Dan arnold (1 Viewer)

[GeneHansen]

To be fair though, everyone knew Graham was a project who wouldn’t contribute immediately. He had only played like 1 year of football before.

I’m not trying to minimize switching from receiver to tight end (although jumping for a catch is jumping for a catch, whether you’re a TE or a WR) but I think Graham’s transition was a bit tougher and his slow start more understandable.

I'm not sure how you started your comments with "to be fair."

Dan Arnold was a D3 non-shcolarship football player, who went undrafted.
He was a WR in college and TE is a completely new position.
Not only is he making a significant adjustment from WR to TE, he's making an insane jump in competition from D3 to the NFL.
(You think anyone in D3 comes close to contesting that pass like Thomas Davis did last nigtht?)

Jimmy Graham was a freak athlete. Freakish enough to have a football players body and still play and start for a good ACC Basketball team. Freakish enough of an athlete to play only 1 year of college football and still be drafted in the third round.

And Jimmy Graham gets a pass in his first year, yet Dan Arnold should be ready to go and making plays? I'm not sure I'd call that fair.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I don't know how folks are blaming Brees for that pick. The ball hit Arnold squarely in both hands.

if you took a screenshot of Ben Watson right before the dude knocked it out, it would look similarly 'catchable'

 

[GilFinnerty]

The ball hit him in both hands and bounced off before contact. That has to be caught. His role is to stretch the field and catch passes. His play has been pretty inconsistent. You can see his talent but he needs to get stronger.

Cant be said much better. Stronger abd more confident

 

[SaintsFanInLA]

if you took a screenshot of Ben Watson right before the dude knocked it out, it would look similarly 'catchable'

That was even worse, Ben HAD the ball and allowed it to get knocked out. You can blame many things but Drew Brees in BOTH of those scenarios should not be blamed. Brees dropped that ball between the cornerback and the safety, if that was Mike Thomas, it is far more than likely a caught ball.

 

[Jedi211]

What drop did Arnold have? The one that got intercepted is considered a drop to people on here? It was a contested ball.

Ball hit him right in the hands, nobody's fault but the receiver's

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

is there a reason y'all are completely ignoring the helmet part of the equation?

 

[m318]

I don't know how folks are blaming Brees for that pick. The ball hit Arnold squarely in both hands.

Okay, now I don't blame Brees. From the replays it looked like Davis mitts were right on the ball as it arrived in Arnold's hands. We have no playmakers outside Thomas at the WR/TE position. I really want Ginn back next week.

 

[Jb25saints]

Wasn’t he smothered by two defenders?

Yes it was a great throw, yes it hit his hands, but That seemed like a circus type catch. I don’t see too many TEs catching those in the league

I think he has good hands. I see him bouncing back

 

[SAINTSFAN]

Wasn’t he smothered by two defenders?

Yes it was a great throw, yes it hit his hands, but That seemed like a circus type catch. I don’t see too many TEs catching those in the league

I think he has good hands. I see him bouncing back

He has shown thus far that he has average hands at best. He has dropped too many catchable balls. Whether you play DI or DIII, catching the ball is the same. I agree he gets a bit of a pass on blocking and route running this year. However, he has to catch the balls that hit him in the hands. This was a difficult catch based on the way the defender hit him, but it was not impossible. Had he not had so many catchable drops prior, it would be easy to ignore this one.

 

[Loco Hornet Fan]

But Graham played a year of football at a big time program, in Miami.

Arnold played Division III football. That's a bigger adjustment, going to the Pros in my mind.

I just don’t know about that. I think that only having one year of football experience ever before going to the NFL is a bigger adjustment than playing at a small school.

He also only had 17 catches in that one season at Miami.

I just think he was as big of a project as you could have, which is why it was great that he ended up with Brees.

 

[Jb25saints]

He has shown thus far that he has average hands at best. He has dropped too many catchable balls. Whether you play DI or DIII, catching the ball is the same. I agree he gets a bit of a pass on blocking and route running this year. However, he has to catch the balls that hit him in the hands. This was a difficult catch based on the way the defender hit him, but it was not impossible. Had he not had so many catchable drops prior, it would be easy to ignore this one.

I’ll say this. SP wouldn’t sign him not even to the PS if he didn’t have good hands. This guy is a d3 player. You don’t make it to the nfl without having good hands as a d3 player....

 

[Loco Hornet Fan]

I'm not sure how you started your comments with "to be fair."

Dan Arnold was a D3 non-shcolarship football player, who went undrafted.
He was a WR in college and TE is a completely new position.
Not only is he making a significant adjustment from WR to TE, he's making an insane jump in competition from D3 to the NFL.
(You think anyone in D3 comes close to contesting that pass like Thomas Davis did last nigtht?)

Jimmy Graham was a freak athlete. Freakish enough to have a football players body and still play and start for a good ACC Basketball team. Freakish enough of an athlete to play only 1 year of college football and still be drafted in the third round.

And Jimmy Graham gets a pass in his first year, yet Dan Arnold should be ready to go and making plays? I'm not sure I'd call that fair.

You’re kinda getting on my case for a lot of things I never said.

I never said anything about writing Arnold off or demanding that he make THAT specific play, or any plays at all.

Somebody else brought up Jimmy Graham, I merely responded to that.

And I stand by what I actually did say. Sure, Arnold is making a big leap from D3 to the NFL. I don’t want to minimize that.

But Graham was basically completely new to football. And while he played at a big school, he only played one season and had 17 catches. That’s not a ton of experience. He was clearly a project and yes, he deserved a pass for his rookie season. I think that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to say.

That also doesn’t mean I’m holding Arnold’s feet to some kind of fire or demanding production. I never said that.

The position switch means learning a lot of new things, my only point was that jumping to make a catch is the same no matter if you are a WR or TE.

I didn’t mean that the catch was easy or that he is a bum for not catching it. I only meant that the position change had nothing to do with that catch/play.

 

[GeneHansen]

You’re kinda getting on my case for a lot of things I never said.

I never said anything about writing Arnold off or demanding that he make THAT specific play, or any plays at all.

Somebody else brought up Jimmy Graham, I merely responded to that.

And I stand by what I actually did say. Sure, Arnold is making a big leap from D3 to the NFL. I don’t want to minimize that.

But Graham was basically completely new to football. And while he played at a big school, he only played one season and had 17 catches. That’s not a ton of experience. He was clearly a project and yes, he deserved a pass for his rookie season. I think that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to say.

That also doesn’t mean I’m holding Arnold’s feet to some kind of fire or demanding production. I never said that.

The position switch means learning a lot of new things, my only point was that jumping to make a catch is the same no matter if you are a WR or TE.

I didn’t mean that the catch was easy or that he is a bum for not catching it. I only meant that the position change had nothing to do with that catch/play.

Fair enough.
I apologize.

This thread had been frustrating.

 

[Saint Taysom]

I’m not ready to give up on Arnold. There’s definitely potential there... but he may not be really ready for a bigger role for a couple more seasons. He’s got a lot to learn.

Jesse James from the Steelers would look good in our offense. He’s an UFA this offseason.

 

[lapaz]

Ball hit him right in the hands, nobody's fault but the receiver's

A split second later the ball hit the defender’s helmet as Arnold was coming down. Even Thomas may have had it knocked out of his hands, but most receivers would have had it knocked out. I only say may for Thomas because he has extraordinary hands, but above average hands would not have caught that. If Drew leads him another yard or two, I believe he would’ve caught it over his head, because he had to slow down to reach over the defender.