In week 3 last season, Ramses Barden stepped up and gained 138 receiving yards against Carolina. It seems there is so much potential with him. Why did he not get more opportunities during the 2012 season? Was he injured, or does the coaching staff just not believe in him? Barden is barely mentioned in the wide receiver conversations. I have a hard time judging players whose stats are low, (ie receiving yards) when they had little or no opportunities to perform. thanks, Greg
The problem is there are certain areas in his game he has not shown consistency with, namely press coverage.
Right now we are looking at Stevie Brown and Andre Brown, both guys cut from other teams, as potential starters. It is not a given Barden is done in this league and there is a reason they brought him back -he is better than tail end of the team's WR roster.
If he were an undrafted guy instead of a 3rd round pick this place would have a much different outlook on him. The fact is, people here love undrafted guys and make anyone that shows a hint of promis to be potential superstars, and guys who are drafted high who do not live up to their draft status are made out to be worthless junk. In many cases, nother is reality.
I can't think of any reason they re-signed him unless the want their DBs to be able to practice against big receivers. It's an experiment that had a lot of upside but didn't pan out.
I'm starting to wonder about Jernigan (and Scott the RB) also.
2. Cruz
3. Randle
4. Murphy
5. Jernigan
He may make it as the 6th guy purely for depth.
Based on that, how much production should he have. The offense last year was not a 3 WR base offense. They did very little 4 WR offense.
There are only so many snaps to go around.
Have you ever heard the coach or the QB have any issues with him
It wan't JJ who played in that Carolina game, it was Barden. What does this tell you?
To this point, Barden hasn't shown that he gets it.
Apples and oranges.
Also, let's remember the coaches see these players every day in practice, meetings, etc, they have all the info necessary while fans have a sliver of it.
They'll just make sure that they have a WR on the Practice Squad that they can bring up to the 53-man active roster if necessary, like Brandon Collins (after he comes of the Reserve list after he completes his 4-game suspension to start the year for PEDs). I wrote about it here on my Giants cap blog about 2 weeks ago:
Here's my 2nd attempt at predicting the Giants' 53-man roster to start the 2013 season as of today
I don't care if he doesn't give the team much as a receiver. I'd rather Eli get the ball to one of the following - Nicks, Cruz, Randle, Murphy, Myers, Robinson, Wilson - options before Jernigan.
Assuming Wilson will see less return chances now that he's got a bigger RB role, Jernigan has to be near the top of the options.
Obviously, we don't see what the coaches see during practices but I think it's a well-accepted fact that some players are just "gamers" and may offer something different and significant to the team once they actually get a chance to get on the field.
UberAlias : 10:16 am
At least give the guy credit for what he does. It is not like Barden flat out sucks and is incapable of playing well without their being some reason why it was not legit. He has shown flashes at other times as well -he dominated in the Chicago preseason game last year as well.
The problem is there are certain areas in his game he has not shown consistency with, namely press coverage.
Right now we are looking at Stevie Brown and Andre Brown, both guys cut from other teams, as potential starters. It is not a given Barden is done in this league and there is a reason they brought him back -he is better than tail end of the team's WR roster.
If he were an undrafted guy instead of a 3rd round pick this place would have a much different outlook on him. The fact is, people here love undrafted guys and make anyone that shows a hint of promis to be potential superstars, and guys who are drafted high who do not live up to their draft status are made out to be worthless junk. In many cases, nother is reality.
Barden showed up for one game in his career, the Carolina game, which was a matter of playing a bad defense.
What other flashes did he show? Preferably other than a preseason game?
Last year we needed a WR to step up with Nicks out hurt and limited. Barden was on the field. What did he do?
Nicks, Cruz, Randle, Murphy, are sure things....all the rest are fighting for two spot, and Barden now knows he is fighting for his NFL life.
Lack of Special teams is a big problem.....especially if we carry 3 QB's
Are the Giants coaches going to come up with new plays to take advantage of JJ's speed and agility, or of Barden's height and heft? ONLY if what either of them can do is a slam dunk. Said another way, Barden and JJ only have value to the team IF in a specific situation(s) Barden's size or JJ's agility will almost always beat their coverage or cause the defense to overload on their side and open up one of the other Giants receivers.
We all thought that the corner and sideline routes for Barden would be his specialty. I guess we were wrong.
All the above typically means said player just isn't cut out for the NFL. We shall see if he pull a 180.
He tries to be this fineese wideout. trying to be slippery and use hip manipulation. Its utterly pathetic and fucking stupid. Fucking use your size and knock people off the line of scrimmage with your length, reach, size, and big hands (bigger than nicks' per combine). No, he tries to be fancy with his releases like hes some 5'10 slot guy.
I dont think hes ever going to overcome his lack of speed. Its too glaring of a flaw. If he doesnt get contacted at the line and runs in a straight line, eventually he'll get his long strides going at full speed. If not? Hes useless. Hes just lacks football attributes despite being somewhat of an athletic specimen in theory. He reminds me a lot of Jacobs, being someone you're not. Barden needs to embrace his limitations and change his playing demeanor along with his style. Focus on being physical and technical coming off the line of scrimmage, he cant stop-and-start at all because of his long legs. Dont wanna give up on him but its what now, year 5? He is what he is
Greg