Paul Richardson - 0 targets, minimal snaps

[Seafan]

You guys say "Where's P-Rich?" and I say "Where's Doug Baldwin?". PRich and KNor are rookies and I hope we don't have to play them at all. ADB needs to step it up. Lockette has been out playing him and he dropped an easy ball Sunday.

 

[HawkFan72]

A lot of us have asked where Richardson's been.

Dude caught like 20 long TD's in camp burning all the DB's, so why aren't we involving him more in the offensive game plan?

I understand he's still learning, but holy moly what's wrong with lining him and Percy up on the edges 4-5 times a game and making the other team cover arguably the two fastest guys in the league on go routes?

This is exactly what I've been saying. Put Richardson, Percy, and Lockette on the field. Wow. All that speed would be incredibly difficult to cover. I just don't know why we haven't seen more of that.

 

[HawkWow]

Even Russell Wilson spent the first half of his rookie season with training wheels.

This coaching staff KNOWS how to develop players. I'm not concerned.

No doubt. But there's no substitute for game experience and no reason Richardson couldn't have got in on a few plays vs. GB...if only to block. But there is definitely (or at least typically) a transition period for WRs coming out of college. RBs? Not so much. Who are we developing Michael for..Jacksonville? ; )

You have to get all you can from your top picks. Trade down if you're looking for developmental RBs etc. But like yourself, I am not concerned about Richardson. He and Norwood are both ballers and will likely keep Harvin and Baldwin honest, if not looking over their shoulder.

My guess is Pete used Walters on the bubble screen because inserting Richardson at that time might have been a tad too telling. I could be wrong.

 

[dusktreader]

Put Richardson, Percy, and Lockette on the field. Wow. All that speed would be incredibly difficult to cover. I just don't know why we haven't seen more of that.

Maybe. Maybe Richardson isn't that good at running routes yet. You can't just heave the deep ball every pass, and speed won't get you open unless you learn to run your routes well.

I trust that Pete knows what he's doing. He's not going to hold a weapon back on a whim. Richardson will get utilized when he's ready to make a big impact, I think.

 

[kearly]

Our offense is more than fine, Seattle is on pace for the best offensive season in franchise history.

I do miss Rice and Tate though. They were the two guys Seattle had that stood out from the crowd. Now it almost feels like all of our non-Harvin WRs are totally interchangeable.

Richardson is pretty much getting the Christine Michael treatment. I'm not worried about either one of those guys. The talent is there, the opportunity will come eventually.

 

[Joey13091]

Yeah I've been waiting to hear ADB's name butg haven't much these first two games. It does seem Russell has found a good chemistry Kearse though.

I was looking Doug to make a clutch play on that last drive like he always seems to do.

 

[Happypuppy]

He is a rookie in a deep position. I think he will be inactive this week with Christine available

 

[RiverDog]

Not at all unusual, especially for a WR. How long did it take Golden Tate, also a 2nd round draft choice, before he became an integral part of our offense? This is Week 2 of his rookie year.

 

[CentralPAHawkFan]

My point isn't that he is not contributing as I understand most rookie WRs take a few yrs to develop. My point, or at least the one I was trying to make, is that we have now taken a player with our first pick in each of the last two drafts that won't see the field much as they were developmental type players.

Both Michael and Richardson may wind up being great players, but is our depth really that great to be able to do this in successive yrs with our top draft choice? Drafting as well as Pete and John have in later rounds helps in my patience but just wanted to see what others thought. I won't question what Pete and John have done as they work magic in the draft every yr...but I can still get the thoughts of fellow 12's. Most teams don't have the luxury to draft as we do as their depth sucks. Maybe I am still just confused that we are actually so deep that we can truly do this...or maybe it's just the past picks of Tim Ruskell playin with my mind.

 

[jdemps]

I largely agree with what I'm seeing. Needs time to develop his route running as well as a need for he and Russ to get on the same page. Seems like he was getting underthrown a lot in the preseason. He'll get better at contesting those throws in the air with experience but most often he can just outrun the defender. Ball has to be there though.

Through 2 weeks, I've noticed BPR often put in as a run blocker and haven't been that surprised he hasn't seen the ball in limited snaps. I imagine we'll see him more in the gameplan as the season progresses.

Still have the faith in my adopt-a-rookie.

 

[RiverDog]

My point isn't that he is not contributing as I understand most rookie WRs take a few yrs to develop. My point, or at least the one I was trying to make, is that we have now taken a player with our first pick in each of the last two drafts that won't see the field much as they were developmental type players.

Both Michael and Richardson may wind up being great players, but is our depth really that great to be able to do this in successive yrs with our top draft choice? Drafting as well as Pete and John have in later rounds helps in my patience but just wanted to see what others thought. I won't question what Pete and John have done as they work magic in the draft every yr...but I can still get the thoughts of fellow 12's. Most teams don't have the luxury to draft as we do as their depth sucks. Maybe I am still just confused that we are actually so deep that we can truly do this...or maybe it's just the past picks of Tim Ruskell playin with my mind.

I don't like how we've been drafting at the top, either. I didn't like the Irvin pick, felt that we shouldn't be taking a specialist with the #15 overall and if the guy couldn't stay on the field at West Virginia, I didn't like his chances of success in the NFL. I also thought it was a bit too early to start planning for Beast's departure, and that we already had a good heir apparent in the form of Robert Turbin. I was skeptical of the Richardson pick, too. Very frail, had some problems with his concentration (translation: Dropped passes). Like you, I have nightmares about the Ruskell tenure, all those #1 draft picks he struck out on, and hope we're not looking at Christmas Future with these recent selections.

But there's a difference. Irvin and Michael both are considered veterans. Irvin is going into Year 3 and still isn't the 3 down player we were promised when he was taken. And Michael still can't even beat out our backup, and was inactive last week. You are more than justified in your concerns about the top part of our drafts and aren't the only one that's a bit uneasy with it.

But we're only in Game 2 with Richardson. Even top 10 picks don't always play in the first two games. His speed alone should get him on the field before the year's out. Give it some time, bro.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

Maybe he is looking for his Backpack???? But in all honesty....I would think that the less tape we give on him in our schemes gives us another weapon to use later in the year. Maybe he is not ready..I dunno. As has been mentioned, we are loaded with Wide Receivers. In SD, he would make a great backup for any one of them had it been necessary. Just my 2 pennies.

 

[Hawks46]

Sounds like what happens to a rookie on a stacked team with 8 other receivers.

I'd agree. Who's snaps is he going to take ?

Harvin ? Maybe when he's resting.

Kearse ? He's clutch and our 3rd WR. He's also our most physical WR and has a very different skill set from anyone else.

Baldwin? maybe, but I think Baldwin's great hands and route running, and chemistry with Wilson are more important on the field.

From what I've seen of Richardson, he's a willing and able downfield blocker, but maybe he's not as effective with that slight frame.

 

[olyfan63]

A lot of us have asked where Richardson's been.
Dude caught like 20 long TD's in camp burning all the DB's...<snip>
...what's wrong with lining him and Percy up on the edges 4-5 times a game and making the other team cover arguably the two fastest guys in the league on go routes?

This is exactly what I've been saying. Put Richardson, Percy, and Lockette on the field. Wow. All that speed would be incredibly difficult to cover. I just don't know why we haven't seen more of that.

Man, what would you call that package? All these things gotta have names. Jumbo, Elephant, Nascar Package, you get the idea, it needs a name. The "Rocket" package is out, because that would over-emphasize Lockette. "Turbo" package is out, because Turbin already took that nickname. "Chipmunk" package has promise, but it's too obscure. Think of the "Chipmunks" and their speeded up talk, Lockette's the biggest guy at 6'0". "Slingshot" package, maybe. Or "Zoom-zoom-zoom" package, said like a Mazda commercial. "Cheetah" package would, of course, be renamed by 40-Whiner fans.

Who can "name that package"?

 

[olyfan63]

... I really wish we could use one of our WR's for punt returns besides Walters. I don't like carrying a guy just because we need a PR when he's not a great player.

Not that Walters is "great" player, but he looked plenty serviceable to me. I didn't pay attention to whether he's on the punt/KO coverage teams, but I would expect he is and does a good job there. We know how Pete loves guys who bring it on special teams. He's hung around with the 'Hawks for several years now, maybe he's shown a few things in that time. Kearse came up via that route. Give the dude (Walters) more of a chance to show his stuff before sending him back to PS.

Also, I think the continued progress of Rocket Lockette is a contributing factor in P-Rich's limited field time. Dude's been in the Seattle system a couple seasons now, and looks to have added some polish to his developing game as a receiver. I used to cringe when he'd get targeted, but he's shown much better reliability as a receiver this season already. Now, he's just a receiver who happens to be lightning fast, instead of a lighting fast guy pretending to be a receiver. Lockette now does some of the defense-stretching that P-Rich would provide, and is doubtless a better blocker at this point.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

The other thing to consider here is that we ask our WR's to block a lot and he's not really big enough to do that effectively. He got 8 snaps in SD and our down/distance never really gave us the opportunity to take a shot. We hadn't even really established our offensive game plan yet.

He'll get 8-10 snaps a game for the foreseeable future, especially with Norwood coming back who will also take away some carriers.

I really wish we could use one of our WR's for punt returns besides Walters. I don't like carrying a guy just because we need a PR when he's not a great player.

That's why I expect Norwood to get more snaps than P-Rich. Not only do the coaches say he has a great catching radius, sure hands, consistently win the 50/50 in-traffic contests....but they say he already BLOCKS well.

I'm think his package at a whole is more valuable than what P-Rich offers at this time.

 

[ImTheScientist]

Watching the Eagles game last night and hearing Jordan Matthews name got me thinking that I havent even heard P-Rich's name since the preseason. Also, watching the game last night, made me fantasize about what Pete could do with Percy and Sproles on the same team. I hate the Eagles, but that guy is MONEY.

If drops are money then Matthews is that. He is dropping over 50% currently.

 

[CentralPAHawkFan]

I was referring to Sproles...and that dude is MONEY

 

[kearly]

My point isn't that he is not contributing as I understand most rookie WRs take a few yrs to develop. My point, or at least the one I was trying to make, is that we have now taken a player with our first pick in each of the last two drafts that won't see the field much as they were developmental type players.

Michael and Richardson are NFL ready players, I think their sitting on the bench has more to do with the strength of the depth chart. When you aren't a #1 starter, you have to find a niche of some sort to get playing time.

In Robert Turbin's case, he may be a mediocre RB, but he has an excellent 3rd down back skillset. Therefore, he's more suited to the 3rd down back role than Michael is. Michael is a better starting RB than Turbin, but Turbin is the better 3rd down back. Since the only position open for competition is the 3rd down back spot, Turbin wins.

Richardson is a polished WR and could start if Seattle needed him to. But to get him on the field as a #4 WR, he'd need to bring some kind of special skill to the table, and in our offense that usually means being a deep threat. Jermaine Kearse and Ricardo Lockette broke in with the team as deep ball specialists and both made plays there. Unfortunately, Richardson struggled on deep targets in August and he looked particularly inept on contested throws. That means it's going to be harder for Richardson to force his way into the lineup as a situational deep ball threat the way Kearse and Lockette did in the past.

Once I saw Richardson struggle on deep and contested throws this summer, I knew he was likely in for a redshirt season this year. Then again, guys like Walters and Lockette have been getting a lot of intermediate range targets, so maybe there is room in the offense to get Richardson in on the shorter stuff. And you know Pete, he loves playing his young players.