04-17-2023, 09:17 AM -
(04-16-2023, 09:08 PM)Josh21 Wrote: Hurst hasn’t posted 600 yards in a season yet. My thoughts. He could use help. Tremble, Thomas, n Sullivan better battle either way. Non of them have impressed, except blocking. Sullivan is the sleeper as a pass catcher. Thomas n tremble block well. Tremble catches better. Ricci is classified as a fb. Seemingly safe.
Just saying I’d love the BIG te. Only if he’s bpa. I’d LOVE him in the 3rd rd. Trade up!
I really doubt that Darnell Washington is still available in the 3rd round. I'd place him as a mid 2nd rounder. Although he might not make it out of the 1st round. He's such an athletic freak, some team will take a flyer on him.
HURST: He is a bit of an enigma. He's been in the league for five years after being drafted in the 1st round in 2018 #25 by the Ravens. He's had some injuries seems like every year. He played in 12 games in 2018, 13 games in 2021, 13 games in 2022. Mostly muscle (soft tissue injuries), but he did have surgery in 2018 for stress fracture in his foot. His potential remains high. We will need to get him involved in the game, especially "downfield", and keep him involved. His "numbers" for the past five years are not awe-inspiring, I'll grant you that. BUT... Just keeping it fair, here.... If you look at the stat line, you'll notice that he has been VERY underused every year (except maybe 2020). Another thing you'll notice is his ability to catch the ball. Almost every year (except his rookie year..), his catch % is REALLY high. Even with a mediocre rookie year (56.5%), his total career catch % is above 70%. Year over year it looks like this: Rookie year 2018 = 56.5%; 2019 = 76.9%; 2020 = 63.6%; 2021 = 83.9%; 2022 = 76.5%...
So, what is holding him back..??? In a word, it's the number of targets. You can't make catches and gain yards if they don't throw the ball to you. A couple of quick examples.... In 2021, Hurst played in 13 games, BUT only started 5 games. In 13 games he had a total of 31 targets. He caught 26 of them for a catch % of 84%. That is really high. In 2019, he played in 16 games, BUT only started 4 games. In 16 games he had a total of 39 targets. He caught 30 of them for a catch % of 77%. That also is really high.
The last thing to note also tells a story. In his first three years, Hurst was managing 11--12 yds per catch. it has been dropping since then. 8.5 YPC in 2021, and 8.0 YPC in 2022. This should tell you that his utilization is almost exclusively as a goal line option or as a 'safety-valve' or 'quick slant' or 'flat outs' receiver. Why no vertical stuff... even though his speed is good (4.65) and he has tremendous concentration and catching skills..??
I don't know what is going on, but hopefully we'll change it.