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Look-Alike Players: Dez Bryant vs. Miles Austin

Redraft: Dez Bryant or Miles Austin?  

36 members have voted

  1. 1. Redraft: Bryant or Austin?

    • Dez Bryant
      16
    • Miles Austin
      20


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It's time for another summer of Look-Alike Player threads...if you're new to the Board, every few days during the summer, I will try to post a thread that lists two players who are very close in value in redraft situations. Simply vote for the player you feel should be drafted first and then add comments about your selection if you would like.

 

This is non-PPR for Look-Alike matchups that involve RBs, WRs, or TEs. Just standard point for every 10 yards and 6 for TDs.

 

Our initial Look-Alike player matchup of the summer is: Dez Bryant vs. Miles Austin

 

Thanks for your participation!!

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Your poll wouldn't allow me to vote, but I picked Miles Austin. I think Dez's yearly buzz train will make him the 1st pick between these two players but I personally would rather have Austin. Miles is much more consistent plus he has better chemistry with Romo.

 

Dez has much more talent but until he can show it on a week to week basis, I'll take Miles Austin.

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Voted Miles as well. Dez is going 5-12 picks ahead of Austin in mocks I've been doing recently. For me its a toss up; Austin's hamstrings versus Bryant's dumba$$-ery. I'll take Miles with a full offseason to train up. Someone else can take a chance on Dez this year.

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At this point this is pretty easy, Austin has Romo's trust, Dez doesn't. Romo can count on Austin to be in the right place at that right time, not so much with Dez. I voted Austin.

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Your poll wouldn't allow me to vote, but I picked Miles Austin. I think Dez's yearly buzz train will make him the 1st pick between these two players but I personally would rather have Austin. Miles is much more consistent plus he has better chemistry with Romo.

 

Dez has much more talent but until he can show it on a week to week basis, I'll take Miles Austin.

 

You might try again. It should allow all members to vote.

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PPR I'd lean Austin. Robinson is gone and I think some of those targets head his way.

 

Standard I'd lean Dez. 3rd year receiver who is physically dominant around the goal line and Dallas likes to throw there as seen by their probably league low 3 running back rushing tds.

 

 

Austin is the value pick for sure. Dez has the higher ceiling and is one of a handful of receivers that could challenge for the #2 spot on the WR td list.

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Interesting to note that Austin and Bryant combined for only 1 100 yard game last year.

 

Robinson had 3.

 

Witten had 2.

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Despite his well-known problems with route-running and following the playbook, I voted for Dez -- mostly because of his athleticism, his TD potential, and his status as a 3rd-year WR. With all the criticism that Dez received last year (which was probably well-deserved), it's easy to forget that he had almost 1,000 yards receiving and nearly 10 TDs and that his production was pretty consistent week-to-week. [His stat-line was 63 receptions, 923 yards, & 9 TDs. Lots of 60-70 yard games, with a TD about every other week. Definitely not a guy whose stats were padded by 1-2 crazy weeks.]

 

:dunno:

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voted austin, even though word around town is that dez has gotten much more serious about becoming a quality football player. i could throw out a bunch of reasons, but it really comes down to the san francisco game last season. that showed a ton of heart/drive/desire on austin's part, but it also showed that when the chips are down, romo believes in the guy in the same way that he believes in witten. IOW, romo doesn't hesitate when he sees austin--the ball is in the air. i think that's good for 15-20 additional catches for austin over the course of the season.

 

more measurably, austin plays the slot in subpackages. this is a huge consideration.

 

the other thing is value--everyone wants dez's huge potential, so he's going to get drafted ahead of austin's proven production.

 

 

[edit: and i think that these two guys are a very good subject for 'lookalikes'. they're probably going to go in the same round, and a solid case can be made either way. :thumbsup: ]

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voted austin, even though word around town is that dez has gotten much more serious about becoming a quality football player. i could throw out a bunch of reasons, but it really comes down to the san francisco game last season. that showed a ton of heart/drive/desire on austin's part, but it also showed that when the chips are down, romo believes in the guy in the same way that he believes in witten. IOW, romo doesn't hesitate when he sees austin--the ball is in the air. i think that's good for 15-20 additional catches for austin over the course of the season.

 

more measurably, austin plays the slot in subpackages. this is a huge consideration.

 

the other thing is value--everyone wants dez's huge potential, so he's going to get drafted ahead of austin's proven production.

 

 

[edit: and i think that these two guys are a very good subject for 'lookalikes'. they're probably going to go in the same round, and a solid case can be made either way. :thumbsup: ]

 

Can you recap what happened in that San Fran game?

 

 

To the posters point above, that Dez's stats were consistent and not padded, this San Fran game outlier does seem to have padded Austin's last year.

 

** Note while this game was an outlier for last year, with Austin's hammy and emergence of L Rob, it was more the norm before those factors.

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Can you recap what happened in that San Fran game?

 

 

To the posters point above, that Dez's stats were consistent and not padded, this San Fran game outlier does seem to have padded Austin's last year.

 

** Note while this game was an outlier for last year, with Austin's hammy and emergence of L Rob, it was more the norm before those factors.

 

He tore his hamstring in that game, and later in the year he tore his other hamstring.

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Austin and Maclin have been the best value wr's in every mock I've done the past two weeks. Romo loves Austin while Dez has some growing up to do. Both guys have had some injury issues.

 

I voted Austin and would probably play it safe with Miles at this point. That being said, I've heard nothing but positives regarding Dez at OTAs and that talent and prototypical NFL body is hard to ignore (in a non gay way!). I can see myself taking Dez over Miles in my August draft. Just depends on what my previous picks were and if I feel like gambling or playing it a little safer.

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Can you recap what happened in that San Fran game?

 

 

To the posters point above, that Dez's stats were consistent and not padded, this San Fran game outlier does seem to have padded Austin's last year.

 

** Note while this game was an outlier for last year, with Austin's hammy and emergence of L Rob, it was more the norm before those factors.

 

austin playing through pain and stepping up was one important aspect. the other was that romo was in massive pain, and kept looking for and finding him--this speaks to a ton of trust.

 

your second point is both interesting and valid, but it can be looked at in another way--dez was consistent, but he didn't step up and take games over, which is what you really want to see out of a guy with his physical talent and in the absence of the injured austin. dez may have the 1st round pedigree and the label of "tremendous talent", but austin has shown that he can completely dominate games at the NFL level with a diversified skillset (speed, quickness, contact strength, route precision, mastery of the offense, reading, improvisation). bryant has yet to demonstrate that kind of dominance. to date, he's a tremendous athlete. he hasn't proven that he can be a tremendous WR.

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I think its close, but I tend to go with the higher upside guy in scenarios like this; Dez is a beast who hasn't mastered the NFL game yet. Stress on the yet. Cause when he figures it out, and usually they do by the third year, watch out.

 

The biggest trend I've noticed about Bryant (And why I traded him halfway through last year) is the fact that he does not get over 100 yards in a game. This is his biggest drawback and leads to the biggest question in assessing his value: is he limited because of inconsistency and taking plays off (Which can change), or is he a weakling who can't dominate an entire game? I'm betting on the former...

 

That said, I love Austin's value as well. I actually like both of these guys.

love,

 

jdon

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I think its close, but I tend to go with the higher upside guy in scenarios like this; Dez is a beast who hasn't mastered the NFL game yet. Stress on the yet. Cause when he figures it out, and usually they do by the third year, watch out.

 

The biggest trend I've noticed about Bryant (And why I traded him halfway through last year) is the fact that he does not get over 100 yards in a game. This is his biggest drawback and leads to the biggest question in assessing his value: is he limited because of inconsistency and taking plays off (Which can change), or is he a weakling who can't dominate an entire game? I'm betting on the former...

 

That said, I love Austin's value as well. I actually like both of these guys.

love,

 

jdon

 

I noticed the 100 yard game thing too. He played 15 games, got 63 catches for 4.2 catches a game. He did up his per catch average to 14.7.

 

Maybe with LRob gone and a better handle on the offense he will up his 4.2 average.

 

** Just checked austin average and it was 4.3

** L Rob was 3.8

 

Not sure what that means just thought I'd include it.

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The biggest trend I've noticed about Bryant (And why I traded him halfway through last year) is the fact that he does not get over 100 yards in a game. This is his biggest drawback and leads to the biggest question in assessing his value: is he limited because of inconsistency and taking plays off (Which can change), or is he a weakling who can't dominate an entire game? I'm betting on the former...

 

 

well, that's a question. in 2009, out of 12 GS, he had 10 games with either 90+ yards or a TD. this, of course, includes games of 250/2 and 171/2.

 

in 2010, he played 5 full games with romo, and a partial game. they went 146, 142, 20, 166, 12, 38 (romo's injury game).

 

in 2011, it was austin who was injured. his first two games went 90/1 and 143/3, then the hamstring went. then the other hamstring went. following game 2, there was never a time when he was full speed. when he did play, he was also the focus of coverage, since opposing D coordinators figured out that dez wasn't well-integrated into the offense.

 

so i think it pays to look at the variables instead of just the box scores. uninjured, and playing with romo, austin is indeed a dominant receiver. his 2009 numbers, extended over 16 games, are right on par with calvin johnson's numbers last season--and megatron is going to go in the 1st round in every fantasy draft this season. as far as inconsistency or taking plays off, you must be looking at different tape than i'm seeing. i see an extremely consistent route-runner who concentrates on doing th elittle things right. remember, we're talking about an undrafted FA who had to fight his way onto the field.

 

i think the situation looks a lot like the calvin/stafford injury questions prior to this year, except that the lions were set up to force-feed calvin the ball, whereas dallas runs a reads-based offense. i think that last season was somewhat similar to atlanta's white/jones situation in the top half of the season--roddy's knee kept him from performing at his usual level. once he got healthy, his production returned to top-shelf level. the difference is that austin never got healthy--hamstrings are like that--and basically missed half of the season.

 

so while you're not wrong WRT the raw numbers, i don't think they even remotely tell the story of what's really going on. if you want to talk about his injury history, ok--i can deal with that. if you want to look at it like the calvin/stafford thing (considering the health of both guys while drafting), than i can deal with that, too. but the numbers aren't ambiguous at all: historically, a healthy romo throwing to a healthy austin results in top-tier production for austin.

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I say Dez for 2 reasons.

1. I think he is more likely to stay healthy. Miles has had so much hammy trouble that it has really hindered him. I think Dez will be healthier.

 

2. Dez is a redzone threat. This guy will be around double digit TDs every year. This one is no different.

 

They are very close and their value could change from week to week.

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Austin and Maclin have been the best value wr's in every mock I've done the past two weeks. Romo loves Austin while Dez has some growing up to do. Both guys have had some injury issues.

 

I voted Austin and would probably play it safe with Miles at this point. That being said, I've heard nothing but positives regarding Dez at OTAs and that talent and prototypical NFL body is hard to ignore (in a non gay way!). I can see myself taking Dez over Miles in my August draft. Just depends on what my previous picks were and if I feel like gambling or playing it a little safer.

 

Off topic, but Maclin is a good point, people are down on him because of his sub-par performance last year. Whatever he had going clearly affected his strength and conditioning...He's on my "pick earlier than ADP" sheet already. Now, back to topic...everybody says everything is great with Dez, until they aren't. Jerrah is the biggest pom-pom waiving liar I've ever seen, so I may not even believe that Dez is really serious until the season is over, he's worked his ass off every play and got into trouble exactly zero times, then I might believe it.

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Because this pick'em is supposed to be for standard scoring formats, I will say Dez. But its really a tossup and I like both guys.

 

I think we can all agree that Dez has the natural talent and athleticism to be a top 5 WR while Austin relies much more on the trust and relationship he has developed with Romo. If we assume both guys play to the full potential this year, Dez will outscore Miles and it might not even be close. But thats a huge if. Hopefully everything clicks in magic year 3.

 

 

Side note on Maclin. He was a target of mine as a value play in the recent MFFL league draft i did with FFToday members. I think people are forgetting that he missed 3 games plus so much camp and pre season time with his illness. IMO he is the WR to own in Philthy.

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Because this pick'em is supposed to be for standard scoring formats, I will say Dez. But its really a tossup and I like both guys.

 

I think we can all agree that Dez has the natural talent and athleticism to be a top 5 WR while Austin relies much more on the trust and relationship he has developed with Romo.

 

again, i have to disagree with this. with his combination of quickness, precision, and tremendous lower-body strength, austin routinely makes defenders look foolish. the only reason he stuck around for those first 4 seasons of drops and missed assignments (without any significant special teams role) was his tremendous physical gifts and corresponding potential--parcells made the statement point-blank that they just couldn't cut a guy who had austin's athletic ability.

 

they're just two different physical archetypes of the WR position. i'm not saying that they're equals--dez probably has some physical advantages, and he seems to have a more natural feel for the position (while austin is more of a technician). but give austin any other legitimate QB tomorrow, and he'd still be a serious threat to finish top-5.

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The safe and popular call appears to be Austin in this thread. I'm not into safe and I've never been popular so I picked Dez. I'll take the guy with the higher ceiling. Sure, Austin has had Romo's confidence to this point but if it clicks for Dez I'm pretty sure Tony will warm up to him pretty quick.

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again, i have to disagree with this. with his combination of quickness, precision, and tremendous lower-body strength, austin routinely makes defenders look foolish. the only reason he stuck around for those first 4 seasons of drops and missed assignments (without any significant special teams role) was his tremendous physical gifts and corresponding potential--parcells made the statement point-blank that they just couldn't cut a guy who had austin's athletic ability.

 

they're just two different physical archetypes of the WR position. i'm not saying that they're equals--dez probably has some physical advantages, and he seems to have a more natural feel for the position (while austin is more of a technician). but give austin any other legitimate QB tomorrow, and he'd still be a serious threat to finish top-5.

yeah I agree, I didn't meN to make it sound as if I were saying miles was not athletic. Maybe the better way to put it is that dez just seems to have that freak potential that few have. While Austin has the complete trust of his Qb due to flat out working harder. I'm sure wherever Austin played, his traits would endear him to his Qb

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Maybe the better way to put it is that dez just seems to have that freak potential that few have.

 

well, put that way, it's pretty hard to disagree with. i remember the comments during dez's rookie OTA work against the starting secondary--even jaded football analysts were saying he looked like a man playing with boys. i guess i'm just reacting against the widespread idea that austin is some kind of second tier athlete who gets by on his hard work and understanding of the position (think cris carter vice randy moss). i mean, he came out of college with a legit 4.4 and a 40+" vert, and he's only gotten better--that's an elite athlete by anyone's standards.

 

but yeah--freak is a good word to describe dez.

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the DC website had some interesting commentary today about dez's development. the first major point came from jones, who said that dez needs to develop into the #1 guy based on his "otherworldly" physical ability. he (jones) acknowledged that austin is a very good WR, but he also firmly established the expectation that dez is to be WR1. reading between the lines, this sounds like a direct challenge to dez: "step up and become the player we thought we were getting". more here.

 

this is significant, especially when taken with a question that was asked about dez's route running that was fielded by broaddus, who has been breaking down players from the scouting/coaching perspective (rather than a journalist/fan's perspective). he observed that dez is running much more precise routes, and that romo is therefore showing more trust in him during team drills.

 

so you've got a situation where the ballclub is challenging a player, the player seems to be stepping up individually, and the results are tangibly showing up in unit work. of course we won't know much until the pads are on, but this raises the stakes and bears close scrutiny through camp and preseason.

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