Dude, when it comes to just plain getting from Point A to Point B dependably and consistently. I'd rather have a Camry than a Mercedes. Pay the man.
It is what I call him… I forget how it came up but I think it had something to do with someone comparing him to Megatron
Agree to a certain degree, year one money matters as well… I am sure this is going to be a back loaded contract. that is what happens in the NFL
I dont get the whole pay hartline deal. There is no way hes worth 6.5 million. All this talk about his improved season last year to justify paying him. Ya he had 1000 yard, which isnt exactly the most impressive considering our other receivers, but 1 TD... 1 frickin TD! on a blown coverage against the Cardinals. Without the Cardinals game he has nothing but about 700-800 yards and 0 TDs. Not to mention his 6 career TDs. Not worth 6.5 million regardless of what the terms of the contract are. I like him as a dependable receiver but not a 6.5 mil number 2 receiver.
Not a fan of Hartron personally BUT I hate when people say "if it wasnt for this he would be that" Fact of the matter is that the Cards game counts and Hartron put up those number in that game. AND who cares if the coverage was blown or not. He executed the play the way he was suppose to and it worked. Lastly, I dont know why everyone is so ready to judge a contract that has not been signed… hell, we dont know anything about the contract or how it is structured. Let say the contract is 26 mil over 4 years, 4 mil guaranteed. 1 per season guaranteed Year one base: 4, total cap 5 Mil Year two base: 4.5, total cap 5.5 Mil Year three base: 5, total cap 6 Mil Year four base: 8.5, total cap 9.5 Mil You would be paying Hartron an average of 5.25 Mil the first two year. If you keep him for three years you are talking about a 16.5 Mil 3 year deal (5.5 Mil per). In reality that is a 3 year 5.5 mil per season… he would never see that last season at 9.5 Mil. There you have your paper 6.5 Mil per season contract that is really a 5,5 mil per season contract.
What is funny to me about all of this is you need pieces then add more pieces. I hope no one thinks Bline is the answer, but you need him in the fold then add to it, why start over at -0-? That makes no sense to me.
I don't necessarily disagree with you but in Hartline's case the "if it wasn't for...." really does matter. It's not like anyone said "if he hadn't made that crazy one-handed catch, spun around and then broke 7 tackles on the way to the end zone..." here. The bottom line is this: the Arizona game DID skew his numbers-a hell of a lot. The touchdown WAS on a blown coverage. He got as wide open as you'll ever see anyone get in the NFL and yet he still almost got stopped short. It isn't fair to completely throw out what he did in that game, however, it should be taken with a grain of salt, too. Hartline just is not a guy who can make plays after the catch. I can't recall seeing many receivers who lose control of their legs so easily, either. I do think he is a good piece to have on offense, but not at the rumored amount. Especially not when, as CK has said quite a few times, that offense also features Davone Bess at WR, another guy who is allergic to the end zone.
OMG people are stupid. A) Since when are we crediting worthless no name blogs as news sources? B) We don't even have the actual numbers yet...yet somehow they keep increasing ;p C) Since when do players NOT get overpaid in a FA year. I swear some of you act like you've never seen free agency before. Edit: And how accurate can the reports be when 2 days later there is still no deal.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/12568/brian-hartline http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/10453/ted-ginn
What I see is a guy who gets open enough to average 14.3 to 16.3 yards a catch who doesn't fumble and is relatively healthy/dependable and get you some yards in the middle of the field. Even if he ends up with $6.5 million..that's half the cost of a #1. If we had been more proactive and re-signed him early last offseason (like we should do with Jones) he would have cost probably $1.5-2 million a season less. His only real weakness is that he's not a burner/red zone threat. Gee that's like 80% of the league. Perhaps his scoring is more of a symptom of our offensive problems then anything else (I mean he scores 3 his rookie year..but only 3 since then..that's curious). But lets not act like he's completely worthless guys. I expect Danny Amendola to equal or better Hartline's deal and were talking about an injury prone slot receiver who hasn't avg more then 10.6 yards a catch ever and has 1 more TD over the same time frame.
Ok here's a stat for you. Your looking at the #'s for Thrown At right? How about some perspective. Brian Hartline's targeted total........21st in the league. Only ONE WR targeted less made 1000 yards. Yah that was indeed hilarious. I'm not a big fan of Hartline either...but hell I figure he could use some defense here. Folks are going overboard acting like he has no place in the NFL. He is what he is....a solid #2. Not everyone in the league can have Julio Jones and Roddy White as a combo.
Thing is, the Falcons already had White then added Jones, it was not magic it was just sound GMing. I like Bline, I believe there are more things he can add to his game to make him even more productive, he's not Bush who has sort of reached his ceiling and is a good, to really good player, but not "great" all of the time.
I'd rather draft a couple high WR's then go after Mike "rated #91 by PFF" Wallace (Hartline #37). There are things I worry about with Wallace when he doesn't have a QB who buys an amazing amount of time like Ben does. For instance his route running, his 55.2% catch rate. The fact he was targeted as much as Hartline was...but put up less yards, dropped more balls and put up a lower avg. I just don't see it. Draft a couple guys before overpaying Wallace.
Yet, Hartline outproduced Mike Wallace during the one season where he was a main target and during the one season Mike Wallace was asked to run a complete route tree.
Wes Welker had 96 catches and 1 TD in his two years with Miami. In 6 years at NE has 37. Maybe QB has something to do with it?
You keep talking about Wallace and his inability to run a full route tree… really, if that was that important to the Fins offense right now they would not be trying to resign Hartron. I mean really, Hartron runs like two routes… next time he goes over the middle in an NFL game will be the first time.
of course it does… to a certain degree but Hartron has left more TD's on the board then any Dolphin WR I can ever remember. I have never seen an NFL player that goes down as easy as Hartron does.
Previous to this season Hartline had 109 catches and 5 TDs. Some pretty good WRs put up the following this past year: C Johnson: 122 catches 5 TD A Johnson: 112 catches 4 TD Wayne: 106 catches 5 TD Welker: 118 catches 6 TD Hard to fault a guy who the previous two years played alongside some guy named Brandon Marshall that the QB seemed to target about 90% of the time when throwing to a WR in the red zone. Then he had a rookie QB throwing him the ball this year and his 1 TD every 21.6 catches in his first 3 years jumps to a whopping 1 TD on 74 catches. Heck, Bess had 8 combined TDs the previous two years and only got 1 this year with the same rookie QB throwing him the ball. The same rookie QB who finished 41st in TD throw % as a 5th year senior while have two NFL caliber WRs on the team...Fuller and Swope.
