Marlon Brown

[Paintballguy]

Personally, I wouldn't be hesitant to give Brown and even Mellette reps in the regular season.

From what I have seen Marlon Brown could produce just as much as Jacoby did at receiver in the coming season. He has a bigger body and stronger hands.

I mean at the moment it is Jacoby or Brown on the outside... are you really that much more comfortable with Jacoby?

I think Harbs will give Brown reps. He's not afraid to play guys if he thinks they can help. See Justin Tucker last year.

[Kyle Cactus]

I think Harbs will give Brown reps. He's not afraid to play guys if he thinks they can help. See Justin Tucker last year.

Different situation. Different unit.

In the recent past they've generally waited to play young WRs until they had no choice, but maybe that'll be different under Caldwell.

[Paintballguy]

Different situation. Different unit.

In the recent past they've generally waited to play young WRs until they had no choice, but maybe that'll be different under Caldwell.

You said it... Cam Cameron in the past. I have to think Caldwell will be different.

[moose10101]

Personally, I wouldn't be hesitant to give Brown and even Mellette reps in the regular season.

From what I have seen Marlon Brown could produce just as much as Jacoby did at receiver in the coming season. He has a bigger body and stronger hands.

I mean at the moment it is Jacoby or Brown on the outside... are you really that much more comfortable with Jacoby?

Brown has already shown more WR skills than Jacoby. He's run crisp routes, his hands have looked better than anyone else's, he knows where the 1st down marker is, and he looked fast enough to me with all of those DB's in his rear-view mirror. As pointed out earlier, he even blocks and knows when not to block. He looks smaller and quicker than 6'5" on those crossing routes, but can also play tall. He's not ready to be the #2, but he will get his chances to play.

Mellette doesn't have Brown's polish, but he's getting open and catching the ball when it's thrown to him. He might make the team, but coming from a small school, he'll need more time to develop. Maybe he'll get a hangnail.

Doss? I just don't know. I don't see the skill set that will make him a solid NFL WR. And they could keep Rainey to take Doss' place as a return guy.

[ActualSpamBot]

Different situation. Different unit.

In the recent past they've generally waited to play young WRs until they had no choice, but maybe that'll be different under Caldwell.

Other than Torrey, who was penciled in as the number 3, which even under Cam was a quasi-starting role in some seasons (Housh and K-Wash for example) what young WR did we have under Harbs who was ready early?

I think the sample size is too small to say that Harbs has any kind of pattern with regards to how early he's willing to play anyone. We've seen a fair number of rookies thrust into the thick of it early, and a fair number sit and earn it.

[palukaraven]

Brown has already shown more WR skills than Jacoby. He's run crisp routes, his hands have looked better than anyone else's, he knows where the 1st down marker is, and he looked fast enough to me with all of those DB's in his rear-view mirror. As pointed out earlier, he even blocks and knows when not to block. He looks smaller and quicker than 6'5" on those crossing routes, but can also play tall. He's not ready to be the #2, but he will get his chances to play.

Mellette doesn't have Brown's polish, but he's getting open and catching the ball when it's thrown to him. He might make the team, but coming from a small school, he'll need more time to develop. Maybe he'll get a hangnail.

Doss? I just don't know. I don't see the skill set that will make him a solid NFL WR. And they could keep Rainey to take Doss' place as a return guy.

Good assessment of Marlon and the WR situation.

[RavenInBoston]

Other than Torrey, who was penciled in as the number 3, which even under Cam was a quasi-starting role in some seasons (Housh and K-Wash for example) what young WR did we have under Harbs who was ready early?

I think the sample size is too small to say that Harbs has any kind of pattern with regards to how early he's willing to play anyone. We've seen a fair number of rookies thrust into the thick of it early, and a fair number sit and earn it.

The ravens know how to harvest young talent...from Ozzie's picks in the later rounds to acquiring no-names from other teams and turning them into something. I am betting that they trust in that philosophy and are confident that they can reduce Jacoby snaps at WR by getting a young upstart guy in there sooner than some may expect. Jacoby had such a great performance in the playoffs, but I try to not let that inflate his true value too much at the WR position and I am hoping the coaching staff sees it that way too (sounds like they are from what I have heard). As for Marlon Brown - love him! He snatched that Flacco pass out the sky for a TD (ps - that would have been an INT if he didnt...) I thought I was looking at Boldin for a second. I think we will see on the field this year for sure.

Jacoby is the return man tried and true. Seemed he was going to break through a number of times during his preseason returns. Side note: did anyone notice how loose that rock was in hands during that panthers game? either way, I expect some great stuff from him again this year in special teams.

[RavenInBoston]

...oh an good morning all. Just started posting to this forum today. Looking forward to more : )

[srobert96]

The Ravens under Harbaugh has historically gone with veteran mistake free football over potential. That changed on offense after Caldwell took over. Will we see it this year? Will the Ravens line up more in 3 wr sets allowing the young wrs to get playing time? Or will we see the ultra conservative two back, two wr sets? It will be interesting to see what happens.

[MinnesotaRaven]

Caldwell has a history starting young Wrs who show talent, regardless of what size school they went to (in Mellette's case). Pierre Garçon (NCAA D3 - Mount Union ring a bell?

[Kyle Cactus]

Other than Torrey, who was penciled in as the number 3, which even under Cam was a quasi-starting role in some seasons (Housh and K-Wash for example) what young WR did we have under Harbs who was ready early?

I think the sample size is too small to say that Harbs has any kind of pattern with regards to how early he's willing to play anyone. We've seen a fair number of rookies thrust into the thick of it early, and a fair number sit and earn it.

Since 2008 (beginning of the Harbs/Cameron era) no young WR outside of Torrey has had more than 10 receptions in a season. Whenever depth and injuries have provided opportunities for this, we've opted to run formations with fewer WRs instead of taking a chance w/ a young WR.

David Reed
Demetrius Williams
LaQuan Wiliams
Tandon Doss

And as you noted, we really had no choice w/ Torrey.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with these decisions, but I think there was a trend towards this in the Harbs/Cam tenure. Five years is as much a sample as you tend to get in the NFL.

If I had to guess, this was more driven by Cam, so it could certainly change w/ Caldwell.

Edit:
D-Will had 13 receptions in 2008, but he had 20 or more in the previous two seasons.

[Ravenswintitle]

Caldwell has a history starting young Wrs who show talent, regardless of what size school they went to (in Mellette's case). Pierre Garçon (NCAA D3 - Mount Union ring a bell?

Garcon was a backup his first year; he didn't catch a pass until week 10 and he only caught 4 all year