Leonard Hankerson: Patience

[SWFLSkins]

Dude, forget Davis.

Logan Paulsen 2013!

That's what I am saying, Paulsen and Paul could easily develop at this point, both can block well.

[authentic]

Dude, forget Davis.

Logan Paulsen 2013!

Come on now.. lets not go crazy...

[SkinsGuy]

I dont see how that has anything to do with their production here in washington. They were good fit for our system and made some great catches. Hankerson would be out of a job right now if he was on a decent team.

Do you think Shanahan would keep Hankerson on the field if he is as hopeless as you seem to think? Or does he see a young WR growing into his role?

You think Hankerson is a bust, but I see the head coach giving a young player a chance to develop by showing him the patience many in this fanbase simply do not have.

Will he be an elite WR one day? The better question is, does he have to be? Or will fans be happy with him being a good, solid contributor that helps the team move the chains and win games.

Does Hankerson and players like him have to be an IMMEADIATE stand-out, elite pro-bowlers, or they are abject failures?

Is that the standard now?

[Oldfan]

OK. If Leonard Hankerson falls short of being Brandon Marshall, that doesn't mean he's bad, average, he could still be good. While he's not producing or playing this season like I had thought (without hip injury), he improved over the course of his rookie season. I will withold full assessment until next season.

The Brandon Marshall point was to illustrate that natural talent can be spotted even if the production is just potential. I don't see the natural talent in Hank.

It's an opinion. You are certainly just as entitled to yours.

[Skinz4Life12]

he appears to get separation, he just needs to remove his head from his ass when it comes to being ready for the ball, catching the ball, and knowing where the first down marker is

[clarkskin]

I'm not really down on Hank, but also don't really buy into this notion of "development" when it comes to hands. He's been playing WR for many years now, so I'm not sure I believe that another year under his belt will cure him of having a case of the drops. Typically it takes time for a young wideout and his QB to develop some chemistry, but that has nothing to do with throws that are right in your hands.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

You didn't elaborate at all on your first reply and your last reply is practically a non sequitur, primarily because you made no effort to link it back to Hankerson. In other words, you seemed to dismiss the person you were replying to without actually addressing what he said both directly and clearly.

EA, I'm against Oldfan in this thread for the most part, but I think his point was pretty clear. Getting separation is only one aspect of being able to beat single coverage. Another aspect is being able to catch the ball when you cannot beat single coverage. His pretty clear point was that he saw Marshall win those contested balls even before he was putting up great numbers or would be considered a consistently good WR. So far, I would agree that we haven't seen that with Hankerson. I believe we've seen him get open plenty, but it sure would be a "next step" thing to see him start to make plays when he's not open. There have been a couple of long passes in traffic where he's gotten hands on the ball and not secured it. It would be great if that turns around for him.

[KDawg]

I'm not really down on Hank, but also don't really buy into this notion of "development" when it comes to hands. He's been playing WR for many years now, so I'm not sure I believe that another year under his belt will cure him of having a case of the drops. Typically it takes time for a young wideout and his QB to develop some chemistry, but that has nothing to do with throws that are right in your hands.

It's a concentration issue. He gets distracted with whats about to happen when the ball hits his hands rather than following through with the four phases of a catch. Some guys realize it and it clicks. Some don't. It's not a develomental thing. A coach can say it 1000 times, but until he gets it, it won't get better.

[Oldfan]

It's a concentration issue. He gets distracted with whats about to happen when the ball hits his hands rather than following through with the four phases of a catch. Some guys realize it and it clicks. Some don't. It's not a develomental thing. A coach can say it 1000 times, but until he gets it, it won't get better.

I coached 11-12 year old boys. Every now and then I'd see a boy look at the QB, with the pass coming right at him, not raise his hands to catch it until too late. I've seen Hank do it a couple of times. Maybe he's blind.

[KDawg]

Maybe he's blind.

You know, I think you said that in jest, but I wonder if they've had his vision checked... It could seriously be an issue.

[Oldfan]

You know, I think you said that in jest, but I wonder if they've had his vision checked... It could seriously be an issue.

I said it in jest, but who knows? Maybe it's a depth perception issue.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

You know, I think you said that in jest, but I wonder if they've had his vision checked... It could seriously be an issue.

Is that really something that helped Carlos Rogers in SF last year or was that just a rumor floating around? We have to remember that these guys are sometimes kids...it's not ridiculous that a 23-year old might not have something like vision perfectly addressed.

[RVAbrendan]

Would make sense. Seemed like he just didn't know where the ball was on that deep pass drop. A little more effort and that's a catch.

[gorebd82]

The only way that this can truly be resolved is to get him more targets on a consistent basis. I certainly see both sides of this argument. He's shown good athleticism, route running, and has decent size, but clearly has had mental lapses when it comes to hauling in catches. Question is whether he's lacking confidence and comfort level or can he just not catch.

I do, however, feel like the team hasn't been helping the situation by playing him so much with so few targets. If we are looking at him as a potential starter, then we need to know what he can do. It's hard to show that without getting in a rhythm. I think one of my biggest knocks on our offense has been that we're spreading the ball around too much and it's not giving a couple of guys the chance to step up. We run a lot and if Robert only throws 25 times a game, but targets 8-9 guys, then no one really gets a groove going.

Feed the ball to Hank consistently over the second half of the season to see if he can show evidence that he is what Mike and Kyle claimed him to be or whether we need to be looking at WR in FA or high in the draft.

[GoDeep81]

Honestly, if anyone on this team has a vision problem, (that's unknown at this point) the entire ****ing staff should be immediately fired..