Aaron Hernandez

[whatadai]

Does anyone think the age of Tom Brady limits his value? I'm just curious.

Not really. A little, perhaps, but talented pass-catching TEs are fairly QB resistant.

Greg Olsen and Zach Miller disagree.

[KingsKing]

In a 16 team league im 7-3 and one of the 4 best teams in the league. I just traded 2 first round picks likely to be around 1.4 and 1.12-16 for hernandez. I really wanted to get something done before the trade deadline and i think this trade gives me a legit shot at a title.

[ninotoreS]

Does anyone think the age of Tom Brady limits his value? I'm just curious.

Not really. A little, perhaps, but talented pass-catching TEs are fairly QB resistant.

Greg Olsen and Zach Miller disagree.

In Chicago, I think Olsen's numbers were limited much more by the system than by Orton/Cutler. Particularly during Martz's tenure.

As for Miller, I've never considered him more than an average talent, personally. I suppose he's alright, but he's definitely not the category of talent I was referring to.

[Jfever]

If Z.Miller had T.Brady throwing him the ball. I bet you'd change your tune. Miller put up top 7/8 TE numbers with Campbell throwing him the ball in Oak. If he actually had a top 5 Qb in a friendly passing system. He'd be borderline elite. Clearly not an "average" TE talent wise. Bottom line; There are a lot of TE's that are very much dependent on their system and their QB. Seems to me that in many cases those two factors contribute a great deal towards fantasy productivity for that position.

[Chris_R]

Does anyone think the age of Tom Brady limits his value? I'm just curious.

Not really. A little, perhaps, but talented pass-catching TEs are fairly QB resistant.

Greg Olsen and Zach Miller disagree.

Zach Miller is hardly a good athlete, nowhere even close to what Hernandez does. Olsen was in a Mike Martz offense who literally does not use a TE on the field which is why he was traded. When you have a guy like Hernandez who plays the slot, lines up at RB and all over the field, he's not going to compare to a guy like Zach Miller. Obviously a new QB will have a learning curve, and we don't know how the ball will be spread amongst Gronk and Hernandez, but a new QB typically relies on their TE's on underneath routes so while there is obviously a downgrade from Tom Brady to a young guy it wouldn't bother me one bit.

[Jfever]

You know, I've been thinking a bit lately on the common misconception of a new qb "relying" on the TE. I had a convo yesterday about this very thing. Why don't "new" qbs throw to their running backs out of the backfield and more shorter routes over the middle to TE's as much anymore? They really don't. Think for a moment now.

Some relatively new Qb's out there

Locker... he doesnt throw to Cook often nor does he throw to Cj2k often
Dalton - he doenst throw to his TE or RB's often
Bradford - he never really had a decent TE but - yes - he did throw to S.Jackson but probably more due to pressure and an absurd lack in wr and o-line talent.
Luck - doesnt target TE's often / Fleener injured though so that could change
Ponder - doesnt target TE's as often as he probably should - ask any Rudulph owner
Freeman - Nope
Gabbert - nope
Tannehill - nope
Wilson - nope
RGIII - Nope - due to injur to Davis though.
Skelton in Ariz. - Nope---- Why not? seems like they are being asked to block.


Basically, what I'm saying is that I think a lot of young Qb's are more so trying to make a bigger play more often than doing a check down. I think that they are feeling pressure to produce right away and feel like they need to take more "shots" so to speak.

I think the traditional thought of rookie qb's "leaning" on a TE or rb's out of the backfield (to a lesser exten), is no longer a viable / dependable outlook.

:2cents:

[ericanadian]

Miller was propped up by a solid system in Oakland, not a QB. Greg Knapp's done it with Miller, Crumpler and now he's doing it again with Myers.

Belichick isn't going anywhere and Hernandez is signed long term, so I don't worry about the Brady age factor too much.

I think with rookie QB's there is a tendency to prefer the extra blocker and use the slot guy as the primary checkdown (see Hawkins, Amendola, Wayne, Harvin, etc.) That's just a guess though and you're right about the trend changing there.

[ninotoreS]

If Z.Miller had T.Brady throwing him the ball. I bet you'd change your tune. Miller put up top 7/8 TE numbers with Campbell throwing him the ball in Oak. If he actually had a top 5 Qb in a friendly passing system. He'd be borderline elite. Clearly not an "average" TE talent wise. Bottom line; There are a lot of TE's that are very much dependent on their system and their QB. Seems to me that in many cases those two factors contribute a great deal towards fantasy productivity for that position.

"Top 7/8 TE numbers" are really not hard to achieve, you know. That's why those back-end TE1 ranks are so accessible every season. The acceptable floor for TE1s beyond the top 3 or so ranks is so generous, that all it really takes for an average talent at TE to become a mid-range or back-end TE1 in fantasy is to be a preferred check-down by his QB (and the QB's talent isn't really important, which has been my point here) or a favorite of the given OC's playcalling preferences (particularly in the red-zone).

As for the "if Miller had Brady" hypothesis, if Ben Watson could never become a truly elite fantasy-TE with Brady, I certainly don't see it being a guarantee that Zach Miller would. Back-end TE1, perhaps... but like I just got done explaining...

Anyway,

There are a lot of TE's that are very much dependent on their system and their QB.

Yeah, and I agree with this. Dependent on the system especially, and rapport with the QB, certainly.

When I said "QB resistant", I was referring to the QB's talent (i.e. the lack thereof). I suppose I didn't make that clear. I wasn't suggesting that rapport is unimportant. That would be silly.