Martin Rucker
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Winslow was a first round pick, Rucker a 4th.
Problem with looking at that is K2 shredded his knee and lost some speed in the process. Winslow minus the bike could have been the next Shannon Sharp but bigger and faster, a TE we would have NEVER parted ways with.
Savage was pathetic on 2nd day picks folks, so I'm not going to be riding high on Rucker.
Yes, it looks like his situation his primed him to be a pro and should turn out to be at least a decent TE.
Like I said though, low expectations and he'll be a pleasant surprise if he turns out.
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@shepwrite said:
He likes Dilfer because Dilfer hates the Browns.He likes Heiden because he isn't Winslow... who liked Quinn.
Lum on a Browns board is more absurd than Steelers trolls. At least they're honest.
As a long time KC resident, I follow the Tigers a little and Rucker made that list of guys I figured would be drafted quite a bit higher than they were (like Tom Brady, James Davis, and many others). If you watched Mizzou games and listened to announcers gush over Rucker, you'd figure him for a 1st or 2nd round pick. He's one of those TEs who create matchup nightmares -- he's long, he can move, and he can catch.
Donald Royal is a solid all around tight end. Not exactly a thrilling get, but a guy who can start games for you, block, and catch a few passes, too. But my long-term money is on Rucker as he adds just a little heft.
Heiden is 33, coming off serious knee surgery, and plays at 270. I really see him as a blocker in two TE sets assuming he's good to go.
I used to love Donald Royal on those old Magic teams. Nice complimentary player on those Shaq-Penny-Anderson-Scott squads
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Lum is beyond a fraud. By the way, DA completed more passes to Winslow than any other player. I posted the research earlier on these very boards. So, DA wouldn't agree with your assessment. No person watching a single NFL game would agree. Nothing new.
I hope Rucker pans out. Having Winslow creating match problems is a luxury we won't have with Heiden/Royal.
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I hope he is similar to winslow. I just hope he matures faster and doesn't own a motorcycle.
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I hope he is similar to winslow. I just hope he matures faster and doesn't own a motorcycle.
I hope he is similar to winslow. I just hope he matures faster and doesn't own a motorcycle.
You can't mature faster than... never maturing
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I hope he is similar to winslow. I just hope he matures faster and doesn't own a motorcycle.
You can't mature faster than... never maturing
AdaM said:
You can't mature faster than... never maturingWell played Sir... well played..
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I believe Robert Royal will start. Heiden has a double tear in the knee to come back from. That's tough at any age, but 33 will make it harder for him to see the field again. Rucker looks like someone who can stretch the field a bit. I am not sure Heiden makes the roster if he is not fully recovered. They say he is progressing..but that does not mean anything until he puts on pads and has to push off on tha knee against 260 to 300 lb men who are pushing back.. Then and only then will we know. I hope he can get back to form as he is a very solid player. But Royal will start the season..Mark it down.
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Lum is beyond a fraud. By the way, DA completed more passes to Winslow than any other player. I posted the research earlier on these very boards. So, DA wouldn't agree with your assessment. No person watching a single NFL game would agree. Nothing new.
I hope Rucker pans out. Having Winslow creating match problems is a luxury we won't have with Heiden/Royal.
Lum is beyond a fraud. By the way, DA completed more passes to Winslow than any other player. I posted the research earlier on these very boards. So, DA wouldn't agree with your assessment. No person watching a single NFL game would agree. Nothing new.
I hope Rucker pans out. Having Winslow creating match problems is a luxury we won't have with Heiden/Royal.
Yeah, Andra Davis didn't complete any to Winslow!
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Winslow was a first round pick, Rucker a 4th.
Problem with looking at that is K2 shredded his knee and lost some speed in the process. Winslow minus the bike could have been the next Shannon Sharp but bigger and faster, a TE we would have NEVER parted ways with.
Savage was pathetic on 2nd day picks folks, so I'm not going to be riding high on Rucker.
Yes, it looks like his situation his primed him to be a pro and should turn out to be at least a decent TE.
Like I said though, low expectations and he'll be a pleasant surprise if he turns out.
Winslow was a first round pick, Rucker a 4th.
Winslow was NFL ready, and Rucker needs some seasoning. Nobody seriously can come close to what Winslow was his first training camp. I mean he was really the best prospect at the position in a long time. WR speed at the TE position, freakishly good hands, maybe the best in the league. Well, we know how that ended. Rucker, if he has the heart and head, can be almost like that. Great hands and speed on this kid - lets see how he progresses this season. He has a high ceiling - if he can achieve it.
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Winslow was a first round pick, Rucker a 4th.
Winslow was NFL ready, and Rucker needs some seasoning. Nobody seriously can come close to what Winslow was his first training camp. I mean he was really the best prospect at the position in a long time. WR speed at the TE position, freakishly good hands, maybe the best in the league. Well, we know how that ended. Rucker, if he has the heart and head, can be almost like that. Great hands and speed on this kid - lets see how he progresses this season. He has a high ceiling - if he can achieve it.
Winslow was NFL ready, and Rucker needs some seasoning. Nobody seriously can come close to what Winslow was his first training camp. I mean he was really the best prospect at the position in a long time. WR speed at the TE position, freakishly good hands, maybe the best in the league. Well, we know how that ended. Rucker, if he has the heart and head, can be almost like that. Great hands and speed on this kid - lets see how he progresses this season. He has a high ceiling - if he can achieve it.
I pretty much agree, though I wonder about Rucker's speed: he was a 4.73 guy at 250, not sure what he is now.
Pluto said in a recent podcast that he's heard good things about Rucker, but the folks at the OBR say that he's only occasionally flashed the Winslow lite potential Savage & many here see in him. Personally, I'll feel more comfortable if Heiden is able to come back from his knee injury. As Russ has pointed out, the guy is seriously undervalued (and, according to Pat McManamon, is one of the nicest guys on the team).
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It will be interesting to watch Rucker develope, but I would have to rate blocking ability at least as important as receiving at the TE position. I expect Royal to start with Heiden seeing significant action if healthy, but I'm certainly not qualified to make that call. We'll see what happens.
Mike
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Heiden is the TE, not Rucker.
and no there will be no dropoff at that position.
Heiden is still coming off of an injury that he has yet to practice on, and he is 33 as of September 21st of this year. Although I love Heiden's game, the type of injury he suffered (ACL/MCL tear) is not an easy one to come back from as a young guy, much less one in his 30's.
Add to that the fact that Heiden was never fast...and he is probably not going to be much more than a 3rd down TE.
Heiden is still coming off of an injury that he has yet to practice on, and he is 33 as of September 21st of this year. Although I love Heiden's game, the type of injury he suffered (ACL/MCL tear) is not an easy one to come back from as a young guy, much less one in his 30's.
Add to that the fact that Heiden was never fast...and he is probably not going to be much more than a 3rd down TE.
Heiden looked fully recovered in OTAs and minicamp. From everything being said, he will be 100% for the start of camp. Also, don't worry about his speed. He never was a burner but expect him to just as effective settling into seams and running quick outs and slants.
Heiden then Royal are more Mangini type TEs then Rucker. If both are healthy it will be hard for Rucker to get on the field often. They were using Heiden and Royal in some Hback situations which would help get Rucker on the field. I wouldn't expect to see Rucker if they get into their grind it out mold.
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I have all of the Brown's games taped from the last two year on my DVR. I watched the Monday night game w/ Browns vs Giants a few weeks ago.
A 32 year old TE named Steve Heiden put one of the BEST DEFENSIVE ENDS on his A_SS twice in the game when he was the solo blocker against Justin Tuck. I only could really see two plays where Tuck was able to get around a the TE (TE, Not Lineman) Heiden, and both times he was ate up by Shaffer when he did. Heiden was the reason DA stayed clean that game. If for some reason Tucker isn't our RT, Heiden's SUPERIOR blocking ability on the outside will help out whatever RT we use. I see Heiden being the #1 and Rucker coming in as #2. The Browns play ALOT of 2 TE's so if this OC uses alot of two TE as well we should see alot of Rucker.
If Tucker starts at RT, I say give Rucker his shot early to prove himself, but with a bad RT (other then Tucker) I want Heiden in. Quinn already got hurt all to easily, lets give the kid a chance without being creamed. Hopefully he doesn't have an injury prone career (I doubt it, just how easily he got hurt scares me)
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Winslow was NFL ready, and Rucker needs some seasoning. Nobody seriously can come close to what Winslow was his first training camp. I mean he was really the best prospect at the position in a long time. WR speed at the TE position, freakishly good hands, maybe the best in the league. Well, we know how that ended. Rucker, if he has the heart and head, can be almost like that. Great hands and speed on this kid - lets see how he progresses this season. He has a high ceiling - if he can achieve it.
I pretty much agree, though I wonder about Rucker's speed: he was a 4.73 guy at 250, not sure what he is now.
Pluto said in a recent podcast that he's heard good things about Rucker, but the folks at the OBR say that he's only occasionally flashed the Winslow lite potential Savage & many here see in him. Personally, I'll feel more comfortable if Heiden is able to come back from his knee injury. As Russ has pointed out, the guy is seriously undervalued (and, according to Pat McManamon, is one of the nicest guys on the team).
Aloysius said:
I wonder about Rucker's speed: he was a 4.73 guy at 250, not sure what he is now.I think Rucker has a good ability to read a coverage, understand a complicated offense, split out wide at times, and has excellent hands, and @ 4.73 that seems quite slow for how he played. I seem to remember some guys - like Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith - have more game speed than track speed. I watched 3-4 Mizzou games and he seemed fast on the field, or at least he was very athletic. We'll see if he has the heart to take it to the next level. Walk the walk so to speak.
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As you can see in my sig, Im pretty much banking on Rucker starting. We really need to start all of our youngest freshest talent. Hall, Robiskie, Veikune, Harrison, Davis, Quinn, Mack, Hubbard. They all need playing time to develop. In all honesty I dont think you can really tell from practice and scrimmages what you have unless theyre abysmal, because some players are just clutch, or they rise to the occasion. They all need significant snaps under their belt, thats why Baltimore is usually a solid team, their rookies and sophs get PT.
Sometimes you have to take risks. I think that since we have alot of young talent that we need to throw them all out on the field at the same time so they can grow together, and develope real chemistry
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Oh, I didn't mean to suggest that a 4.7 guy can't play. It's just a matter of comparing him to a guy like Winslow: in my view, a guy like Dustin Keller (4.5 40) is more similar to KW2.
Rucker isn't as explosive or fluid, in part because he's bigger. That gives you more options in the red zone, though it might also mean that he's less likely to push Furrey for time in the slot. But that's less of an issue: right now, blocking and attitude are the two things that could keep Rucker off the field. Hopefully, that won't happen.
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Not sure it means anything, but it's interesting that during his senior year at Mizzou, Rucker only averaged 9 yards per touch. Chase Coffman, who's been tagged with the "slow" label, averaged close to 11 yards per touch.
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What I like about Rucker is he is a huge target that can go get the ball. He put up sick numbers in college for a TE even if it was for a low YPC. He will never be the blocker Heiden or Royal are, but if he can at least hold his own and not go Winslow in the running game he should see extended time, plus he can play on running downs.
I would venture to say Dabol would like to run any set with any of the TE's, unlike the days of Dunkin Donut Dinkins who was strictly a blocker and Winslow who was strictly a receiver. However, Rucker is tailor made to be a good 3rd down outlet over the middle with his wingspan, body control and hands.
The guy who made the point about Heiden being used in conjunction with the non Tucker starting RT is a great point. I don't know the extent of Royal's blocking ability but Heiden is damn near another solid lineman in that aspect, plus he is solid as a receiver too. Keep in mind, Heiden is also valuable as the backup long snapper and a pretty good one, and that is something every team needs on their roster.
I've said before that I have my doubts regarding Heiden coming back 100%, but given that he is basically a body builder he may be able to do it. TE will be another interesting camp postion to follow for sure.
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Heiden is still coming off of an injury that he has yet to practice on, and he is 33 as of September 21st of this year. Although I love Heiden's game, the type of injury he suffered (ACL/MCL tear) is not an easy one to come back from as a young guy, much less one in his 30's.
Add to that the fact that Heiden was never fast...and he is probably not going to be much more than a 3rd down TE.
Heiden looked fully recovered in OTAs and minicamp. From everything being said, he will be 100% for the start of camp. Also, don't worry about his speed. He never was a burner but expect him to just as effective settling into seams and running quick outs and slants.
Heiden then Royal are more Mangini type TEs then Rucker. If both are healthy it will be hard for Rucker to get on the field often. They were using Heiden and Royal in some Hback situations which would help get Rucker on the field. I wouldn't expect to see Rucker if they get into their grind it out mold.
Heiden looked fully recovered in OTAs and minicamp. From everything being said, he will be 100% for the start of camp. Also, don't worry about his speed. He never was a burner but expect him to just as effective settling into seams and running quick outs and slants.
Heiden then Royal are more Mangini type TEs then Rucker. If both are healthy it will be hard for Rucker to get on the field often. They were using Heiden and Royal in some Hback situations which would help get Rucker on the field. I wouldn't expect to see Rucker if they get into their grind it out mold.
They have already stated that he will be limited in practice to 1 practice per day. That is not 100%. And running around and working out is not pushing and getting pushed by 300 lb DE's.
I hope he is back, but I am not counting on it at all.
Royal is a nice player too..
The thing is, I have read in multiple areas that we will run a lot of 2 TE sets...so all 3 are likely to see a lot of action.
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