Ar-e-na?
July 1, 2008Getting To Know Cavalier Attitude
July 1, 2008If you’re just a casual fan of the Browns, you may not even know who Travis Wilson is. Taken in the third round just a few years back, Wilson was the self-proclaimed “best receiver in the draft.” With that being the case, the Browns got a huge steal. With reality being the case, Wilson has caught two balls in the last two seasons – both in 2006.
When the team agreed to terms with Donte Stallworth, we decided to give Travis a good, old fashioned eulogy, assuming that we were adding another player to the list of what-could-have-beens. Surely, the drafting of wide receiver Paul Hubbardwas just a nail in the figurative coffin. Right?
Or, perhaps it was just a huge wake-up call.
Yesterday, Lane Atkins from the Orange and Brown report listed his “Ten Telling Items” from the sidelines of recent Browns practices. (Note: I strongly recommend reading the list, as it definitely makes you even more anxious for the start of the season) While many of the bits were positive, this one stood out the most:
WR Travis Wilson looks much like the player this organization anticipated when selecting him out of Oklahoma. Interestingly, Wilson is running solid routes, making catches and most importantly has knowledge of what the expectations are. For the first time, Wilson is consistent in getting his head around in receiving drills. This may seem to fall into ‘who cares ‘ type category, but to succeed at this level a receiver needs to get his head around, find the ball in-flight and fight for the reception. Wilson has been on the mark.
While part of me wants to classify this as “too little, too late,” it has to be exciting news. Injuries have been the beast of many teams’ burden. Adding Stallworth and bumping Joe Jurevicius to the third receiver does wonders for depth. Having a much-improved Wilson can only make that better.
Wide receivers tend to take the next step during their third season, so this would make sense from a statistical point of view. The only issue is that Wilson really hasn’t taken any step as of yet – so any sort of production would be an improvement. We traded a 1,000 yard running back for Tim Carter only a year ago. While that was done to avoid a roster bonus, just think of the value of Wilson if he could Carter-esque numbers?
Of course, he could just fade in to oblivion and business would carry on as usual. But wouldn’t it be nice to get something out of a former first-day selection? A kid can dream…
7 Comments
Any Browns fan knows that any stability can be destroyed in a flurry of injuries (which always seems to happen). Adding depth to any part of the team is welcomed, even if that part of the team is already doing pretty good. So we’ve got Braylon, Donte, ol’ Joe (who can still pull off some gnarly catches), Wilson (if progress continues), throw in the badass K2 at TE, and then enhance it even more on some plays by adding the speed of Cribbs and the height of Rucker and we’re not doing so bad. Keep it up Wilson.
Wilson will probably be used quite a bit this year since Joe’s staph status makes him questionable. And Stallworths’ legs my succumb to the Cleveland cold. I’m still pulling for Cribbs to bust out this year as the Brandon Marshall of the ’08 season.
Ahhhh… Football.
touche adam, touche
Football? Say it again. 3 weeks to go.
The best thing about Travis Wilson is that with Braylon, Donte, K2, Jamal, Heiden and Rucker the Browns won’t need him to do alot. But if he has figured it out and can perform we could be looking at a Brandon Stokely type of season. The guy that gets single covered in a pass happy offense that features two wide recievers that you just have to double team.
Plus, if Travis Wilson makes his way onto the field as a receiver it will free up Joshua Cribbs to start taking reps in the depleted defensive backfield as a cornerback.
I am only half kidding. I figure if the Pats can win a Super Bowl with Troy Brown playing DB, why not the Browns with their special teams tackling specialist?