Where are we at with Drake London? Statistically he’s cooled down a lot… top-12 dynasty WR?

[CGW]

What reasons would you give that are squarely on London for getting one target?

I'd guess the reason you can attribute to London would be his lack of separation ability, which was always my concern with him. He's just not open enough for a QB as bad as Ridder to throw him the ball. Arthur Smith is all about ball control and clearly going to hide Ridder as much as possible.

Obviously, there's more at play here as far as offensive scheme to pin it all on London himself. That said, there have been WR studs on bad teams. We will see if they ever let Ridder open up a bit and take some chances...but if not, it may be a long year for London truthers.

London not being able to separate continues to be a myth.

Reception Perception is a fun tool, but there are times Matt Harmon told us to buy on bigger bodied, slightly "slower" WRs with a separation stigma because they could separate just fine and will use their physicality to make up for slower speed... https://www.thebackyardbanter.com/recep ... dwell.html

Clearly hindsight is 20/20, but time shall tell with London! If he is some incredible route runner that's just held down by Ridder/Smith, he's a clear buy low for his truthers. And to be fair I think he's a fine long term play. He will be a good receiver for a long time in the league. I just don't see the ceiling I'd be after if I'm spending the prices London owners paid initially and are still asking for now.

[Cameron Giles]

I'd guess the reason you can attribute to London would be his lack of separation ability, which was always my concern with him. He's just not open enough for a QB as bad as Ridder to throw him the ball. Arthur Smith is all about ball control and clearly going to hide Ridder as much as possible.

Obviously, there's more at play here as far as offensive scheme to pin it all on London himself. That said, there have been WR studs on bad teams. We will see if they ever let Ridder open up a bit and take some chances...but if not, it may be a long year for London truthers.

London not being able to separate continues to be a myth.

Reception Perception is a fun tool, but there are times Matt Harmon told us to buy on bigger bodied, slightly "slower" WRs with a separation stigma because they could separate just fine and will use their physicality to make up for slower speed... https://www.thebackyardbanter.com/recep ... dwell.html

Clearly hindsight is 20/20, but time shall tell with London! If he is some incredible route runner that's just held down by Ridder/Smith, he's a clear buy low for his truthers. And to be fair I think he's a fine long term play. He will be a good receiver for a long time in the league. I just don't see the ceiling I'd be after if I'm spending the prices London owners paid initially and are still asking for now.

London also ranked 16th in Open Score out of all 82 WRs last season with at least 48 targets. I think it's safe to say that getting open is not an issue for him.

On a day where 5 targets were given to WRs, I'm having a hard time blaming WRs and not the QB, who clearly wasn't trusted by his OC to do anything meaningful.

[Sriracha]

London not being able to separate continues to be a myth.

Reception Perception is a fun tool, but there are times Matt Harmon told us to buy on bigger bodied, slightly "slower" WRs with a separation stigma because they could separate just fine and will use their physicality to make up for slower speed... https://www.thebackyardbanter.com/recep ... dwell.html

Clearly hindsight is 20/20, but time shall tell with London! If he is some incredible route runner that's just held down by Ridder/Smith, he's a clear buy low for his truthers. And to be fair I think he's a fine long term play. He will be a good receiver for a long time in the league. I just don't see the ceiling I'd be after if I'm spending the prices London owners paid initially and are still asking for now.

London also ranked 16th in Open Score out of all 82 WRs last season with at least 48 targets. I think it's safe to say that getting open is not an issue for him.

On a day where 5 targets were given to WRs, I'm having a hard time blaming WRs and not the QB, who clearly wasn't trusted by his OC to do anything meaningful.

At the same time it's hard to blame a QB who completed 83% of his passes, posted a 111 Passer rating with a respectable 6.4 YPA and got the W.

I'm sure better days are ahead for London but this is unfortunately the offense he finds himself in.. and Ridder is very likely going to be his QB for at least this year (and possibly more).

[Cameron Giles]

At the same time it's hard to blame a QB who completed 83% of his passes, posted a 111 Passer rating with a respectable 6.4 YPA and got the W.

I'm sure better days are ahead for London but this is unfortunately the offense he finds himself in.. and Ridder is very likely going to be his QB for at least this year (and possibly more).

Here's Ridder's passing chart from that game.



Yes, it's very easy to blame him. 10 of his completions were within five yards or less of the LOS. It's not a sustainble way of winning, as we've seen before.

[ericanadian]

Reception Perception is a fun tool, but there are times Matt Harmon told us to buy on bigger bodied, slightly "slower" WRs with a separation stigma because they could separate just fine and will use their physicality to make up for slower speed... https://www.thebackyardbanter.com/recep ... dwell.html

Clearly hindsight is 20/20, but time shall tell with London! If he is some incredible route runner that's just held down by Ridder/Smith, he's a clear buy low for his truthers. And to be fair I think he's a fine long term play. He will be a good receiver for a long time in the league. I just don't see the ceiling I'd be after if I'm spending the prices London owners paid initially and are still asking for now.

London also ranked 16th in Open Score out of all 82 WRs last season with at least 48 targets. I think it's safe to say that getting open is not an issue for him.

On a day where 5 targets were given to WRs, I'm having a hard time blaming WRs and not the QB, who clearly wasn't trusted by his OC to do anything meaningful.

At the same time it's hard to blame a QB who completed 83% of his passes, posted a 111 Passer rating with a respectable 6.4 YPA and got the W.

I'm sure better days are ahead for London but this is unfortunately the offense he finds himself in.. and Ridder is very likely going to be his QB for at least this year (and possibly more).

6.4 YPA is not respectable in today’s NFL.

[Ice]

London also ranked 16th in Open Score out of all 82 WRs last season with at least 48 targets. I think it's safe to say that getting open is not an issue for him.

On a day where 5 targets were given to WRs, I'm having a hard time blaming WRs and not the QB, who clearly wasn't trusted by his OC to do anything meaningful.

At the same time it's hard to blame a QB who completed 83% of his passes, posted a 111 Passer rating with a respectable 6.4 YPA and got the W.

I'm sure better days are ahead for London but this is unfortunately the offense he finds himself in.. and Ridder is very likely going to be his QB for at least this year (and possibly more).

6.4 YPA is not respectable in today’s NFL.

That IMO is a useless stat this early but it’s better than Mahomes, Allen and 1/2 the league so far..

[SoftwoodGrampian]

At the same time it's hard to blame a QB who completed 83% of his passes, posted a 111 Passer rating with a respectable 6.4 YPA and got the W.

I'm sure better days are ahead for London but this is unfortunately the offense he finds himself in.. and Ridder is very likely going to be his QB for at least this year (and possibly more).

6.4 YPA is not respectable in today’s NFL.

That IMO is a useless stat this early but it’s better than Mahomes, Allen and 1/2 the league so far..

It’s unusual to see ATL build its skill positions before landing their franchise QB. Usually you see it the other way around now, bringing the QB along earlier.

[gogobradyarm]

People need to chill with weekly/bi-weekly over-reactionary takes... London is a stud, nothing more needs to be said

[mild]

It’s unusual to see ATL build its skill positions before landing their franchise QB. Usually you see it the other way around now, bringing the QB along earlier.

I do think there's some sense to it, holistically. ATL were talent-poor in the extreme in the post-Matt Ryan era, thanks to one too many bad contracts and all-in moves from Dimitroff. The roster was truly in a terrible state when Arthur Smith arrived.

When a Rookie QB arrives to a stable full of weapons, it aids their development massively. Think of the difference in rookie year Justin Herbert vs. what it looked like for Tua and Joe Burrow respectively in Year 1. All of them have since shown that they can trigger-man for a high-end offense, but without a doubt we were feeling very excited about Herbert almost immediately.

To be fair to to Atlanta - being talent poor AND pick poor - they've been content to sit and pick, and to not trade up.

Just looking at the QB's they could have taken shots on over the years:
- Jordan Love
- Jalen Hurts
- Justin Fields
- Mac Jones
- Kenny Pickett...?

Like, hindsight being 20/20 and all that - but I can see their reasoning for not necessarily falling over themselves to go after any of those guys if the point is to just keep hitting singles and getting on base, and building up the overall roster talent.

[Ice]

People need to chill with weekly/bi-weekly over-reactionary takes... London is a stud, nothing more needs to be said

Fake News!

[gogobradyarm]

Ridder is looking truly awful, maybe some of the worst QB play I can remember. He will be out sooner than later.

[BabyChark23]

Ridder is looking truly awful, maybe some of the worst QB play I can remember…

*Zach Wilson has entered the chat*

[gogobradyarm]

Ridder is looking truly awful, maybe some of the worst QB play I can remember…

*Zach Wilson has entered the chat*

Haha FML

[Cameron Giles]

Ridder isn't good, but there was a clear adjustment by the coaching staff (and him). They actually let it rip a lot more and it wasn't just dinky stuff at the LOS.

[ericanadian]

Ridder is chucking a 4.61 YPA with a 71% completion percentage in the first half of games and a 10.14 YPA and 64% completion percentage in the second half. The gap was smaller in game 2, but still huge.

The game plan seems to be very conservative early while establishing the run. Then when the defense starts to key in on the run, open it up over the top. I think talk of Heinicke is premature. Ridder’s still growing and this is the same staff that gave Mariota a ridiculously long leash last year.