So we just re-signed Brian Hartline. Twitter is exploding, some are praising the deal, others are immediatley comparing Harline to Jordy Nelson.....another "white" receiver that is making big plays in the NFL. Now, I won't dismiss the fact Jordy succeeded in Joe Philbins offense in GB for a couple of years. Other than that, the comparisons between he and Hartline, come down to one thing....they are both white, and they both play WR, a predominantly black position. One thing I am seeing on twitter is the comparisons between the two contracts. Nelson was signed for 8 million, and way less guaranteed. Hartline could only dream of being Nelsons counter-part. All is well, good, and a decent debate. But where does the debate steam from ultimatley? There are 4-6 WRs on 31 other nfl teams.....why Jordy Nelson.......? I think you get the picture. If the Miami Dolphins just resigned a black WR, that runs a 4.4 40 yard dash, who is 6'2 200 pounds, coming off a 1k yard season less that 5 years into his nfl career, we would all be ****ing estatic. But......change the skin color on that WR....and we think the phins over paid......thats "too much" for a #3. "What are we thinking?" "Same ole dolphins" Right? That's ridiculous. Lets call a spade a spade. Brian Hartline and the Miami Dolphins are getting **** for this re-signing (at this $$ amount) mostly because Hartline is a white wide receiver. Rich Eisen is retweeting tweets describing the "craziness" of the contract numbers for Brian, other teams fans are dumbfounded we paid "so much" for such a lack of talent. Lack of talent? Tell me a black WR coming out of, say, Texas, was in this years nfl draft....he was 6 ft 2, 200 pounds and ran a 4.4 40 yard dash. Would you not like him on your team? Then let me tell you, with god knows who as quarterback, he would still produce as a #3, #2 or #1 WR.....would you like him on your team then? How about, he comes into a season with a rookie QB, new HC and OC, and the team all of a sudden trades the #1 WR options, leaving this guy as the #1 target receiving all of the defensive schemes, and #1 DB attention for 16 games, yet he still (despite all of the adversity) leaves the year with 1k+ yards and the Miami Dolphins single game record for receiving yards in a game.....would you take him then? Yes. You would. So enough with the white receiver comparisons. Compare him to what we have, and what we had....and what we would have if he left to another team. Re-signing Brian Hartline is a great move for us, and it solidifes our #2, #3 or #1, or whatever we ask of him to do, position for 5 years. It keeps chemistry with Tannehill, and brings a confident WR that knows he can produce to our team with a familiarity with our offense next season. Sign me up for that, regardless of his skin color.
A good comparison to Hartline is Antonio Brown. Nearly received a similar contract. He's a good player. Glad we kept him.
Same thing happens at the college level. Look at the pre draft write ups on Ryan Swope. All of them stated "doesn't have great speed.....A Wes Welker type." Then he blisters a 4.34 forty and has a 37 inch vertical as well as above average 3 cone and shuttle times.
Hard comparison...Brandon Lloyd? I honestly see a lil Jerry rice n him, obviously not as dedicated, but same type of player
They're always described as "crafty" receivers, like somehow they are forced to be resourceful due to their "physical limitations".
no, i would not take him because he is not a red zone beast, and we nead a red zone beast at "every" scoring position. That should be the goal. It is available this offseason. However, that is apparently not the goal because they signed Hartline who is not a red zone threat. This is a serious mark on this coaching staff in my opinion. This is the right time to make the right decisions, and they've already failed. They are not ready for success. Dolphins need a new regime.
What? Same body type, great hands, hartline is faster but obviously Rice trained more and harder than Damn near everyone. ...and he had Montana and Young
I'm going to say it's overblown simply because it's been going on for much longer and to a much greater detriment to black QB's. It got absolutely ridiculous when RGIII's game was compared to Cam Newton and it has a historical component of systemic racial discrimination where a guy like Warren Moon had to light up the CFL and Doug Williams received death threats. I also distinctly remember Kevin Walter didn't receive much of the white/white comparison a few years back when he was doing pretty darn well.
.... and 43 more touchdowns and 2000 more yards through his first 4 years, but other than that the similarities are uncanny.
I hope we do draft Swope. He'd be perfect for us. Is our 2A too high? I mean that's cooking with gas right there... white gas.
Oh yea, no doubt. I think the way they play is different. Brown is a better YAC receiver while Hartline is a better deep threat. But their production was similar when they both saw more targets. And if your compare their combine and Pro Day numbers, they're very similar.
Montana>Henne Rice worked, trained and was more dedicated than everyone. I was comparing player types. I bet there height and weight and close and have similar strides. Everything rice does is better
So perhaps Hartline is like white rice? Doesn't stand up on its own merit but compliments the main dish well?
do people really care that Hartline is white I say he sucks just because of what I've watched over the last 4 seasons and when did he run a 4.4 40 I remember him running 4.6
If he was 11 inches under 6 feet he would be 5'1 and I dont see how its any kind of stretch to add 4.52 plus 4.49 avg it out what do we get 4.5 hey simple math we did it guys
lol come on he doesn't suck, he's good at what he does. Reliable, solid hands, great body control, just not real explosive. Kind of like Camarillo but bigger, a little faster and better at going deep. In other words bigger upside, IMO Greg had better hands though.