Second and Third Year Player Development: Week Thirteen
In this weekly column, I dissect a few young players who haven’t made much of a consistent impact to date. Some of these players may be available on your waiver wire, while others may be available via a cheap or moderate trade. Acquiring or not acquiring one of these players could decide how well your dynasty or keeper team does for the next few years. This week I will be taking a longer look at two Oakland Raider wide receivers, Andre Holmes and Rod Streater as well as the maybe not so available second year Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles. I will focus on their most recent matchups to draw the majority of my insight.
Andre Holmes, WR OAK
First, I’m not going to rehash where the third year receiver came from and the issues he faced coming into the league.  Chad Scott answered those questions in his article found here  http://dynastyleaguefootball.
Holmes runs crisp routes, shows good body lean, and is quick enough to get separation on most of his routes. Holmes impressed me as he catches the ball at its highest point and has good lateral agility that he uses to make the first defender miss. Once the young receiver has the ball in his hands, Holmes knows where he is on the field and fights for every extra yard. When his quarterback hits him in stride, Holmes can use that momentum to gain extra yardage even when he is double covered. While he isn’t that great of a run blocker, he shows a lot of effort staying in front of his man to impede him.
His most impressive reception of the night was when Holmes shielded the corner back from a highly thrown pass and stretched his body all the way through the catch to get within a foot of the goal line. It was all in one continuous motion. The young receiver also has great balance as he caught a low thrown target falling down while barely getting his hands underneath the ball.  That isn’t to say that Holmes had a perfect night, despite catching seven for 136 yards as he lost two passes in the lights. He also bobbled a quick pass that was almost intercepted because the young receiver was not anticipating the ball coming at him so soon. Holmes is a WR5-6 in deeper formats, but may just be a Thanksgiving miracle with the glut of semi-talented receivers that the Raiders have n their roster. If he is available on your waiver wire and you have room, pick Holmes up as this may be more than a mirage.
Rod Streater, WR OAK
The second year receiver is clicking with his new quarterback, Matt McGloin. Over the last three games that McGloin started, Streater got targeted 21 times catching 14 passes for 234 yards and one touchdown. The young receiver had a slow game for his standards, three receptions for 57 yards; however, it was only on four targets as the before mentionedAndre Holmes commanded eleven targets.
Streater has amazing body control, can start and stop his body on a dime, and will sky to the highest point of the pass and fight for the ball the entire time. He showed great effort trying to dig in the dirt to catch a poorly thrown worm burner that ended up bouncing off his hands and the ground at the same time.
On his most impressive catch of the game, the second year receiver underhanded a low thrown pass keeping mindful of his feet inches from the sidelines. It took fantastic concentration to make that reception. When Denarius Moore is not on the field, it is up to Streater to run the deeper routes, clearing the underneath for the running game and the shorter passes.  He demands the extra safety coverage to make sure that he won’t break anything deep.
This could be just the tip of the ice burg with Streater as I believe he can grow into his team’s WR1 role if there is stability in the quarterback position.  The young receiver is a dynasty WR4 now, but could become more of a WR2-3 by the time the 2014 season begins.
Nick Foles, QB PHI
I’m not sure there is a hotter second year player in all of the NFL or fantasy right now. Foles came into the game against the Cardinals with 16 touchdowns vs. zero interceptions and added to his touchdown total by three. It has been an amazing year for him under new NFL head coach Chip Kelly as the fast paced, quick read offense has suited his skill set.
Despite being tall and lanky, Foles is more mobile than you would think in the pocket as he side steps away from pressure while making quick reads to get the ball out of his hands into his play makers. His ball placement and calmness under pressure is what separates him from former starter Michael Vick. Although, Foles possesses none of Vick’s athleticism as he is a very awkward runner. I cringe every time he starts to run with the ball.  Foles shows no fear in that regard, but perhaps he should.
It doesn’t seem that the second year quarterback goes thru all of his progressions as he usually looks at his first or second read and gets the ball out of his hands hitting that player in stride. I only saw a few times that he stared down his receiver too long, but fortunately for him his only serious mistake got mitigated by a penalty.  The signal caller anticipates where his receiver will be as he found his rookie tight end, Zach Ertz, on a drag route near the back of the end zone.
When Foles needs to stand tough in the pocket, he waits until the last possible second to get rid of the ball  and sometimes gets hit too much as a result. This does help his receivers a chance to create more separation. The trust is clear between himself and his athletic receivers who bail him out from time to time with their huge catch radius. He is more accurate throwing towards the sidelines vs. the middle of the field. Foles continues to improve his touch on the ball as he floated easy bucket catch for DeSean Jackson near the sidelines to keep a drive going in the second half.
The Foles/Kelly combination is proving to be a dominant fantasy force. While I do not have him in my top six quarterbacks, Foles belongs in the next tier of QB1s. But beware as defensive coordinators will have a full offseason to work on counteracting the Eagles explosive offense. It was just a few years ago that the wildcat was all the rage.
For follow-up questions or information, contact me on twitter @AndrewMiley
