A look back at the 2008 draft

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

Despite being under utilized this year his numbers are still on pace to be the 2nd highest of his career (catches, yards) so how is he declining exactly?

Well, his catch rate, which peaked at 75% in 2008, dropped to 64% in 2009, and now sits around 60%, which is acceptable for a WR, but low for a TE.

That could simply be a product of his usage pattern, although, right now, his usage is "blocking" because we feel like we have better options to throw to, but no better options to protect with.

He also stopped scoring around 2007. Tight ends need to be red zone monsters. The last TD reception Cooley had inside the 10 yard line happened in this game. Or, not quite as recently as a Carlos Rogers pick six.

Early in his career, he was a money receiver from that close. It's safe to say now that Cooley is not a help to this team in terms of scoring TDs. We've struggled in the red zone for years, and unfortunately, our best red zone performance post-2005 came in the 10 games Cooley missed in 2009.

Still, we need to keep Cooley for what he can do, but he's not the guy you want to be throwing to deep in the red zone.