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- Jan 14, 2013
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- 29,877
This is all hypothetical and your opinion of what could have been. Sure, lots of guys could have been better had they played on better teams or with better qbs that is not a profound thought. I like to focus on things that actually happened.
When you're comparing two players in different situations that played during different time periods, focusing on stats(not what actually happened) as the infallible measure of performance does not work for me. It will get nowhere in a discussion with me.
Peyton and Brady are much better than Pennington and Testeverde, okay? sucks for Chrebet, doesn't make him comparable to Welker. Welker has had a significantly better career in fewer games no? He's still not done so these margins will only get bigger. Similar attributes, sure. But what the hell does that matter? Its almost like you're faulting Welker for having good qbs by negating what he has done and comparing him to some forgettable nobody. Your comparison has absolutely 0 merit unless you include the stipulation "maybe Chrebet could have been somewhere in the realm of Welker had he played with better qbs" maybe he coulda been, maybe not but as it stands there is nothing to justify them even being anywhere close to the same level.
That would be the simple point. Would Welker be some forgettable nobody had he and Chrebet switched teams and time periods? IMO, yes. Outside of the slot, Welker was a solid to good #2. Which is what Chrebet was during his days...when the slot was not heavily utilized.
That's the point. And it's why I don't think slot WRs are as valuable as a #1 WR nor would I consider one a #1 WR.
What does similar attributes matter? A lot.
Tom Brady in 2011
401/611
65.6%
5235 yards
8.6 YPA
39 TDs
12 Ints
105.6 QB Rating
Tom Brady in 2013
380/628
60.5%
4343 yards
6.9 YPA
25 TDs
11 Ints
87.3 QB Rating
Now, if we solely looked at the numbers, they'd tell us that Tom Brady became a worse QB over the one year that elapsed between those two years. Do you believe that? Or are there other important factors that statistics do not show or explain in the game of football?