Webb moved to wideout

[Eliot]

LOL! He's a QB/WR/DE/KR/S/LB/TE and long snapper all rolled into one! You should see him long snap the ball!

He can even shoot lasers from his eyes, which is pretty cool.

I can't find the highlight video now but there was one of his HS days and they had him listed at

QB/WR/HB/S/KR/PR

[VikingsBoss]

How is it, that after three years we are still discussing this? A project WR is switched to QB and back and forth and back and forth, and people are enthralled?
My opinion on this matter is simple. Joe Webb is not an NFL WR. He did play some WR at UAB his sophomore season, catching 30 passes for 459 yards and 2 scores. Those numbers don't tell us the more important things about his season at wideout. He wasn't asked to run many routes...really any routes...run deep and out leap some Memphis CB who you're five inches taller than and 30 pounds heavier than. Or, run a little bubble screen so we can get you in space and see if this Tulane S can tackle you. It was working to such a great extent, that he was a QB again by season's end. The reason Webb went to the combine as a WR is because he was a run-first QB and no one thought he had a future as an NFL passer. Brad Childress saw him throw the ball...and became the first and probably only person to think Joe Webb had a future as an NFL passer (and, as somebody mentioned, he was looking to get rid of Spielman's guy Rosenfels). Webb has lined up at WR a few times in his career, and has been called for pass interference more times than he has caught a pass, 2 to 1. That's 20 negative yards, 9 positive for a net of -11 yards produced by Joe Webb as an NFL WR. This idea has been tried, in 2010 and again, to some extent in 2011. Do people really think that Frazier, and Musgrave and Stewart have been seeing this guy just dominate our somewhat lackluster DBs, yet felt he needed to stay on the sidelines while Devin Aromashodu and Stephon Burton tried their very best to...be very below average? Or, did this guy, who is going to redefine the way WR is played in the NFL continually fail to beat these guy out? Considering that the Joe Webb was told to stick to QB for the 2012 campaign, makes me think he showed little to no aptitude for the WR position.
Joe Webb is not an NFL WR, he's barely an NFL QB. Could he get better with practice? Sure, but he was a sixth round pick as a WR to begin with, his learning curve was steep enough. Now, three full seasons later you expect him to blossom? Into what? A fifth or sixth WR?
You can take 90 guys to camp, right now, I'd say only Jennings and Wright are a lock to make this team, two or three guys will probably be drafted and/or signed before camp, and Stephon Burton is still under contract and Greg Childs will try like heck to comeback. But, yeah, let Webb give it a shot...WR or QB, I give him less than 25% at making the roster.

[Raptorman]

As near as I could find Joe Webb was thrown to 6 times as a WR in games. 4 short, under 10 yards and 2 long. Two catches, one for 9 yards and one for 28 yards which he was called of OPI. A 10 yard penalty. So 6 passes. Let's write him off. He will never work out at WR. Dump him now and save the roster spot for someone else.

[Raptorman]

How is it, that after three years we are still discussing this? A project WR is switched to QB and back and forth and back and forth, and people are enthralled?
My opinion on this matter is simple. Joe Webb is not an NFL WR. He did play some WR at UAB his sophomore season, catching 30 passes for 459 yards and 2 scores. Those numbers don't tell us the more important things about his season at wideout. He wasn't asked to run many routes...really any routes...run deep and out leap some Memphis CB who you're five inches taller than and 30 pounds heavier than. Or, run a little bubble screen so we can get you in space and see if this Tulane S can tackle you. It was working to such a great extent, that he was a QB again by season's end. The reason Webb went to the combine as a WR is because he was a run-first QB and no one thought he had a future as an NFL passer. Brad Childress saw him throw the ball...and became the first and probably only person to think Joe Webb had a future as an NFL passer (and, as somebody mentioned, he was looking to get rid of Spielman's guy Rosenfels). Webb has lined up at WR a few times in his career, and has been called for pass interference more times than he has caught a pass, 2 to 1. That's 20 negative yards, 9 positive for a net of -11 yards produced by Joe Webb as an NFL WR. This idea has been tried, in 2010 and again, to some extent in 2011. Do people really think that Frazier, and Musgrave and Stewart have been seeing this guy just dominate our somewhat lackluster DBs, yet felt he needed to stay on the sidelines while Devin Aromashodu and Stephon Burton tried their very best to...be very below average? Or, did this guy, who is going to redefine the way WR is played in the NFL continually fail to beat these guy out? Considering that the Joe Webb was told to stick to QB for the 2012 campaign, makes me think he showed little to no aptitude for the WR position.
Joe Webb is not an NFL WR, he's barely an NFL QB. Could he get better with practice? Sure, but he was a sixth round pick as a WR to begin with, his learning curve was steep enough. Now, three full seasons later you expect him to blossom? Into what? A fifth or sixth WR?
You can take 90 guys to camp, right now, I'd say only Jennings and Wright are a lock to make this team, two or three guys will probably be drafted and/or signed before camp, and Stephon Burton is still under contract and Greg Childs will try like heck to comeback. But, yeah, let Webb give it a shot...WR or QB, I give him less than 25% at making the roster.

So, you must have been at the UAB games. Because the only video I can find of Webb playing WR in college you can hardly tell it's him the quality is so bad. Much less what kind of route he was running. And as far as dominating our lackluster DB's, hard to do when you practicing at QB. I have not found one source that has given him any time at practicing at the WR position while on the Vikings. Every thing I could find on him has him pretty much full QB in practice since Childress made that decision. Now I am not saying he didn't do some practicing at WR, but I find no source to back it up.

[Mothman]

[quote="Raptorman"]So, you must have been at the UAB games. Because the only video I can find of Webb playing WR in college you can hardly tell it's him the quality is so bad. Much less what kind of route he was running. And as far as dominating our lackluster DB's, hard to do when you practicing at QB. I have not found one source that has given him any time at practicing at the WR position while on the Vikings.

They did. Pelissero and/or Zulgad wrote about it and one of the reasons the Vikings made a point about letting Webb focus exclusively on playing QB last year was because they had him practicing other things in 2011. Webb was splitting time practicing at WR and QB that season and since they lined up for some plays at WR in 2011, it follows logically that he also practiced at WR.

I'm hardly enthralled by this story and I suspect VikingsBoss is right that Webb's shot at making the roster as a WR is less than 25% but I see no harm in giving him that shot. If nothing else, it will put years of speculation about the matter to rest.

[Mothman]

If the Vikings do want to move him to wideout I think this is his last shot to prove anything or the Vikings will cut him at some point this summer. At least if he gets in the mindset now in April, maybe by Training Camp he can think of himself as a WR and do his best. But even then the odds are against him and I don't think the Vikings are going to keep him unless he really shows something. If he actually was able to transform himself into even a slightly below average WR that would be a remarkable story and I don't really know of any precedence for that.

I think poor Joe Webb is a victim of timing. his skillset seems to hot right now for rookies, and if he was a rookie would probably be drafted for an option offense team. But he came a few years too early, ended up peaking in 2010, and is now like an overripe piece of fruit, so I think teams would probably try out a rookie than Webb if they want that type of player. If something don't happen for him this summer with the Vikings as a WR this is probably the end of his NFL career.

Not necessarily... he might be able to catch on as a backup for a team with an approach that better suits his skills.

[UltraNasty850]

In all honesty, I have no idea how this will work out. If you take everything into consideration, you end up thinking that this may not be that bad of a move.

Arguably the best receiver in the NFL today Calvin Johnson is 6 foot 5 and 236 lbs and ran a 4.32 at the combine. Joe Webb comes in at 6 foot 4 and 220 lbs and ran a 4.43 at the combine. Obviously Calvin's specs are a little better, but he is a freak. Webb's specs aren't too far off of Calvins. We all know thats not all it takes to be a great WR in the NFL, but the genetics are there for Webb at WR.

Also, take into consideration that Webb's routes will be ran with the mind of a QB. If he can develop into a decent route runner, I think he could actually be a legit number 2 or 3. I know it sounds crazy, but maybe he was just good enough at QB to keep him as a backup rather than change position completely.

I am happy they are making the transition early enough in the year to allow Joe enough time get it down.

Who knows, I could be completely wrong.

SKOL

[PurpleJarl]

Does anyone know how seriously he (Webb) is taking all of this? I would love to see if he has a schedule out anywhere, attending various off season receiver work outs or working with WR coaches and trainers. Like the above post said, he has the physical stats to be a GREAT receiver but he needs to make up for lost time hard and fast. I would feel much better about this if I could find some proof that he is burning the midnight oil so to speak rather than just working out and planning on picking up what he can be training camp.


I do feel like Childress messed up this young mans career by making him his pet project. But if he can make this work more power to him.

[Mothman]

Does anyone know how seriously he (Webb) is taking all of this? I would love to see if he has a schedule out anywhere, attending various off season receiver work outs or working with WR coaches and trainers. Like the above post said, he has the physical stats to be a GREAT receiver but he needs to make up for lost time hard and fast. I would feel much better about this if I could find some proof that he is burning the midnight oil so to speak rather than just working out and planning on picking up what he can be training camp.

I do feel like Childress messed up this young mans career by making him his pet project. But if he can make this work more power to him.

Childress may have actually helped Webb's career since he was always somewhat of a long shot to successfully convert to WR.

[dead_poet]

Childress may have actually helped Webb's career since he was always somewhat of a long shot to successfully convert to WR.

Dummy. Childress kills everything he touches.

[Mothman]

Dummy. Childress kills everything he touches.

LOL! He's got the touch of death.

[VikingLord]

This whole thing with Joe Webb just sickens me. First, although he played QB in college and had some passing skills, almost every pre-draft analysis I read prior to him being drafted had him as a receiver in the pros. I'm not exactly sure how they reached that conclusion, but it was pretty darn near universal IIRC.

Then the Vikes take him in the 6th, which was a good round to take a guy like Webb, and that's when we observe the absolute evil that comes with letting a head coach make personnel decisions without any oversight. Childress didn't like Sage Rosenfels. Rosenfels had spoken publicly and negatively about something and Chilly, as he was wont to do, took it personally. And when Chilly took something personal, it was *personal* and his retribution for the perceived slight was never far behind. Even though Sage was the closest thing Chilly had to a legit backup QB at the time, he decided he could make do with Webb as a backup because, apparently, Webb had big hands. Favre also had big hands. Therefore, by elementary logic, Webb can play QB. That logical leap, coupled with the lack of any oversight to prevent Chilly from doing pretty much anything he wanted when he wanted, led to a trade where it appeared the Vikings actually paid out for the privilege of shipping Rosenfels somewhere else.

And thus began the waste of Joe Webb. Chilly never gave Joe a chance to develop as a pro WR. He sat behind first a failing Favre, got a few opportunities on the field where the lack of tape on him greatly helped him win, and then rapidly regressed to the point where he became completely ineffective as a QB. All the while the Vikings have a dire need at WR and Webb could have, in theory at least, been in the mix to help them with that need. Now, after he's been in the league for a few years, Webb is finally going to get his chance at the spot he probably should have manned all along. Kudos to Frazier for finally making the move, but what an absolute waste of talent so far. At the very least Webb could have been returning kicks and punts during this time ala Devin Hester. He could have been doing more and learning more to help the team than wasting away at a position where he never really had a great chance to succeed to begin with. And this is all because Brad Childress really didn't like Sage Rosenfels. More or less.

I will keep my fingers crossed that Webb can still resurrect his career. He and the Vikings could really use a pleasant surprise in this area.

[headless_norseman]

He's about to suck at WR too. People think just because he was fast scrambling out of the pocket that he will be a good WR. No one has ever seen him run routes or his ability to catch the ball. But like my good friend Melanie said, it can't hurt. So we will see but I also think his days as a Vikings are coming to an end. I do wish him the best of luck and hope he can find his position in the NFL. Seems like a great guy but I don't know if he fits with this team anymore.

He's not the first guy to make the switch and yes, they have seen him run routes before.

[headless_norseman]

He was given a chance before at WR and looked worse then terrible. No reason it's going to be any different now. Should have just cut him.

No, he earned at a shot at QB because he was drafted as a WR but turned heads strong enough as a QB.

[headless_norseman]

In all honesty, I have no idea how this will work out. If you take everything into consideration, you end up thinking that this may not be that bad of a move.

Arguably the best receiver in the NFL today Calvin Johnson is 6 foot 5 and 236 lbs and ran a 4.32 at the combine. Joe Webb comes in at 6 foot 4 and 220 lbs and ran a 4.43 at the combine. Obviously Calvin's specs are a little better, but he is a freak. Webb's specs aren't too far off of Calvins. We all know thats not all it takes to be a great WR in the NFL, but the genetics are there for Webb at WR.

Also, take into consideration that Webb's routes will be ran with the mind of a QB. If he can develop into a decent route runner, I think he could actually be a legit number 2 or 3. I know it sounds crazy, but maybe he was just good enough at QB to keep him as a backup rather than change position completely.

I am happy they are making the transition early enough in the year to allow Joe enough time get it down.

Who knows, I could be completely wrong.

SKOL

Good post - good points.