No it's not. It just means when we do a two TE set, we don't need to throw out a offensive lineman half the time. You say Hartsock can't catch or isn't a receiving threat, you think teams are guarding Robert Turner in the flat? I imagine better than Simmons, Brock, and Brown, and the latter two probably just saw their roster spots taken away, but Simmons could be in trouble, too. Everyone wants a tight end who can do both things very well. Keller clearly wasn't that when we drafted him (and if he was, he wouldn't have been at 32). He's undersized which puts a limit onto how well he can block, and he was already having an uphill climb to get better at it.
I view Keller as a Shannon Sharpe clone. Sharpe was only 6-2 230. He developed into a decent to good blocker. It will just take a little time. A lot of it is technique.
I'm more concerned with his ability to catch passes. The guy really just needs to be an NFL average blocker. We drafted him to catch 50-60 balls from the tight end spot. I'd rather he spend time working on what were inconsistent hands last season. -X-
This is from ProFootballTalk ..... The Jets signed TE Ben Hartsock, released by the Falcons earlier this week, and released P Glenn Pakulak.
A few highlights. He is big and he can catch and bowl people over. This can work. College http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9017_xA5tn8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPkJz5xUjJU NFL http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d8056a3b8/Ben-Hartsock-Highlight-WK-16-vs-Jets-2007 http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d8048a8bb/Ben-Hartsock-Highlight-WK-12-vs-Bengals-2007
Same here, I've been calling him that for a while. Sharpe was a mismatch nightmare and help make that vanilla Baltimore offense very effective during their Super Bowl run.
If he develops into a Sharpe, you guys really have something there. And a good pass-catching tight end is a young QBs best friend! Ask Troy Aikman about Novacek. As to the the poster you responded to, Sharpe never really did much blocking either. He lined up off the line or in the slot.
I can see plenty of situations where we will have a 2 TE set and split Keller wide. Hell, what I am hoping for is a set where we have Hartsock and Keller lined up in a 2 TE I formation with Cotch as the single wideout. Then motion Keller split wide, motion Leon to the slot and you have an instant 3-wide set with excellent pass protection from the TE on the strong side and the FB in the backfield.
