It’s Now or Never for Raiders’ Darrius Heyward-Bey
The 2011 season was the most productive campaign yet for Oakland Raider’s wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey. DHB finished the year with 975 receiving yards, good enough for 20th in the NFL. His 64 catches and 4 touchdowns are respectable numbers for a slot receiver or a tight end. Heyward-Bey, however, is neither of those.
Darrius Heyward-Bey was drafted 7th overall in the 2009 NFL draft. You don’t use the 7th overall pick in a draft to select a slot receiver, tight end, or even a number 2 wideout. Using the 7th overall pick in the draft, or any top ten pick for that matter, on a wide receiver is saying “this guy is going to come in, start, and dominate.” Since 2007, three wide receivers other than Heyward-Bey have been taken with a top 7 pick: A.J. Green, Julio Jones, and Calvin Johnson, a.k.a Megatron. Of those three, DHB eclipsed only Jones in yardage last season, while crossing the endzone half the number of times that the Atlanta wideout did.
It’s no secret that Heyward-Bey was drafted because of his speed. Al Davis loved size and speed. He thought the same way in the 21st century that he thought in the middle of the twentieth century; that if you are bigger, stronger and faster than the other team, you’ll win. That is no longer the case in today’s NFL. Today’s NFL is a thinking man’s league.
The 2012 season will mark Heyward-Bey’s fourth in the league. In the three seasons he has played so far, he has totaled 99 receptions, 1465 yard, and 6 touchdowns. Last season alone, 3 players caught 99 or more passes, 4 had over 1400 yards receiving, and 32 caught more than 6 touchdowns. This is a flat-out unacceptable stat for a guy drafted so high.
Granted, Darrius Heyward-Bey didn’t draft himself. He wasn’t responsible for the quarterback and coaching changes that have gone on during his short career. He didn’t ask for the pressure of being a top-ten pick for a rebuilding franchise.
I’ll tell you what he DID do: He signed a 5 year, $38 million contract with a smile on his face.
So here we sit in year 4 of this 5 year deal. Was it worth it? He’ll cost Oakland over $5.7 million in cap space this year; $14 million this year and next.
You know the answer, so stop coddling him.
These are the facts: At 6’2, 210 pounds, he is not undersized. He is the same size as Justin Blackmon. We know he’s faster than Blackman. Faster than Julio Jones. Faster than A.J. Green. Faster than Megatron. He’ll be catching passes from a healthy Carson Palmer this season. A Carson Palmer who knows his receivers and will be comfortable in his surroundings.
Heyward-Bey had his finest season last year, however, he’ll need to increase his yardage total by 50% and triple his scoring production to come anywhere near being worth what the Oakland Raiders pay him. If he does this, it will be a great year for DHB and the Oakland Raiders. It will probably mean a division title, a home playoff game, possibly a pro-bowl trip. If he does anything close to or less than what he did last season, it’s time for the Raiders and Raider Nation to face reality: Darrius Heyward-Bey is another bust and another reminder of the detrimental effect that the ego of a proud old man had on a once proud franchise.
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DHB finally came around last year. He put up some respectable numbers, but if you’re trying to measure him up to his high draft selection, then you’re going to be disappointed. Right now in Oakland’s system, the best two WR would probably be Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore. Those should be the Raiders starting WRs. Being the #3 WR would probably take some of the pressure off of DHB. DHB is still a young WR learning and growing. I wouldn’t write him off. Poor QB stunned his early growth so more time and patience is needed for DHB. Raider Nation should stop pointing to his #7 pick overall history and look more to the bright side that we have some very dangerous options at WR coming into 2012 with a legit Pro Bowl QB in Carson Palmer. Now that’s a QB with a full off-season that can get familiar with the WRs and make our offense very, very dangerous. It’s been a long time since Oakland has had a Pro Bowl calibur QB.
Heyward-Bey has his issue’s, but he is just a victim of being over-drafted by a round. On any other NFL team he would’ve been drafted between the late-first- mid-second round. Al became enamored with his speed and took with the 7th pick when we probably could’ve got him in the second round. Let me get to the point…. DHB has made huge improvements during his 3 years in the league, and this year with the installment of the West Coast offense he will have his best year ever. DHB has always had trouble catching the deep-ball, but he has success catching short timing-routes and getting YAC. The new offense will line him up at split-end and ask him to tun; Slants, Curls, Digs, In, Out routes that will play to his skill set. The Air-Coryell offense never fit his skill-set. He was asked to be used as a decoy on deep-routes way too much. While he still can improve his deep-ball skills, the new offense will ask him to do less of it, and he will prosper in his role as split-end. The new wide-receivers coach, Gilmore should help him learn the nuances of the receiver position as well. Lal was an inadequate wide receivers coach.
Like I said, if he doesn’t, it’s time to cut your losses.
Although he did grow by leaps and bounds last year, his first two years were disappointing to say the least, considering his wages those years. Reggie could respectfully ask him to restructure in the interest of the team, he seams the type that would give back to the team, but then there’s the “Agent” factor.
A restructure would be best. He’s not a bum, but he’s certainly not a “$14 million over the next two years” type of guy.
To be honest, I think saying it’s a “play like the second coming of Jerry Rice, or cut your losses” is a bit overly dramatic. Heyward-Bey is, by all accounts, one of the hardest working guys on the team. So he’s putting in the work to get himself where he needs to be. As has been stated, he didn’t draft himself, he didn’t even make up his own contract. Contracts are usually determined by the market, so to blame him for “signing it” is ridiculous. I don’t think anybody disagrees that he should not have been picked 7th overall, so that’s a non-issue. Look at the guy the Raiders were “supposed to” pick over in San Francisco…not exactly setting the world on fire, and he’s certainly not as hard-working as DHB.
The main point is, it’s actually pretty simple. He will be finishing up the 4th year of a 5 year contract, that means that at the end of the season, the team and the agent will sit down and figure out what he’s worth to the team. He will no longer be the “7th round pick” he will simply be the 4-year WR and will have to sit in that negotiating room on his merits in those 4 years.
No matter what Heyward-Bey does in 2012, there’s is no way he’s going to make $7.721M in 2013. If he does well, there will be a new contract befitting his production with bonuses that will lower the cap number. If he does poorly, he will most likely be offered a contract, also befitting of his production, or he will be released.
“Cutting your losses” would have been something you would do after a year or two, not in the final year of the contract. At the end of the 2012 season, it’s going to come down to production in his final year, or team needs. The whole “living up to #7 selection” is no longer valid, really.
Aaron Morales, that was an excellent break down. Your summary of DHB’s situation will help most of Raider Nation better understand the issue.
As for cutting your losses, we only need to look at JaMarcus Russell to understand that situation.
Apologies, but the all or nothing mentality is just dumb. DHB is not likely to be an all-pro receiver, but there is room for him on my team, and as Aaron Morales points out, I’d take him over Crabtree. Crabtree has been little more than a distraction and DHB has handled inflated expectations with class and guts. He plays with heart and people respond positively to that. He’s still yound and growing at his craft–this past year he was a lot better at the deep routes and he played with more conficence. I disagree with Dan in saying that Jacoby Ford is a better receiver, but I agree with him about expectations and that DHB fills a role. Ford is learning his craft also. However, the two of them with Moore can make an explosive trie in the right system and with other players around them. Right now, they are somewhat interchangeable parts, but frankly very few guys in the league are as fluid in adjusting to the deep pass as Moore. Do I hope for more from DHB, sure, but if he provides top 20 reciever numbers across the major categories, I’ll take it, especially if the other two guys are putting up similar stats.
What a joke. How can you possibly or realistically sit back and dog DHB in light of the lack of QB consistency over the course of his first couple of years. Granted he did not make an immediate ‘splash’ in his NFL career, but he has shown positive progression each year. And, think you’ll be eating your words by the time the end of this season rolls around. The man is talented, intelligent, and fast, all with good hands. I have no doubt, based on DHB’s progressive performance to date, that he will go on to prove Al Davis the great-minded football man that he was. What a real treat it must be for Carson Palmer looking forward to the young, undeniable talent he’s now throwing to … including DHB. I can feel his energy and excitement, and I’m all the way on the East Coast. A PROUD RAIDER FAN since 1966! GO RAIDERS!!!
I hope I do eat my words , VJ. As I said, that would most likely mean a successful season for the Raiders.
You guys made some great points.
Ford, Moore and DHB are still very young. They haven’t even began to scratch the surface. I’m really looking forward to seeing these trio play with our Pro Bowl\Heisman Trophy winner QB in Palmer. I love the fact that Palmer’s first option is to throw to his WRs. No dump offs, no TEs, and not taking off running.
I truly hope we don’t bring in another “veteran” this year. The Houshmanzadah experiment was a failure. These young WRs need to get the reps, playing time and experience in order to take our offense to an elite level. Our #4 WR, Louis Murphy also has some talent. I’m sure he wants to have a bounce back year.