Vs Patriots, 30 yard TD he could have fought for like he did in the Titans game in 2023. Instead it's picked off wrestled from his hands. Vs Baltimore, Stroud straight up missed him 40 yards easily. 600+ yards just in those 2 plays. Nico and Diggs were getting all the targets the first 3 games, along with 26+ rush Atts from Mixon and scraps for Tank. Offensive production about the same #1 thing from him is his inability to want to block. You can't run Kubahan's stuff with TEs that don't block and IOL that look for balloons in the sky. Don't know how they will address this
That's why I hate his contract. He's overpaid, and is going to cost us too much dead money for a couple years if we tried to trade him. It was a stupid contract, just like Howard's. Even if we sign a better TE in the draft Schultz will be an overpaid backup. The same goes for Howard.
Yes, and, also: he does not possess a single elite trait: he is not fast; he is not quick; he does not have particularly good hands; his route running is meh; his blocking is an embarrassment. Every GM - even the great ones - are going to have a list of mistakes and misses. Caserio's biggest, by far, is Green/not drafting Kyle Hamilton. A 2-fer-1*. But resigning Schultz may be #2. (* objectively, hiring David Culley and then Lovie Smith are his two biggest mistakes. But, neither coach made a bad situation worse and hiring DeMeco washes out the taste, IMO.)
Cade Stover is coming along well to end the season. I know he's not getting many targets or yards, yet. But by this time next season I feel like he will be the supplanter of Shultz and those minutes.... while he probably isn't a good to great blocker yet, I have a feeling his defensive background will allow that dawg to come out of him come next season. He'll be our guy soon enough.
Schultz hands are questionable. He got lucky as hell that they called that one play against the Chargers incomplete rather than a catch and fumble. Is it just me or was that closer than all the announcers made it seem. He's not a sure handed pass catcher and doesn't block well. What exactly does he do well then?
I like Stover but he has to show he can stay healthy. He’s been hurt 3x this season. Would love Tyler Warren but understand if we go a different way.
Schultz would be fine with a team that uses a lot of 12 personnel. Howard's contract isn't all that bad after this season. But you're right he was a terrible signing.
Appendix was kind of random and off the field. Not going to knock him for that one. As others have said, Stover has all the tools to take over in a season or 2. Brevin Jordan will be back. And Dalton isn't going anywhere with his Jedi guidance to Stroud. Most realistic target that can catch plus be solid inline right out of the gate is Mitchell Evans in the 5th round. That would make it three drafts in a row where they take an Irish. Patterson, Fisher and Evans..you'll laugh at that later. Johnny Mundt invite to training camp.
Not saying they're the same level of prospects coming out of college or NFL players currently, but I'm pretty sure a bunch of people (including some here) were sh***ing on Stingley over Sauce because he needed to "show he can stay healthy". Now, it's a completely different story and I believe Cade just played in our playoff game that mattered more than most of our RS games. Coming out to the tune of being 4-4 on pretty crucial receptions for 28 total yards. IMO, that's a pretty solid showing for a rookie TE that hasn't played any significant RS time, both due to injury and just learning to play TE at the NFL level. I'm not saying he's the second coming of a Tony Gonzalez, Travis Kelce, or Jimmy Graham but he's done pretty well so far to improve this year. I'm hoping he will gradually improve to at least supplanting Shultz by next season, as I stated before.
