He's a savvy player, just a wee bit undersized. Looks like Diggs from a size comparison standpoint. Although you can see from his film that he'll take some time to develop. I think Tolbert has a chance to near 1,000 yards next year, as I think he'll be a better player with one more year and having a QB with a competent arm back.
Not having JMC back may have had something to do with having Cooper Rush as our QB, which never should have been the case with Lance on the roster.
Over the last decade or so I'm just not sure many players have went from barely playing to contributing at WR....I'm sure there are some, Noah Brown I guess? Overall though it just doesnt seem to happen with any sort of frequency and just based off league history it seems like Cropper has long odds. I might be missing an obvious example, but I just can't think of very many who have had similar career paths at WR. Needs some time to develop is fine, but thats also just another way of saying that he isnt very good....especially as a guy is entering year 3. Developmental time is about over and he needs to show something on the field to stick. To me he just seems like a gadget and special teams guy, and probably a long shot to make the roster if Turpin is brought back.
Even Tolbert I would tap the brakes on. Some are high on him because he put up solid #3 WR numbers, but neglect the fact that he did that by getting #1 WR snaps. He ran the 18th most routes in the league this year, but was outside the top 50 in both catches and yards. His metrics from 2023 to 2024 really didnt improve very much...the biggest improvement Tolbert seems to have made was simply getting more snaps from the guys above him missing time. I think he is good enough to be on the roster, but I really hope the plan isnt to pencil him in as Cooks replacement. Very good rotational guy, but I dont want him getting nearly 900 snaps again in 2025.
Obviously I love Lamb. I'm cautiously optimistic on Flournoy, but outside of that I'm just not very big on this WR group at all as far as having guys that could be starters.
