Lee Evan's effect on Stevie Johnson

[coltrane34]

My take is that Lee's loss will effect Stevie greatly. Stevie rarely saw double coverage or safety help last year. Even though Lee had a poor year he was always the focus of the secondary. Safeties would roll over to Evans side of the field to take away his deep speed allowing Stevie to get open more. Lee may have had fewer touches, catches, and touchdowns but his presence allowed Stevie to flourish. Hopefully Stevie can still make plays when he is being hit at the line of scrimmage and then covered by multiple defenders as he runs routes through the secondary.

Edited August 12, 2011 by coltrane34

[Ekertesz88]

My take is that Lee's loss will effect Stevie greatly. Stevie rarely saw double coverage or safety help last year. Even though Lee had a poor year he was always the focus of the secondary. Safeties would roll over to Evans side of the field to take away his deep speed allowing Stevie to get open more. Lee may have had fewer touches, catches, and touchdowns but his presence allowed Stevie to flourish. Hopefully Stevie can still make plays when he is being hit at the line of scrimmage and then covered by multiple defenders as he runs routes through the secondary.

 

Will still make plays, just maybe not as many as last year. I still think there is a lot of talent in this wide reciever group, maybe not the speed Lee provided, but perhaps someone else steps up to demand double teams occasionally, or we run enough spread sets that Stevie still gets some single coverage.

[Bangarang]

If Stevie sees double teams then I'm confident he'll be able to still be effective. It also leaves space for guys like Easley, Nelson, Jones, or even Chandler to do some damage. Evans, while a good player for us, was not irreplaceable.

Edited August 12, 2011 by Bangarang

[bills1960]

He was the number one receiver from week 3 onward and look at the numbers he put up. He was being doubled teamed last year I'm sure but he still managed to get open and make plays. Evans' departure doesn't change that. I predict very similar numbers to last year's if not better.

[Joaquin1119]

I said this before and im going say it again..Lee evan was the main guy to shutdown,almost every team has taken lee evan out of the game.. now since the bills trade lee away,Now teams just have to shutdown steve johnson. I really hope that our other WR's step it up now..

[BuffaloBillsForever]

It called the Lee Evans myth.

[coltrane34]

Lee has proven to be a good NFL player. We don't have any other WR's that have demonstrated they can play well consistently for more than one season. I also don't understand if The Bills made this move to free up $. They are still way under the cap and could pay Kyle Williams without trading Lee. How about cutting Maybin?

Edited August 12, 2011 by coltrane34

[Ekertesz88]

Is it possible this was a reward for Evans playing the good solder all these years? Speed dependent wideouts don't usually last too much past thirty, and Lee was already starting to look like a player on the downside. A million dollar bonus paid at the start of camp and a trade to a contender for a team captain is a pretty nice golden parachute.

[coltrane34]

Is it possible this was a reward for Evans playing the good solder all these years? Speed dependent wideouts don't usually last too much past thirty, and Lee was already starting to look like a player on the downside. A million dollar bonus paid at the start of camp and a trade to a contender for a team captain is a pretty nice golden parachute.

 

I like that view but are we just the "Nice" Team. Really? Don't the Bills want to draft and keep their players? In the past 10 years Lee could be considered one of their better pics. Kyle Williams may be the diamond in the ruff, but Lee was the Bills only first rounder to produce in a long time. Now we have to watch him in the playoffs for another team.

Edited August 12, 2011 by coltrane34

[Ekertesz88]

I like that view but are we just the "Nice" Team. Really? Don't the Bills want to draft and keep their players? In the past 10 years Lee could be considered one of their better pics. Kyle Williams may be the diamond in the ruff, but Lee was the Bills only first rounder to produce in a long time. Now we have to watch him in the playoffs for another team.

Don't misunderstand, I don't think we did it just to be nice, I believe we really do like our depth at wideout and think these young guys could be something pretty good. But if Lee was not a good fit for this offense, which might be a reason his numbers dropped so much last year, maybe they traded him to a contender instead of embarrassing a "good team guy" as a late cut later on, netting a bonus 4th round pick in the process. Of course we want to draft and keep our players that are good, but maybe we don't want to keep guys that don't fit our future. I wish Lee the best, but a 30 year old speedster looking like he maybe closer to the end than the beginning doesn't really seem like a fit on a pretty young roster.

Edited August 12, 2011 by trama4u

[coltrane34]

Don't misunderstand, I don't think we did it just to be nice, I believe we really do like our depth at wideout and think these young guys could be something pretty good. But if Lee was not a good fit for this offense, which might be a reason his numbers dropped so much last year, maybe they traded him to a contender instead of embarrassing a "good team guy" as a late cut later on, netting a bonus 4th round pick in the deal.

 

I hope so, but I seem to say that to myself a lot these past few years. I like what Gailey has shown but you can only be so smart. We need players. Look at the Bellicheats they collect talent.

[Ekertesz88]

Yeah they do, but most of their roster was built through having what seems like 15 draft picks every year, and not being afraid to go get that big free agent every once in a while. And how to they get those picks? They move around like crazy in the draft and trade guys for picks. I think they are trying to collect some talent here, just talent that is still gonna be effective in a few years, when this pretty young team is seasoned enough to stand toe to toe with the real monsters in this league.

[RealityCheck]

My take is that Lee's loss will effect Stevie greatly. Stevie rarely saw double coverage or safety help last year. Even though Lee had a poor year he was always the focus of the secondary. Safeties would roll over to Evans side of the field to take away his deep speed allowing Stevie to get open more. Lee may have had fewer touches, catches, and touchdowns but his presence allowed Stevie to flourish. Hopefully Stevie can still make plays when he is being hit at the line of scrimmage and then covered by multiple defenders as he runs routes through the secondary.

You act as if no one else will be on the field with Stevie.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

You act as if no one else will be on the field with Stevie.

 

 

at the WR position, no one will.

 

Easley: 0 career starts.

Roosevelt: 3? starts

Jones: 5 or 6 starts

 

Let's hope Andrew Luck pans out, because with a WR core like that, there ain't gonna be much passing offense, and as we ALL know, this is a pass-first league.

[skibum]

It's not like they are playing with 10 guys on offense now that Lee is gone. Somebody is going to have to cover somebody, and somebody else will get open. Lee Evans is NOT that special.

[PDaDdy]

My take is that Lee's loss will effect Stevie greatly. Stevie rarely saw double coverage or safety help last year. Even though Lee had a poor year he was always the focus of the secondary. Safeties would roll over to Evans side of the field to take away his deep speed allowing Stevie to get open more. Lee may have had fewer touches, catches, and touchdowns but his presence allowed Stevie to flourish. Hopefully Stevie can still make plays when he is being hit at the line of scrimmage and then covered by multiple defenders as he runs routes through the secondary.

 

I'm concerned about that too. We have some great young WRs but people discount Lee's contribution if only in the coverage he drew not the stats. I have faith in Gailey and I hope that between Marcus Easly, Roscoe Parrish and CJ Spiller who are all 4.3 guys we can run things to still challenge the defense with speed.

 

It's not like they are playing with 10 guys on offense now that Lee is gone. Somebody is going to have to cover somebody, and somebody else will get open. Lee Evans is NOT that special.

 

Showing my bias but Lee was pretty damn good. He's only had two guys that could utilize his speed in his 7 years with us. Drew Bledsoe and JP Losman. We know the story with Losman and Drew only had one good year. Concidentally if I am not mistaken Lee had his two 1000 yard seasons and better statistical production with those guys.

Edited August 13, 2011 by PDaDdy

[Dorkington]

Unless one of the other guys steps up, SJ is screwed.

[PDaDdy]

Yeah they do, but most of their roster was built through having what seems like 15 draft picks every year, and not being afraid to go get that big free agent every once in a while. And how to they get those picks? They move around like crazy in the draft and trade guys for picks. I think they are trying to collect some talent here, just talent that is still gonna be effective in a few years, when this pretty young team is seasoned enough to stand toe to toe with the real monsters in this league.

 

Good teams keep, replace or upgrade their talent. Bad teams let their talent go. Teams like the Patriots GET talent for 4th round picks they don't trade it away for 4th round picks. That is all.

[Defend Greece]

Even flo,(who was pissed about it) said it would change the way teams played us, he knows

[PDaDdy]

Unless one of the other guys steps up, SJ is screwed.

 

I wouldn't say he is screwed but it will be a challenge for a guy that hopefully had his break out season last year not just a statistical anomaly. It's how this game works. SJ might see a drop in the numbers and some other guy starts to benefit and we will talk about how SJ isn't a #1, trade him away for something and WR X is the real #1.