Tolbert is not worthy of another contract. That much is absolutely clear.
No speed. No quickness. Not an explosive route runner. His impact has been extremely minimal. He cannot get separation. He is not a reliable deep threat. If we scheme him open and the ball is there, he will catch it most of the time, but he has also shown no YAC ability.
Your #1 and #2 should be guys who can beat man coverage and are reliable in reading zone. They don’t both need to be deep threats, but they should both be reliable contributors who bring something special to the offense — a deep threat, explosive route runner, YAC with ball in hands, reliable possession receiver, speed that the defense respects, something.
#3 in today’s game should also be a very good player. A guy who can beat the #3 CB and expose safeties, move the chains, abuse defenses for pay8ng too much attention to #1 and #2.
#4 and #5 should be developmental players who provide something when they give guys a break, maybe as simple as being good blockers or having great hands.
What we have is a top #1 who is a threat with the ball in his hands, but isn’t a speed guy and sometimes struggles with double coverage. After him, we basically have guys without any special skills outside of Turpin speed and quickness. Cooks would be much more effective at this point of his career in the slot, using his knowledge to beat #3 CBs.
