Is Donald Lee underrated?

[Waldo]

Surprized? Donald Lee is the 98th ranked out of 101 ranked TE's on this site:

http://www.profootballfocus.com/by_position.php?tab=by_position&season=2008&pos=TE&stype=r&runpass=&teamid=-1&numgames=1

PACKERS!

Yeah, and Todd Heap is ranked #97. And they have David Martin in their top 10!

They rank all the backups right around average, and starters from good to bad. Any TE worse than about 15 or so will jump down to below all the backups as well. You have to filter out all the backups.

[Gunakor]

Surprized? Donald Lee is the 98th ranked out of 101 ranked TE's on this site:

http://www.profootballfocus.com/by_position.php?tab=by_position&season=2008&pos=TE&stype=r&runpass=&teamid=-1&numgames=1

PACKERS!

Yeah, and Todd Heap is ranked #97. And they have David Martin in their top 10!

They rank all the backups right around average, and starters from good to bad. Any TE worse than about 15 or so will jump down to below all the backups as well. You have to filter out all the backups.

So Chris Cooley and Kellen Winslow and Antonio Gates are in the bottom half of all starting NFL TE's? I'm not sure I understand the criteria they used to form this ranking. It's very misleading. That's 3 top 10 TE's they have ranked @ 72 or lower.

[Waldo]

Sort by receiving, after all, that is your judging criteria

I noticed that it is missing some data for at least the Chargers (Rivers' numbers are way off, Gates appear to be too).

[woodbuck27]

He spent one year (07 I think) mainly in the backfield as part of the oddest max protect alignment you have ever seen.

2006, MM's first year.

Waldo, if you read this would you please elaborate on it:

" When you aren't a first read on many/any plays (outside of the RZ), and the QB has a coaching point to not check the ball down much, your stats aren't going to look great. " fr. a Waldo post

specifically in terms of: to not check the ball down much

Thank You.

GO PACKERS!

[woodbuck27]

He seems to be doing the same development arc as Franks.

Let's hope he finds the tangent at the top and doesn't follow the same arc of deterioration as Franks in which he gets hurt a lot, loses confidence in his hands, feels intense pressure to make more plays, drops more balls, botches more plays, and generally gets the yips to the point that he's damn near useless.

Actually, while the arc may be the same, I don't see a ton of similarities between Lee and Franks. Lee is much better at making plays downfield, Franks was a better blocker and seemed to have a knack for getting open in a crowd, especially in the red zone (at least until he broke his brain).

It's an interesting question as to why Lee isn't more productive in the short passing game. A poster below suggested it was because Rodgers wasn't looking for him. That could be true, but Rodgers was able to find his WR's on a ton of short passes. Maybe Lee was too far down on the list of progressions and Rodgers didn't get to him as often. That would suggest a chance for greater production as Rodgers gets even more comfortable. But if it's because Lee doesn't have that skill for creating a little space in a crowd, then his upside is probably limited to what we've already seen: pretty good.

Maybe Rodgers and Lee don't hang around with one another enough?

[hoosier]

Sort by receiving, after all, that is your judging criteria

Great, now Lee is #95 and Antonio Gates is ranked #20, just behind Derek Fine and Darcy Johnson.

I know, we have to filter out the scrubs. I don't see that their website lets you do that.

[Fritz]

Sort by receiving, after all, that is your judging criteria

Great, now Lee is #95 and Antonio Gates is ranked #20, just behind Derek Fine and Darcy Johnson.

I know, we have to filter out the scrubs. I don't see that their website lets you do that.

That's better than scrubbing out the filters!

[Waldo]

He spent one year (07 I think) mainly in the backfield as part of the oddest max protect alignment you have ever seen.

2006, MM's first year.

Waldo, if you read this would you please elaborate on it:

" When you aren't a first read on many/any plays (outside of the RZ), and the QB has a coaching point to not check the ball down much, your stats aren't going to look great. " fr. a Waldo post

specifically in terms of: to not check the ball down much

Thank You.

GO PACKERS!

I'm sure that I am not the only one prior to last year that had major reservations related to one part of Rodgers game, namely the guy constantly would take the checkdown on every play and virtually never drove the ball down the field or took chances by throwing into coverage.

While it is not something that must always be done, driving the ball down the field and taking chances in coverage must be done to field a successful passing game. Pass to set up the run only works if the safeties play back and double the deep men. If the safeties can creep the box because the QB is afraid to throw it to a single covered receiver, instead opting to throw to uncovered underneath targets, there is no run benefit, and drive simply cannot be consistently sustained by continually checking down.

There is a place for checking down and it is a good play occasionally. A short quick pass is not a checkdown. A checkdown is often not a very successful play.

Aaron ALWAYS threw to his checkdowns prior to '08. I (and most GB fans) didn't even know what his deep ball looked like he used it so sparingly. Yet there is this dramatic shift between '07 and '08, all of a sudden Aaron almost never went to his checkdown outlets and threw deep quite often (and well). He went from a guy that checked down 2x as much as Brett to a guy that checked down 1/2 as much as Brett in one offseason.

I think that MM saw this to be one of Aaron's biggest flaws prior to the '08 season (many Packer fans saw this flaw in Aaron, and it is a rather major flaw), and took steps to correct it. Clearly Aaron responded, but I think they overshot it. I think the next step is to re-emphasize the checkdown as a means of avoiding pressure and cutting down on happy feet.

Unfortunately for Lee in '08, 9/10 of the time he was either a blocker or a checkdown option.

[hoosier]

Sort by receiving, after all, that is your judging criteria

Great, now Lee is #95 and Antonio Gates is ranked #20, just behind Derek Fine and Darcy Johnson.

I know, we have to filter out the scrubs. I don't see that their website lets you do that.

That's better than scrubbing out the filters!

I scrubbed out my filter last week. The one on my office window AC unit, which was probably built in 1955. I stick it under the sink faucet to get rid of all the dust and lint that has collected on it since last summer, and the damned filter just dissolves into little pieces of foam and lint, which quickly disappear down the drain. Time to order a new AC.

[Fritz]

Or your company might decide it's time to track down the company who made the filters in 1955, and order a new filter, costing probably more than a new air conditioner....in order to save money. It would look bad for the employees to be getting new air conditioners!