Burress Or Cotchery – Which One Wins The Steelers 3rd WR Spot In Camp?

Quote :

As the Steelers get set for camp later this week, there’s a pair of wide outs that despite being veterans, feel they have a lot to prove to try and get reps on this roster.

Those two players are Plaxico Burress and Jericho Cotchery, and both those players will open Friday looking to win the No. 3 wide receiver position.

Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders for now have the one and two spots locked up, and barring any unforeseen issues in camp, the two will take the field opening day as the starters.

Some say there’s only one room for another experienced vet, and that could mean that when camp breaks and the final opening day roster is announced, Burress or Cotchery could find themselves on the outside looking in.

Last season the team brought Burress in and the 11th year pro at the time didn’t make as much impact on the roster as some felt he would.

He played in just four games, catching just three passes for 42 yards and a touchdown vs the Browns in the season finale. Burress in that last game of the year had two grabs for 24 yards.

He’s 35 years old, and came back to the Steelers ironically enough the day the Steelers lost Mike Wallace to the Miami Dolphins.

The question for Burress is does he have enough gas left in the tank to be the player that at times with the Steelers and then with the Giants dominated games?

It’s doubtful that Burress will ever have a season like those early in his career, but the Steelers want him to be more like the player that played with Rex Ryan and the Jets in 2011 (45 catches, 612 yards, 8 TD’s) than the one that sat out games late last season.

Cotchery has done nothing but his job since coming to the Steelers two seasons ago.

READ MORE: http://www.steelersgab.com/2013/07/24/burress-or-cotchery-which-one-wins-the-steelers-3rd-wr-spot-in-camp/

Burress is on the bubble to make the roster, not the third receiver spot.

Dodens Grav wrote:

Burress is on the bubble to make the roster, not the third receiver spot.

How many receivers do you think they'll keep this year?

I see them keeping 5 WRs, and I definitely see Cotchery ahead of Burress. Cotchery has proven himself since coming to the team and he's bonded well with Ben and the rest of the team. While I like Burress' abilities, he just didn't seem to have it last year, maybe because he wasn't on the field that often, or I just wasn't paying that close of attention to him.

stlrtruck wrote:

While I like Burress' abilities, he just didn't seem to have it last year, maybe because he wasn't on the field that often, or I just wasn't paying that close of attention to him.

Joining the team late didn't help him. He'll benefit from a full camp, but I agree that he'll be behind Cotchery if he makes the team.

Wallace108 wrote:

Dodens Grav wrote:

Burress is on the bubble to make the roster, not the third receiver spot.

How many receivers do you think they'll keep this year?

Unless David Gilreath shows better returning kicks than LaRod Stephens-Howling, I think they keep five, with Burress making the cut. There's an outside chance that Justin Brown wins the kicking job as well, but right now it looks like Stephens-Howling's job to lose. Burress has to appear motivated and work hard though. He doesn't play special teams at all, so unless he can prove himself valuable as the third receiver in certain situations (Cotchery will get the bulk of these snaps, with Wheaton likely getting a few go routes until he is more acclimated into the offense), he really has no value to the team. As mentioned though, having a full offseason and knowing the offense will definitely help. I do really like the guy, always have, and I hope he puts his best foot forward and earns his roster spot.

For what it's worth, he caught all three of the seven targets that were deemed catchable, and he actually had the best yards per route run on the team last year...of course, in very limited reps. He ran 22 routes and netted 42 yards for a YPRR of 1.91. Antonio Brown was second with 1.81.

Dodens Grav wrote:

I think they keep five, with Burress making the cut.

I hope you're right. The only way Plax makes it if they keep only four is if Wheaton follows in the footsteps of Sweed. With a full camp, Plax will be able to contribute more than he did last season. Even with very limited playing time last season, he showed flashes of still being able to be a threat, even if it's a limited threat as the No. 4 receiver.

Oh, I'm sure they keep at least five, because I don't see them carrying 9 linemen this year. They actually stand a pretty good chance of carrying 6 receivers, or five running backs (not including the fullback) if somebody excels at special teams. Guys like Brown, Gilreath, Baron Batch, maybe even Curtis McNeal come to mind. Of course that could be offset defensively, because I could also easily see them carrying an 11th defensive back like DaMon Cromartie-Smith, Josh Victorian, Terry Hawthorne, and DeMarcus Van Dyke for the same reason.

They’ll keep only 5 because Haley believes in the FB position.  

Just kidding ... in today's spread offense when every team has a 5 wide formation, it's tough to only have 5 guys on your active roster.

I’d love to see Justin Brown make the team. Sure he’s thought of as project, but he made a ton catches to move the chains and more than a few of those involved getting punished after the catch. The big issue with Brown was his move from Penn State to Oklahoma. Just when the guy should have been gearing up for a big year, he (wisely) switch programs. Go back and watch tape from the second half of last year's Oklahoma season and you'll see plenty of timing patterns between Landry and Brown that were possession type patterns designed to move the sticks.

or it could be Justin Brown vs Plex Burress in who makes the team.

For some reason I like J Brown. A tall target with some meat on his bones.

wouldn't surprise me if the Steelers went young and both Burress and Cotchery don't make the cut.

Quote :

Camp the perfect start for Burress

Teresa Varley
Steelers.com

Wide receiver Plaxico Burress is happy to be back at Steelers training camp, returning for the first time since 2004, the final season in his first stint with the team.

Burress, the team’s number one draft pick in 2000, signed back with the Steelers last November and was forced into a crash course of learning the offense.

Now he has the advantage of a full training camp to get acclimated and plans on taking advantage of it.

“It’s always good to get ahead, get a good, clean start with everybody else,” said Burress. “It’s good to be able to get into football shape and rehearse the playbook over and over so when you hear the plays called you can go out and react instead of thinking when you get to the line of scrimmage.

“Last year I came into the situation and the guys were already a little bit ahead of me. I hadn’t had a lot of time to digest this kind of offense and how to execute my time. I have the opportunity now here at training camp to come in and compete with all of the guys and I couldn’t ask for more.”

http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/Camp-the-perfect-start-for-Burress/1dbea3a9-aa2c-4ecc-ac05-3670842d931a

effyou515 wrote:

wouldn't surprise me if the Steelers went young and both Burress and Cotchery don't make the cut.

I would be extremely surprised. I wouldn't trust Markus Wheaton to take the reigns as the third receiver from week one, especially considering he missed OTAs. Justin Brown even less. And I'm not sure I see David Gilreath as a third period.

Dodens Grav wrote:

effyou515 wrote:

wouldn't surprise me if the Steelers went young and both Burress and Cotchery don't make the cut.

I would be extremely surprised. I wouldn't trust Markus Wheaton to take the reigns as the third receiver from week one, especially considering he missed OTAs. Justin Brown even less. And I'm not sure I see David Gilreath as a third period.

I'd be more than surprised. Although I don't expect it, it wouldn't shock me if Plax gets cut, but I can't see Cotchery getting cut.