten games then I consider that to be lagniappe.

Apparently, I'm of the few people who expect Edwards to breakout this season with his old QB DC4. Olave was already our number one receiver most of last season and looked great at OTA's this year.

Shaheed just needed to get healed, learn the play book, and be coached up a kittle.. He was then elevated from the practice squad and was an immediate impact player while scoring touchdowns. He looks even more polished and, like Olave, he put on five pounds of muscle this offseason. And if we can finally move on from 3Q's fantastic blocking but poor production then we've upgraded.

AT Perry and Shaq Davis both have a good shot at the roster because they are very good athletes. It will probably come down to who plays special teams. Those last few spots need to make their way on the roster via special teams.

Originally Posted by Boston Saint (Post 976059)

I think my comment was taken as a bigger negative than I meant it to be. Olave has all the makings of a viable #1 guy. Shaheed was a great surprise pick up who had glimpses of greatness. I don’t doubt them.

I was responding to the comment “Our WR room is not as strong as some like to think.”

I think there is validity there. If Thomas is a no-show I probably would rank our WR group as middle of the pack for the league. If Thomas doesn’t play do YOU see us as having a top 10 WR group?