Browns' top WRs

[Chris Raiden]

Tony Grossi's blog: Cleveland Browns game Saturday will be televised as team and Channel 3 reach ticket agreement - cleveland.com (http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2009/08/tony_grossis_blog_cleveland_br_9.html)

Currently, the top three receivers: Braylon Edwards, Josh Cribbs, Mike Furrey.

Will they end up that way?

[Texecutioner]

Cribbs is their second best WR? THey're in a lot of trouble then. Cribbs is very talented and all and a big play maker, but he's not exactly a polished WR. He's more like a Hester as a WR.

What are the reports on Braylen up to this point Raiden??? He's been on my mind lately for my fantasy draft. I'm thinking that he might be a nice sleeper since he had such a poor year last season. He burnt me big time all year until I traded him, but he had way to good of a season before that to completely write the guy off as a fluke. How are him and Mangini getting along??? How is the chemistry so far with the QB's?

[Chris Raiden]

Braylon's dropping balls, but Cribbs is actually picking up the finer points and no longer looks like an athlete running around. He looks like a receiver now.

Still has a ways to go, but he's finally getting there.

[Texecutioner]

Braylon's dropping balls, but Cribbs is actually picking up the finer points and no longer looks like an athlete running around. He looks like a receiver now.

Still has a ways to go, but he's finally getting there.

That's good to hear about Cribbs. He's such an exciting player with the ball in his hands.

Now I'll never understand why guys have such a hard time catching the football. I really don't. It's one of the most easiest fundamentals in any sport is catching a dog gone football especially when you have large sized hands. I guess I'll stay away from Braylon then.

[|(evin|(olb|(ritik]

Now I'll never understand why guys have such a hard time catching the football. I really don't. It's one of the most easiest fundamentals in any sport is catching a dog gone football especially when you have large sized hands. I guess I'll stay away from Braylon then.

I don't know about that. I think the average fan takes for granted how difficult it is to catch a football that isn't being thrown at you from 10 yards away by your fat lazy uncle in your backyard while at a standstill. There is a big difference between that and doing it while wearing pads that hinder your flexibility, while in a full sprint downfield, avoiding a defender, keeping your presence of mind in a game full of guys trying to break your face, and fielding a rocket ball being thrown at you at 70MPH or dropping down onto you from 50 feet in the air.

Catching a ball in that environment is a trained skill that some people posess and others don't.

[Texecutioner]

I don't know about that. I think the average fan takes for granted how difficult it is to catch a football that isn't being thrown at you from 10 yards away by your fat lazy uncle in your backyard while at a standstill. There is a big difference between that and doing it while wearing pads that hinder your flexibility, while in a full sprint downfield, avoiding a defender, keeping your presence of mind in a game full of guys trying to break your face, and fielding a rocket ball being thrown at you at 70MPH or dropping down onto you from 50 feet in the air.

Catching a ball in that environment is a trained skill that some people posess and others don't.

Okay, those are all fair points and very true, but guys are practicing on that every day and in the off season. We're also talking about guys that have done that their entire lives, so that is not anything new to them. Braylon was one of the best WR's in college and dealt with that for years. Braylon also was dropping a ton of soft balls last season if you watched a lot of Browns games. He wasn't exactly dropping Brett Favre bullets. I literally watched him drop some floating feathers. He caught the ball just fine the year before, so it's no real reason to have a drop off like that. And he's a wide out, it's not like he was some slot WR or TE that was asked to go up the middle and catch passes right in front of James Harrison and Suggs all year. There is no excuse for his consistent case of the droppings like he's had after coming off of such an impressive season.

And another thing to add is that Braylon has probably some of the best hands in the league when it comes to circus catches. Some of the most difficult catches I've ever seen have come from him. It seems like it's the easy ones that he can't catch more often than not.

[|(evin|(olb|(ritik]

Okay, those are all fair points and very true, but guys are practicing on that every day and in the off season. We're also talking about guys that have done that their entire lives, so that is not anything new to them. Braylon was one of the best WR's in college and dealt with that for years. Braylon also was dropping a ton of soft balls last season if you watched a lot of Browns games. He wasn't exactly dropping Brett Favre bullets. I literally watched him drop some floating feathers. He caught the ball just fine the year before, so it's no real reason to have a drop off like that. And he's a wide out, it's not like he was some slot WR or TE that was asked to go up the middle and catch passes right in front of James Harrison and Suggs all year. There is no excuse for his consistent case of the droppings like he's had after coming off of such an impressive season.

And another thing to add is that Braylon has probably some of the best hands in the league when it comes to circus catches. Some of the most difficult catches I've ever seen have come from him. It seems like it's the easy ones that he can't catch more often than not.

The ability to make a circus catch is more about athleticism than it is good hands. Its about getting your body into positions to make plays that most guys can't and being in more control than most guys are in those positions.

There's a genetic factor to this too, and you can see it from childhood with kids playing sports. Some kids throw better than others, hit better than others, and some catch better than others. Thats just how it is. T.O. has probably the best work regiment of any WR currently in the NFL and stays in a more highly trained state than just about anybody and every year his drop percentage hovers around the top of the league. He just doesn't have great hands and training can only fix so much of it.

[GatorsRock]

How's your boy Robiskie looking Raiden? Can he crack the Top 3 on the depth chart?

[Chris Raiden]

From what little I've read about him, at some point he will, but it may be later in the season. Massaquoi's been more impressive of the two rooks.