Chad Johnson says Stevie Johnson the best route runner ever seen

[BADOLBILZ]

25 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Chad Johnson should know better. Stevie was a freelancer. 

 

Stevie could just audible mid-route and go wherever he wanted because there was no  real consequence to not being where the play call was designed to be.   Those teams punted and turned the ball over so much that the standard was extremely low.

 

  Defenders are trained to anticipate routes based on where receivers SHOULD be.   That's why Revis gave up numbers to Stevie.  He was very often not where the play was supposed to take him.

 

Those were bad Bills teams.    In 2011 Stevie could rank 19th in yardage but 56th in ypc,  92nd in success rate and 135th in catch % because expectations for the offense were VERY low.    

 

Fitz lead the NFL in interceptions over that 3 year stretch.   A lot of those were on Stevie.   PFR didn't track the WR passer rating and INT stats they now have when receivers were targeted then but he was a highly inefficient WR.   

 

If Stevie did that with Josh Allen,  especially early in his career,  it would have been a disaster.  

 

Took a while for Allen to even risk throwing with anticipation and that took time to build up trust that he had guys that would be where they were supposed to be.  

 

I mean we thought Gabe Davis was bad at being where he was supposed to be.  Stevie was a$$ at that.

 

And obviously, it didn't work when he went elsewhere.

Edited 8 hours ago by BADOLBILZ

[thenorthremembers]

Going to get flamed for this but part of me cant figure out if Stevie was ever really a number 1 talent, or just an ok talent disguised as a #1 on bad teams.    There is no doubt he was fun to watch, but even in his best years here he had average hands and wasnt explosive by any means.    He got open because he and Fitz were playing backyard football, but outside of his time with FItz, he was underwhelming.    Sadly, he had one shot with a great quarterback but was hurt for half of the year with the Chargers.   

[Never NEVER Give-up]

On 6/22/2025 at 4:05 PM, billsbackto81 said:

Imagine if he had Josh?

I like to imagine if Moulds had Josh . . .  .

[Shaw66]

3 minutes ago, Never NEVER Give-up said:

I like to imagine if Moulds had Josh . . .  .

I like to imagine if I had Josh.

 

I also like to imagine if I had Hailee.

[FireChans]

1 hour ago, thenorthremembers said:

Going to get flamed for this but part of me cant figure out if Stevie was ever really a number 1 talent, or just an ok talent disguised as a #1 on bad teams.    There is no doubt he was fun to watch, but even in his best years here he had average hands and wasnt explosive by any means.    He got open because he and Fitz were playing backyard football, but outside of his time with FItz, he was underwhelming.    Sadly, he had one shot with a great quarterback but was hurt for half of the year with the Chargers.   

You won’t get flamed for speaking the truth. He wasn’t a number 1 talent. He was a high volume target on a team with next to no receiving talent.

 

David Nelson was WR2 with 97 !!!!! targets in 2011. 
 

He was just an above average player on a team filled with very bad ones. Much like Freddy, who I love.

[billsbackto81]

3 hours ago, TheBrownBear said:

I like Stevie a lot, but he barely cleared 1000 yards those years as our primary receiver and it wasn't because he was held back by Fitz.  Fitz enabled guys like Brandon Marshall and Mike Evans to put up huge numbers in his stints with the Jets and Bucs, and even got Devante Parker to 1200 yards as a starter for the Fins.  

The topic was/is "best release" off the LOS. In no way am I trying to 💩 on Fitz or make Stevie better than what he was. No one will argue Marshall, Evans and to a lesser degree Parker were better receivers. Just saying Stevie's release and improv route running was next level and if he had Josh (theoretically) would have put up better stats.

[billsbackto81]

2 hours ago, thenorthremembers said:

Going to get flamed for this but part of me cant figure out if Stevie was ever really a number 1 talent, or just an ok talent disguised as a #1 on bad teams.    There is no doubt he was fun to watch, but even in his best years here he had average hands and wasnt explosive by any means.    He got open because he and Fitz were playing backyard football, but outside of his time with FItz, he was underwhelming.    Sadly, he had one shot with a great quarterback but was hurt for half of the year with the Chargers.   

Why? Telling the truth? He wasn't an elite talent.

How many AP'S or PB's Stevie have? Zero. He has 8 pro seasons with 4764 yds, a little over 3k in 3 straight with the Bills. Like Fred Jackson, he was a really good player that was fun to watch during the drought years. He was a very slippery cover.

 

Why so serious?

[wppete]

Stevie was a technician and 1 of 1.  Phenomenal player.