Big Blue Huddle

Quote from: Stringer Bell on August 19, 2024, 08:02:33 AMDJ wasn't the QB for nearly half of Bellinger's games.

I was referring to last year and his rookie year

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on August 19, 2024, 08:29:49 AMFrom an old article in 2022..."the Giants were fed up with Evan Engram dropping passes, which was his calling card. Bellinger was chosen because he had the lowest drop rate of any TE in college, and because he brought size that Engram didn't have, which might translate to better blocking than Engram offered. Bellinger was seen as a future pass catcher though, not a blocking TE"

He started out very well, then got his eye poked by Devin Lloyd in the game against the Jaguars. The injury required surgery to repair his septum, as well as repair fractures on the lower part of his left eye socket. By the time he was back, he had been replaced by one-time great offensive TE, Waller

He's the same person he was when he was drafted...a reliable pass catcher who's hard to bring down. He's never going to better than Manhertz or Jakob Johnson who are proven specialists as "blocking ONLY TEs". Bellinger's a 6'5"/256 lb pass catching TE who suffered a major eye injury and has been basically misused since that horrific injury. His real competition on the team is Theo Johnson who has potential to be TE1, simply because of his size and athleticism, but Theo is a rookie who will have a lot of work ahead of him to have hands as reliable as Bellinger

Jolly: You may consider all of the stuff you posted to negate the idea that Bellinger could actually have "one foot out the door" while at the same time being the top TE on the depth chart, but I don't see it that way. I think he just had the bad luck to go to a team without an established passing attack. He needed to go somewhere where all the offense needed to be complete was a reliable pass-catching TE. Coming to the Giants IMO hindered his development as an NFL pass-catching TE by putting him into a broken offense (which also had a lot of key players who couldn't stay healthy). Bob

Quote from: Trench on August 19, 2024, 10:16:06 AMI was referring to last year and his rookie year

Me too. My point was that DJ only played 6 games last year, so it seems inaccurate to pin Bellinger's woes on someone who missed two-thirds of the season.

Quote from: Stringer Bell on August 19, 2024, 12:59:43 PMMe too. My point was that DJ only played 6 games last year, so it seems inaccurate to pin Bellinger's woes on someone who missed two-thirds of the season.

He played with Bellinger most of Bellingers rookie year too

Quote from: MrGap92 on August 19, 2024, 01:27:24 PMHe played with Bellinger most of Bellingers rookie year too

I get that and acknowledge it in my original post.

But the fact still remains that DJ was not the QB for nearly half the games in Bellinger's career. So to blame DJ for Bellinger's lack of usage or production smacks of an excuse to blame DJ for everything and / or sugarcoat Bellinger's actual abilities.

It was Manhertz screwing up a block, with an assist to DJ for holding the ball too long, that led to panicky DJ throwing the terrible pick 6.

Johnson's blocking is ugly as hell right now and he is not exactly reminding me of Shockey running routes.

Bellinger might be in danger next year if Johnson plays above his college production to his TE1 athletic potential because Bellinger is a TE2 level athlete at best.

Right now Bellinger is the only TE we can roll out there who is somewhat functional at both aspects of the TE job. That matters.