What is the real difference between Willson and Graham?

I think it's just hands. Jimmy has great hands. Willson? From what we've seen he can be a bit ham handed.

Why am I an idiot?

Jimmy is a much more fluid athlete. Luke looks and moves like he would have a hard time catching a ball over his head or outside the frame of his body.

StoneCold":2wa18tdt said:

Why am I an idiot?

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This makes me laugh because I openly ask myself this question after everything I say. Lol

There are a lot of little things that go into making a good receiver. Graham does those things well. Willson does not. Hands are one part of that, but there's also route running, body positioning, etc. I also think Graham is a better blocker. He seemed very motivated to prove he could be good at it, and while he's still not great, I think he showed real strides before the injury.

That said, I'm very glad we have Willson right now. He's at least a legit receiving threat at the position.

StoneCold":1dswhlaw said:

I think it's just hands. Jimmy has great hands. Willson? From what we've seen he can be a bit ham handed.

Why am I an idiot?

Click to expand...

How about this one:

In 11 games of being misused and underused this year Jimmy Graham almost equaled Luke Wilson's career stats across 41 games?

Basically, as far as productive output goes, one full "bad year" from Graham is better than four Luke Wilson years.

I think it's more than just hands. :th2thumbs:

One is a proven producer.
The other is a fast JAG.

The biggest difference is the hair.

One is a the 2nd best TE in the game and the other is just another TE. Very small difference :?

One is Canadian.

Seems like the answer is black and white to me.

StoneCold":1j20hk73 said:

I think it's just hands. Jimmy has great hands. Willson? From what we've seen he can be a bit ham handed.

Why am I an idiot?

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Jimmy Has not demonstrated great hands this season. Not by a long shot. Lots of drops and many bobbles.

Alexander":3gnsyfjn said:

There are a lot of little things that go into making a good receiver. Graham does those things well. Willson does not. Hands are one part of that, but there's also route running, body positioning, etc. I also think Graham is a better blocker. He seemed very motivated to prove he could be good at it, and while he's still not great, I think he showed real strides before the injury.

That said, I'm very glad we have Willson right now. He's at least a legit receiving threat at the position.

Click to expand...

Two thoughts come to mind.

First, Willson gets a bad rap as a blocker from his rookie year, but IMO he's developed into a plus blocker here.

Second, the key difference to me is that Jimmy is better at blocking out and making contested plays. Willson is much more of a seem threat.

Willson is still pretty raw as a receiver, and is just not yet as reliable at catching the ball in contested situations and as McG says in using his body size to establish position then. Going from being the #1 TE last season to the #2 with the addition of Graham has caused Willson to work harder at improving his game this year he's improved, I think he may surprise us with how capable he can be going forward.

Popeyejones":3tj3di5v said:

StoneCold":3tj3di5v said:

I think it's just hands. Jimmy has great hands. Willson? From what we've seen he can be a bit ham handed.

Why am I an idiot?

Click to expand...

How about this one:

In 11 games of being misused and underused this year Jimmy Graham almost equaled Luke Wilson's career stats across 41 games?

Basically, as far as productive output goes, one full "bad year" from Graham is better than four Luke Wilson years.

I think it's more than just hands. :th2thumbs:

Click to expand...

To be fair, much of Willson's time here, we were a run first offense, heck the first two seasons with RW we barely passed the ball 20 times a game. Plus he was playing behind Miller.Not saying there's not a huge talent difference, but Willson hasn't had near the targets per game JG has had. That being said, Willson is much faster. Willson is a good all around tight end, JG is a great pass catching tight end, in the right system.

jammerhawk":32qjxnc5 said:

Willson is still pretty raw as a receiver, and is just not yet as reliable at catching the ball in contested situations.............

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This. Let's hope that changes beginning this week.

Hes more athletic and has better hands.

hawker84":2e369gt7 said:

Popeyejones":2e369gt7 said:

StoneCold":2e369gt7 said:

I think it's just hands. Jimmy has great hands. Willson? From what we've seen he can be a bit ham handed.

Why am I an idiot?

Click to expand...

How about this one:

In 11 games of being misused and underused this year Jimmy Graham almost equaled Luke Wilson's career stats across 41 games?

Basically, as far as productive output goes, one full "bad year" from Graham is better than four Luke Wilson years.

I think it's more than just hands. :th2thumbs:

Click to expand...

To be fair, much of Willson's time here, we were a run first offense, heck the first two seasons with RW we barely passed the ball 20 times a game. Plus he was playing behind Miller.Not saying there's not a huge talent difference, but Willson hasn't had near the targets per game JG has had. That being said, Willson is much faster. Willson is a good all around tight end, JG is a great pass catching tight end, in the right system.

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Disagree.
Jimmy Graham 4.56 40
Luke Willson 4.51 40

Very close!

McGruff":3fbewtnq said:

StoneCold":3fbewtnq said:

I think it's just hands. Jimmy has great hands. Willson? From what we've seen he can be a bit ham handed.

Why am I an idiot?

Click to expand...

Jimmy Has not demonstrated great hands this season. Not by a long shot. Lots of drops and many bobbles.

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Couldn't disagree more. Jimmy's soft hands have been a revelation this year after two years of watching Willson's stone hands. (To be fair to Willson, I think he's improved in that area.) Jimmy had one bad game against Arizona but otherwise he's been phenomenal at hauling in passes his way.

According to the link below, he only has one dropped pass this year. That actually seems a bit low to me, as I thought I remembered several passes in the Arizona game he should have hauled in. I think many of those were well-contested at the catch point by whoever was covering him, so they probably count as passes defended rather than drops.

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/drops/2015/

hawker84":3foxzelu said:

Popeyejones":3foxzelu said:

StoneCold":3foxzelu said:

I think it's just hands. Jimmy has great hands. Willson? From what we've seen he can be a bit ham handed.

Why am I an idiot?

Click to expand...

How about this one:

In 11 games of being misused and underused this year Jimmy Graham almost equaled Luke Wilson's career stats across 41 games?

Basically, as far as productive output goes, one full "bad year" from Graham is better than four Luke Wilson years.

I think it's more than just hands. :th2thumbs:

Click to expand...

To be fair, much of Willson's time here, we were a run first offense, heck the first two seasons with RW we barely passed the ball 20 times a game. Plus he was playing behind Miller.

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True about the first two years, but RW is on pace this year to be throwing just over 1 more pass per game than last year (20 passes total across the season).

I also don't think not being able to beat out Zach Miller is a point in Luke Wilson's favor.

The ability of our OC to properly use a weapon like Graham has little to do with the talent disparity between Graham and Willson.

If we see little difference in production, or if other areas of the the offense are easily able to compensate for the loss of Graham, it should not be seen as any kind of indictment of Graham. It would be an indictment of our offensive philosophy or play design or play calling.