McCants: Your thoughts?

[joecrisp]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

Forgive me for joining this discussion late, but about McCants and special teams, I have one question.

Does anyone remember Rod Gardner ever playing special teams?

I sure as hell don't. If not, why did Gardner get a free pass all last year to the starting squad while he had one good performance every 6 or 7 games, all while not playing a single time on special teams?

I'm sure you're aware of this, Beems, but generally speaking, first-round picks don't play much on special teams (unless they're stellar kick returners)-- even less so when they become incumbent starters at a skill position like wide receiver, and particularly when they're a player the team has targeted as potential trade bait.

McCants sat on the bench primarily because he doesn't play special teams as well as any of the other players on the roster who do play special teams-- it's not necessarily from a lack of trying. McCants was not a first-round pick, nor was he an incumbent starter. Combine that with the fact that he has a reputation for not practicing as well as the other players at his position (yes, Gardner is a much better practice player than McCants, from what I've seen), and you have your answer.

It looks like McCants may have the chance to prove himself this year, but he's going to have to make his presence known in training camp and the preseason games if he wants a shot at some playing time. He's got to shake this attitude that he only needs to show up on gameday. If he keeps thinking that way, he'll continue to show up on gameday wearing street clothes.

[offiss]

Originally Posted by joecrisp

I'm sure you're aware of this, Beems, but generally speaking, first-round picks don't play much on special teams (unless they're stellar kick returners)-- even less so when they become incumbent starters at a skill position like wide receiver, and particularly when they're a player the team has targeted as potential trade bait.

McCants sat on the bench primarily because he doesn't play special teams as well as any of the other players on the roster who do play special teams-- it's not necessarily from a lack of trying. McCants was not a first-round pick, nor was he an incumbent starter. Combine that with the fact that he has a reputation for not practicing as well as the other players at his position (yes, Gardner is a much better practice player than McCants, from what I've seen), and you have your answer.

It looks like McCants may have the chance to prove himself this year, but he's going to have to make his presence known in training camp and the preseason games if he wants a shot at some playing time. He's got to shake this attitude that he only needs to show up on gameday. If he keeps thinking that way, he'll continue to show up on gameday wearing street clothes.

Joe I know you attend the camps, is that your evaluation on McCants, that he doesn't put forth the effort in practice, or is he just a lowsey practice player?

[joecrisp]

Originally Posted by offiss

Joe I know you attend the camps, is that your evaluation on McCants, that he doesn't put forth the effort in practice, or is he just a lowsey practice player?

Some players just lack focus during practice, for any number of reasons (they find it tedious or boring, they have distractions in their personal life, they're not motivated to practice, etc.). What I've noticed about McCants in practice is that he just doesn't seem to be 100% "there". He drops passes, he rounds off routes, and generally doesn't show the same kind of effort that you would see guys like Coles, Gardner, Thrash and Jacobs giving on every snap.

I know, I know-- "he was a great red-zone threat during Spurrier's brief tenure, he shouldn't have to prove himself anymore, didn't Gibbs watch any film from the Spurrier years?"-- but Gibbs has answered the McCants question a dozen times or more, and the answer is always: "he didn't play 'teams', and he wasn't one of our top three wideouts, so we had to put the 'teams' guys on the active roster."

I'm not sure what else Gibbs can say to convince people that McCants had not done anything to make himself a gameday roster priority for this coaching staff.

The funny thing is, early last offseason, Gibbs apparently watched the film of McCants and liked what he saw-- even going so far as to suggest that McCants possesses some of the physical attributes that made Art Monk such a great receiver in Gibbs's system-- and the team gave McCants a healthy new contract which ostensibly indicated the team had big plans for him.

Apparently, McCants didn't live up to those expectations last year. I'm not sure how you could interpret his lack of playing time and productivity any other way. There's no anti-McCants conspiracy here-- he just wasn't good enough.

Here's hoping all of this negative talk (which McCants apparently took note of this offseason-- witness his journal entries) motivates McCants to make himself worthy of a weekly gameday roster spot. Lord knows, the Redskins could sure use another Art Monk-- even if it's just somebody who evokes vague references to Monk. Just ask Joe Gibbs.

[Redskins8588]

Originally Posted by joecrisp

The funny thing is, early last offseason, Gibbs apparently watched the film of McCants and liked what he saw-- even going so far as to suggest that McCants possesses some of the physical attributes that made Art Monk such a great receiver in Gibbs's system-- and the team gave McCants a healthy new contract which ostensibly indicated the team had big plans for him.

It's good to see that I am not the only one to see that McCants physically resembles Art Monk...