POLL: DK...Love Him or Hate Him?

[Maelstrom787]

He is not great at highpointing the ball, and he cannot bend to catch the low ones. He isn't flexible, he bends from the waist instead of the knees hip and waist. Plus, he is fast, but not quick. I think he is worth more as trade bait, but I don't hate him.

If he were anything other than what he is, he'd be a top-5 receiver.

As it stands though, he keeps on hauling in 1000+ every year and scoring for us while also stretching the defense vertically. I'm cool with it.

 

[Maelstrom787]

The old coach refused to feature players not named Lynch and Carson.

99% on here would love DK if he was featured properly. That is supposedly one of the new objectives with the regime change, we'll see.

Okay, now this is just about the most bold lie of a take you've ever dared to post bud

There's absolutely nothing to even assist you with making this point. Pure fiction.

 

[Maelstrom787]

Maybe that's why they don't throw it much. I'm not buying that DK can't go up and get it.

I am buying it. I love DK, but he was absolutely never that dude. Not at Ole Miss, not with Russ, not with Geno, not with Lock.

He can grab it, but his hands are a little sloppy. He needs a bit of separation in most cases, which he is adept at generating to be fair.

 

[Maelstrom787]

That's one thing I really miss about Russ. His fade throws to the corners were dimes. That is not Geno's strength, to be generous.

Russell did have a pretty good fade/corner. His high point release helped it float in a way that made it hard to defend. Hard to explain. He was really special in that regard. He was under 6 foot but his release made the ball look like it was coming from a 6'8" dude.

Geno's a better passer in the middle and is better at throwing flatter ropes. This lends itself more to mesh, crossers, slants, spacing concepts, etc. in the red zone.

 

[Maelstrom787]

I voted love, but would be willing to trade him for a boatload of picks and/or a can't miss qbotf. We're in a rebuild, and he's a major asset.

Yeah, anyone is tradeable at the end of the day. It'd take a Godfather offer for me to move off of DK right now, but I could be persuaded. If John really loves a Maye or Daniels and DK is a piece that makes the trade doable, I go for it.

I wouldn't accept a valuation below the equivalent of a top-15 pick for him. It's just too valuable to have a WR1 in hand. I'd rather roll the dice on acquiring a quarterback later or complete the trade with other assets if the team we're trading with doesn't agree with that valuation for him.

I put a lot of stock into nurture over nature for quarterbacks (within reason. Some prospects are either fools gold or simply don't have the personality and mindset needed to take it to the next level.) Anything that harms the supporting cast we'd be dropping the QBOTF into when his time comes needs to be considered with the utmost care. Above all, we need to set that guy up for a smooth and easy job out of the gate, because setting up a prospect to crash and burn when you throw him in is how other perennially pedestrian teams ruin talented young quarterbacks over and over and over.

I think these guys are mostly balls of clay. They have innate strengths, innate weaknesses, and physical attributes that determine their ceiling. The rest is up to providing a framework for them to grow. If you can't protect these guys and allow them to operate, they're going to regress into bad habits and experience what I refer to as a "failure to launch," which is a one-way ticket to bust city.

This may be why we so frequently disagree on the Geno topic, and the topic of the urgency of obtaining a quarterback of the future. I tend to think that timeline can be pushed until the right fit presents itself to us, because I tend to think that growing into a cohesive team with a solid identity is a big deal and I don't think a quarterback succeeds in any scenario unless we can do that. I also think that veterans can generally grow based on how the team around them operates.

When I think about how to go about this, I think about the Chiefs, the Niners, and the Packers. Organizations that bide their time, strike whenever the heir presents himself, and then sit him down and ease him in while keeping the team otherwise competitive while he builds up the confidence and skill he'll need to launch out of the gates like a bat outta hell when his time comes up. Alex Smith to Pat Mahomes, Jimmy G to Purdy (who I maintain is not elite but was able to take off because of his excellent situation), Rodgers to Love, etc. Hell, Ravens too. Flacco to Jackson.

I agree quarterback is important. The MOST important. I'd be willing to take that guy whenever and wherever dependent on how John scouts these guys. But that importance is why I approach this with caution and value bridge quarterbacks and why I value the rest of the roster being kept competitive by any means, even if it means pushing quarterback a year. I can wait for the right fit as long as we have some scrap to us otherwise. That very importance is why I think this should be as deliberative of a process as possible with, ideally, at least a year of that heir apparent on the bench acclimating. That importance is also why I'd move what is probably our absolute most valuable asset in DK if I really had to.

 

[WarHawks]

^great post

 

[SoulfishHawk]

I am buying it. I love DK, but he was absolutely never that dude. Not at Ole Miss, not with Russ, not with Geno, not with Lock.

He can grab it, but his hands are a little sloppy. He needs a bit of separation in most cases, which he is adept at generating to be fair.

Fair enough. I think he absolutely can. We can agree to disagree.