Route Running for WRs?
 

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. How essential is RR for WRs? As long as their RR is higher than your backs and TEs, do you really need a WR with a high RR? Or do you need a WR with a high RR, only if his other skills are good?

There are different lines of thought on this, but I'm in the camp that I only want a WR to have a high RR, if he is good in other areas. A WR with a very high RR who is mediocre or poor in other areas is a detriment to the team. It seems to coorelate highly with the number of times a receiver is targeted and a low RR can be a detriment to an otherwise great WR.

I don't know what to think anymore on this. EF27's thinking is sound and shared by many. I think there is no doubt that a lesser overall WR with higher RR will be a detriment to another WR, but I am not so sure for the team. There's no doubt if one guy is always getting open, more balls thrown his way means less thrown to everyone else. But, I can't help but think there will be times when if that high RR WR wasn't open, no one else will be open and therefore there will be no catch on the play had the RR WR not got open.

Of course, you have to weigh the bonus of getting those extra catches against the chance that the high RR WR is dropping alot of balls, failing to get any YAC, etc.

Of course, this is all pure guesswork, since we don't know how the engine truly works. The best way to safeguard on this is just make sure you have a kick ass WR also with high RR, then none of this discussion really matters.

You heard it here first, V4P's advice for success is to find players that are highly rated in all areas ;)

Yes, this is as sure a plan of success as there is. It's also a lock if you get that same guy with a low salary, stay on the team for 10 years, have an exceptional affinity with his leader, and not have a red flag. If you can get all of this with your WR, you're golden.

In all seriousness though, I look at it kind of risk/reward. When dealing with the unknown, take the unknown out of the picture. When dealing with the known, make your value based decision there. So, while I pay more for a guy to get rid of the unknown with the RR issue, I will pay less for the O-lineman with no run blocking skills because I am more certain how that rating works and don't run the ball much.

Has there been any research done on correlating Route Running with catch percentage? The help file relates it to "catch frequency" which could simply mean number of targets, but doesn't necessarily suggest that.

My other question is Avoid Drops. Is that correlated with catch percentage, or only avoiding drops? I mean a receiver doesn't generally drop enough to make a big difference on percentage, it is mostly those incomplete passes that are the killer. Again, the help file says Avoid Drops tells you how much the receiver will "catch what's thrown to him" which could imply more than simply not dropping a pass.

Which of these ratings, if either, will give you a receiver who is more likely to snag passes?