Does Dez Bryant remind you of TO...

[Yoshimitsu]

Dez reminds me of a more gifted Anquan Boldin, physical, sure handed, enjoys contact like Boldin.

Except Boldin gets took out the game when he faces a superior corner because he can't gain separation. Bad comparison IMO. You are right about that aspect of their game though. As far as that they are different players after that.

 

[Crown Royal]

No, I don't see it.

T.O. was faster. Dez has much better hands. T.O.'s game was more about the crossing route and some drags and slants. Then when the corner pressed, he could get by him and beat him deep. And when T.O. got the ball he usually ran away from guys more than broke tackles (although he could break tackles well).

Dez has good speed and terrific hands. Catches the ball extremely well in closed quarters. Maybe even better than Randy Moss in closed quarters (Dez always fights for a ball). And he's probably the most vicious WR I've ever seen run with the ball.

I think T.O. intimidated defenders with his speed first and his power second. I think Dez intimidates defenders with his power first and his speed second.

I think Dez is much better against double teams. T.O. usually had to be moved around away from a double team by motioning him until they got the coverage they wanted. If they couldn't do that, then they would have him run slants, drags and crossing patterns. With Dez, he can beat double teams quite often deep. He'll beat the corner and then put Romo in position to fake out the safety. Very tough to do consistently.

I think this again has to do with Dez's power. If they can't quite beat the double team, you can still throw it for grabs and give it to Dez.

I know this sounds too obvious, but he really reminds me more of Michael Irvin than anybody.







YR

Pretty much took the words out of my mouth here.

 

[mmohican29]

The only player that comes to mind is Michael Irvin, only for the fact that they play as physical as it gets and both play with emotion.

Dez is really a different breed of cat at WR. He's an absolute livewire for defenders- his entire being is electric with the ball, and when he gets to speed and you can visually see defenders of almost any size not want any part of it one on one.

Dez CAN (now he drops some easy balls too, ala T.O.) make grabs that other players would deem impossible. His aerial coordination is superb, a la a young Brandon Lloyd, Chris Carter, or a mature Terry Glenn (who I think made some of the most amazing grabs ever by a Cowboys WR in his time in Dallas), but his explosiveness is far beyond those three players.

I've sat here for a half hour trying to come up with a player like Dez since 1980 and truthfully I can't think of one.

I'd say he's closest to Megatron (who I think is the overall better player), but Dez Bryant probably has greater big play ability than even he does.


To my mind he's an Irvin/Andre Rison hybrid. That's the best I can do.

 

[Tex]

I have a Kiper Draft Report and it has 4.63 for Owens at the combine.

And ESPN says he just ran under 4.5 at age 38

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/70870/terrell-owens-40-yard-time-a-shocker

So unless he ran for Kiper with his leg in a cast I doubt he knocked almost 2 tenths of a second off as he aged almost 20 years.

Just my guess but...

Cowboy

 

[ghst187]

i think the comparison is pretty right on. I said Dez reminded me of TO coming out of college even. Similar player IMO. They both really aren't huge WRs but they are both very strong and play much bigger than they are. You'd think they were 6'5 TEs except they run like the wind too. They both have a gliding gallop and cover more ground quicker than you realize which makes their speed deceptive and gets them open. IMO, Dez has much better hands, but they both seem to have very similar games to me.

 

[Doomsday101]

I don't understand all the TO hate.. yeah the guy was a headache but he always produced and sure as heck exciting to watch. it really should not surprise anyone that the years TO was with Romo that both had fantastic numbers and I think IIRC was considered to be the #1 QB/WR DUO for at least 1 year (2007 I think) and always top 5 every other season IIRC as well. It's just a bit premature to compare the two cause they had different skill sets as YR stated. not to mention TO is a HOFer and Dez is in his 3rd year?

Romo had good numbers after TO left as well. TO is a great athlete but the last guy I would want on my team. He creates problems that is why NFL teams get rid of him. Most great talent teams will put up with some non sense but there comes a point where a coach is just not going to deal with it.

 

[SnakePliskin]

They are really different WRs. Both dynamic but in other ways, The closest comparison for Dez,to me, is Sterling Sharpe.

 

[Ring Leader]

Dez is still an evolving ultra explosive player. His immaturity has delayed his rout running and cerebral growth a bit, yet when his natural athleticism flashes, it's hard not be in awe of his virtually unlimited potential.

We have not seen a complete Dez yet. The next few years will be fun to watch as our potentially most gifted player transform from a raw athletic kid into absolute beast.

 

[AbeBeta]

I think he's better at the same stage of their respective careers.

Here's T.O's 3rd season numbers:

67 catches, 1,097 yards, 14 TD's

Here's Dez's 3rd season numbers:

92 catches, 1,382 yards, 12 TD's.

In T.O's 4th season he only had 60 catches for 754 yards and 4 TD's.

It is a nice comparison, but there are other factors that make the comparison somewhat apples and oranges.

In TO's third year he was playing on the other side of Jerry Rice. If you are #2 to the best receiver of all time, you are likely not going to see that many balls. Also, Dez's stats are a bit inflated by the pass-only offenses we played in several games after getting down by a million points.

In his fourth year, the team was a mess. Steve Young got hurt early in the year and sat out. Jeff Garcia got his first taste of full time play and the results in the passing game were mixed (PR = 78). The 49ers went 4-12 that year. TO missed two games due to injury. Oh yeah, he also was still playing with Jerry Rice. No one had a great season that year.

BTW in year 5, he totally overtook the #1 WR role, leading the 49ers to part ways with Rice.

 

[blindzebra]

First player that came to mind for me was Sterling Sharpe.

 

[perrykemp]

First player that came to mind for me was Sterling Sharpe.

A <bigger> Sterling Sharpe -- mainly a difference of the eras they played/play in.

Dez reminds me of Sterling in that Sterling was a absolutely beast of a WR to bring down -- quite intimidating to CBs of his day yet still had the speed to take it all the way.

 

[Eskimo]

Dez TO

Good teammate Yes No
Elite top speed No Yes
Good RAC Yes Yes
Great jumper Yes No
Power Yes Yes
Good Hands Yes No
Body Control Yes Yes
Ball tracking Yes No
Blocking ability Yes Sometimes
Football IQ ? Yes

So there are some similarities but I think they are mostly physical in stature and strength. I actually think they were quite different players on the field.

It's actually hard to find a good comp for Dez. I don't think there has ever been another WR who played the game quite the way he does. Most guys who have the elite ball tracking skills and great hands are usually finesse WRs like Terry Glenn, Cris Carter, Anthony Carter and Randy Moss. I can't think of another great power player who really had Dez's ball skills - maybe Calvin Johnson is the only other guy but he is just so much bigger than Dez and has the elite top speed that puts him on another plane as a pure physical specimen.

In all honesty, if Dez wants to close the gap to a guy like Megatron he has to do it on the practice field, film room and develop an elite football IQ. I'm not saying he can't do it but there is just a sizeable gap between their raw physical skills that Dez can't do anything to close that gap.

IMO, no shame in being #2 to Megatron but who knows if Dez's drive and love of the game pushes him to #1. Many WRs had better physical skills than Jerry Rice but he is still the greatest of all-time.

 

[Arkyvarminter]

The thing that I remember about T.O was when he was young he was very, very hard to bring down and was awesome after the catch. This is really the only similarity I can think of that he has with Dez. I don't think I have ever seen a receiver like Dez. He has his own style which is very physical and aggressive. He attacks defenders like Marion Barber did in his prime.....Dez is going to be something special........

 

[dallasfan4lizife]

I think you're overrating TO a bit. Dez's stats last season weren't far behind TO's best season with the 49ers (1.4k yards, 16 TDs v. 1.38k yards and 12 TDs).

yeah, mind you TO played with rice in his prime first few years.

any other team and he would be putting up numbers similar to dez

 

[cowboyschmps3]

Nope!!!

 

[theogt]

Similar body, but they don't move the same.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Dez reminds me of Dez.

 

[SportsGuru80]

No... WAY better hands. Not a me first guy.

 

[joseephuss]

It is a nice comparison, but there are other factors that make the comparison somewhat apples and oranges.

In TO's third year he was playing on the other side of Jerry Rice. If you are #2 to the best receiver of all time, you are likely not going to see that many balls. Also, Dez's stats are a bit inflated by the pass-only offenses we played in several games after getting down by a million points.

The Cowboys do have Jason Witten catching a lot of passes, which is similar(not the same) to having Jerry Rice.

Dez had 92 receptions, which constitutes 14.20% of the 648 passes attempted by Dallas last year. Witten was at 16.98%.

T.O. had 67 receptions in his 3rd season, which constituted 12.96% of the 49ers 517 pass attempts. Rice was at 15.86% that season.

 

[blindzebra]

The Cowboys do have Jason Witten catching a lot of passes, which is similar(not the same) to having Jerry Rice.

Dez had 92 receptions, which constitutes 14.20% of the 648 passes attempted by Dallas last year. Witten was at 16.98%.

T.O. had 67 receptions in his 3rd season, which constituted 12.96% of the 49ers 517 pass attempts. Rice was at 15.86% that season.

And I'd bet if you did targets the percentages to Rice would be closer since TO has always had a drops issue.