Second and Third Year Player Development: Week Eleven

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 the Houston Texans signal caller Case Keenum as well as the Detroit Lions wide receiver Kris Durham. I will focus on their most recent matchups to draw the majority of my insight.

Case Keenum, QB HOU

Keenum got to live a Rocky Balboa type of a story.  This local kid who didn’t have the right size or skill set to get drafted by an NFL team was given a chance to develop on the Texans’ practice squad.  When the former starting quarterback, Matt Schaub, became inefficient throwing more picks than touchdowns during the first six games this season, the change was made.  So after a year and a half of sitting on the practice squad with no regular season NFL game experience, Keenum caught an even bigger break as he received his opportunity to start over TJ Yates who had a bit of NFL starting experience himself.

Keenum is a very excitable young quarterback who seemed to bond with all-pro wide receiver Andre Johnson almost instantly.  This quarterback-wide receiver combo accounted for 18 catches for 355 yards and five touchdowns in their first three games together.  That is a huge difference from the 44 receptions, 495 yards and zero touchdowns Johnson has with the other Texan quarterbacks prior to Sunday’s game against the Raiders.  The downside of their bonding is it may limit the upside of the other Houston receiving options. Although, the second year signal caller certainly bonded with Garrett Graham for the tight end’s best day this past week.

While Keenum is quite small for an NFL starter at 6′ 1″ and 206 lbs (Drew Brees is also height challenged), he makes up with enthusiasm (I’m comparing short players, not their not so close skill levels).  The entire Houston offense looks energized with Keenum behind center, but he is still a raw player who needs to use his feet to get out of trouble.  The second year quarterback bootlegs a great deal to see one half of the field at a time and to gain a better vantage point of the field over the mass of humanity at the line of scrimmage.  He has a quick release and makes decisions on the fly, which not only scares defenses, it scares his coaches as well.  Keenum was under constant attack in this game and on one fateful play almost ran out-of-bounds before he heaved the ball with a rainbow arch to connect with Graham for a 42 yard touchdown.

Although Keenum has fewer turnovers (three) than games started (four) so far, it is a bit concerning as he does not sense pressure well and can be taken off guard by defenses throwing new schemes at him.  His gunslinger attitude gives his receivers more time to get open and the second year quarterback can thread the needle to get the ball where only his pass catchers have a good shot at the pass, but the offense guided by Keenum has trouble staying on the field with his inconsistent play.

Defenses were getting surprised early as the young quarterback usually had more success in the first half and then adjustments were made to pick apart his play in the second half. This trend continued Sunday that after constant pressure Coach Kubiak decided to bench Keenum with a few minutes left in third quarter despite his same level of play in favor of the seasoned but ineffective Schaub. As of this writing, the Houston front office reported Keenum will get another opportunity to start against the Jaguars. I still believe in the kid and so does Johnson, so what more do you need?  Don’t go crazy to acquire him, but if he is available ,why not stash him on your roster?  He is a definite dynasty QB3 with upside.

Kris Durham, WR DET

Durham is a huge target (6’6″) who played wide receiver with Matthew Stafford in Georgia and was selected by the Seahawks in the 2011 draft.  Despite being drafted in the fourth round, Durham got released by Seattle in the middle of the 2012 season after little NFL experience.  His old college quarterback talked the Lions front office into giving his old college buddy a try for their final four games in 2012.  Durham did not impress the Lions last season as he caught fewer than 40% of his targets and had only one game with more than two receptions.

Flash forward to 2013.

The Lions came into the season expecting to start Calvin Johnson, Nate Burleson, and Ryan Broyles. Injuries piled up on the receiving core as Broyles is on the injured reserve and Burleson broke his arm in a questionable pizza incident which has kept him out of the lineup – this created a clear path for Durham to become a weekly starter.  His “breakout” game may have been against the Browns as he caught eight passes for 83 yards on 13 targets.  Now with Burleson almost ready to play, it is up to the third year player to make improvements in his game to prove he is worthy of his playing time.

Despite getting targeted nine times against the Steelers, Durham only had three receptions for 42 yards.  There were a few catchable passes that got knocked out of his hands.  Unfortunately, the wideout does not have a big catch radius so he needs to ball thrown very cleanly – that was not happening during the stormy conditions in Pittsburgh.  Durham runs crisp routes and is not afraid to make plays in traffic, but he seems to go down at first contact.   He even saw a lot of linebacker/safety coverage, which more talented receivers would exploit. Durham didn’t.  Even though he is playing with his college quarterback and is on an ideal pass first offense, this receiver has not been that productive outside of a random game or two.   Durham, at best, is a deep WR4/5 stash.

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