Miami's rookie wide receiver is better than yours. He puts his helmet back on so he can scream. Sidelined and awaiting the booth review, Jarvis Landry already knows. Draped by defenders, tip-toeing down the edge of the red-zone towards the pylon, he knew he had a touchdown the moment the he caught the ball. The rookie also knows he is going to celebrate in the endzone. He buckles his chin-strap. Sprinting towards the fans, he hollers for them and they roar back, energized. There's a stadium of people somewhere in Florida that knows who the best wide receiver to come out of this - potentially historically good - class is. Sure, Sammy Watkins and Kelvin Benjamin both have five TDs and almost 600 yards, but they're barely catching half the passes thrown their way. Brandin Cooks serendipitously landed in Drew Brees' lap and now leads all rookie WRs with 43 receptions. He also has the lowest yards/catch (9.5) of the group. (He's not really much of a touchdown scorer either.) Allen Robinson is going to be very productive in his career and Allen Hurns is the Cinderella Story of the year, but they are both leaving big plays on the field. (They're a big reason the Jaguars are 1-8.) The Bucs are 1-8 too, Mike Evans. Josh Brown and Jordan Matthews are doing great, but neither has done more than Jarvis Landry. There's your top nine, each with 30+ receptions and 300+ yards, with Landry rounding the group out (30/301 2). He might not have the receiving yards the others in the group do, but he has the juice. Jarvis Landry is in the middle of a five-game streak, catching 22 of the 25 passes (85%) in his direction. As the reigning AFC Special Teams Player of the Month, Jarvis Landry is already on a Pro Bowl pace. And, Jarvis Landry leads all rookies in all purpose yards. The fans know the juice is in his hands. With 39 targets to work with compared to the 60+ targets the rest of the group averages, he knows that when life throws lemons at you, you've got to catch them all. (His hands are even better than advertised in college, where he only had two drops in 2013.) According to http://pro-football-reference.com, his catch rate of 76.9 percent this year means he and Ryan Tannehill are currently the NFL's third most reliable QB/WR duo behind Brees/Cooks (78.2 percent) and Luck/Hilton (78.9 percent). He makes the best out of every situation every time, squeezing out yards where there are none. Landry gains a first down or touchdown on 51.3 percent of targets, something none of the other eight rookies can claim. The juice is in his legs. Landry leads all rookies with 232 total yards after the catch. His 7.73 YAC per catch is actually third-best in the entire NFL, behind only Demarious Thomas (8.89) and Desean Jackson (7.97). A lot of his routes, the screens and quick outs to the flats, just put the ball in his hands and challenge him to make someone miss. And he does. The juice is in the yards. Beyond leading all rookies in APY, he is sixth-best in the whole NFL with 121.6 APY/game. (The only WR with more is Antonio Brown.) He averages 15 yards every time he touches the ball, fifth-best in the NFL. Even though he only had three combined return attempts in college, Landry is already one of the premiere returners in the league, boasting a third-best 31.2 yards/kickoff return average. When he puts that helmet on, he's decisive. The decision-making is immediate; he's going North-South before you can react. With excellent vision and a talent in crowded spaces, he's taking five steps while you're taking three. He bolsters the Dolphins' league-best average starting field position, but more importantly he has empowered a whole locker room with his fiery play. The production, the efficiency and the consistency are obvious. He is already amongst the league's best in catching the ball AND running with it in his hands. Regardless of what your rookie wide receiver is doing, Jarvis "Juice" Landry has a whole city who would choose him over anybody - and they'd choose him loudly. As he continues to gain prominence in the Dolphins' game plan, the headlines will follow, but for now he's the darkhorse candidate for Rookie of the Year. The juice is in the little things, like knowing exactly how and where to celebrate scoring a touchdown.
i love your summary, but this league is all about numbers that everyone can see, so if it says benjamin and watkins have like 550+ yards and 5+ TD's thats where the award will go to, they don't care about leading kickoff returner or JAC numbers, i love #14 but he won't have a chance against the other guys with this much of receiving yards and TD's ahead of him, imo
Love what you say but it will take a big performance from him just so people can see who he really is, just because everyone is obsessed with numbers and fantasy football.
Juice doesn't need to worry Rookie of the year. Not where he is headed. All he needs is a QB that can consistently get him the ball.
We'll that was just a spectacularly juicy nugget. This kid has really opened my eyes. It's almost as if we got Tavon Austin after all. Looks more like a clone of one of my favorites, Antonio Brown..... Everyone in my section hardly understands why I've been yelling "Joooooooooooce!"
Great write up and love Landry. He has been a really good pickup for this team and brings a lot of heart as well. It would be great if he won it, but more concerned about winning.
Nice! His efficiency is really something. It's remarkable how he never wastes opportunities or touches. What an awesome class this was, though, eh? I think his old college teammate could end up being the best player of all of them years down the road...but man what a great group. Don't see this kind of widespread talent too often. Glad we got in on this crop of wideouts, and we got a gem. Juice!
The biggest thing nobody talks about is his desire to not just be good.. But elite. It's his singular focus.
And then some...I was big on Jarvis coming.out of college and was so happy that we drafted him. I think that as the year goes on Ryan will start hooking up with him alot more and he will go on a TD run. LET'S GO FINS !!!!
What makes me happiest is, we finally drafted someone in the 2nd that is a REAL player, after 7 years of bungling the round. 2nd rounders are supposed to be really good to elite players. It's one of the reasons we've been so mediocre.
Loved Landry since before we drafted him. I believe it was CK who posted the variety of routes run in college by %. Landry was the WR who ran the widest variety of routes. He has great hands. Love the Juice!
He has 8 games to go out there and prove it. Regardless if he wins or even gets consideration, I think we have a pretty darn good football player.
Living in New Orleans, I've watched a lot of Saints games. Cooks is better. And Watkins seems like the next AJ Green. Good write up. Love Landry, but let's not go crazy here.
We'll see what happens long term. Right now Watkins, Beckham, Benjammin, Cooks, and Landry look like the best receivers out of this draft. All of them are doing great things, but from what I have personally seen so far Watkins, Beckham, and Benjammin are in a three headed race for the ROY honors.
Still 8 games to go to Ascend in this DROY RACE. That was a fun read, thanks Jackson..I like overall Game POV on this..where does he matchup Doing everything, considering he leads them all in all purpose, even higher...his attitude should not be understated, he's very smart when it comes to the crowd, he knows what he wants to do with them, he's conscious of their behavior, and wants them engaged.
Very nice. Great read. Is the 2015 draft shaping up to favor any particular position? Amazing how much WR talent came out this year.
Wont happen, not with all the noise Watkins Cooks and Odell Beckham has been getting. Beckham has been less productive than Landry and hes getting ridiculous amount of love. Thats how it is when you play in Miami, youre always under the radar.
Landry looks promising but this is a bit overboard. He isn't in the same class performance-wise as Watkins, Cooks, or Benjamin. The kick returns are an added bonus, but it doesn't really even out. I think he's being held back to a degree playing a stereotypical slot receiver role.
They need to expand the routes they use Landry on. I'd like to see him used more downfield. Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
Well after we get rid of Hartline... Jarvis will excel at the #2 role and Matthews as well on the slot..
I think you mean Tyler, Kevin is his father. No chance we look at receiver though, maybe a tight end but we have plenty of receivers.
I wouldn't say that, there's a pretty wide swath of physical traits involved, but I would say it's largely physical though rather than technical.
Just the fact that Jarvis Landry, so early in his career, is in this conversation is funny to me. No, sorry... it's HILARIOUS to me. Certain draft experts wrote him off because of his average or below-average combine statistics. His 40-time, high jump, 3-Cone drill time, etc. I'm waiting for the moment that those same critics admit they were wrong about him. I won't hold my breath, though. People will break their own arm to pat themselves on the back when they get something right. However, it's usually those same people that will never admit they were wrong. I'm not losing sleep over it. I just get a little kick out of it. It's a guilty pleasure. Anyway... go Jarvis Landry, and go Fins.
IMO There are going to be a lot of halfbacks coming into the league who make an immediate impact. Maybe none of them are Adrian Peterson but they will all help teams.
I wish they'd expand his route tree to include passes down the seam or down the field. I like his ability to make a tough catch. I think he'd be a great guy to throw back shoulder fades to all day.
Just to update Landry's stats with this game (7/53). He catch seven of ten targets, becoming Tannehill's favorite reciever this week. I think it's a position that one he's grabbed it, he's never going to stop being Ryan's go-to guy. With two great kickoff returns, he flipped the game of field position in the second half. He moved into #1 position for kickoff return average (32.0), and remained the NFL's #2 WR averaging 122.3 APYards/game. He was a bright spot yesterday. Listening to the Detroit announcers, they remarked he looked "dangerous" everytime he had the ball in his hands, and that if "Landry didn't have the ball in his hands in (the last) two minutes, (they'd) be a happy man". Honestly, I dont think he's the ROTY, but I do think he is one of the top five WRs to come out of this class. I do think yards are yards, and there's no denying the impact he has on Sundays, but he needs to start notching Touchdowbs if he truly wants to be discussed as the best.
He's basically playing as a classical slot receiver, which I'm a bit lukewarm on considering how Landry was able to use his body positioning and aggressiveness in fighting for passes down the field in Cam Cameron's offense. I think throwing the ball to someone whose catch radius is bigger than a shoebox might help this team with the deep ball.