Orlovsky Strikes Again

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Grizzled
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Dan Orlovsky, who NFL career highlight was running out of the back of the end zone as a QB for a safety in 2008, has now said that Darnell Mooney is not even a #2 receiver:

https://nflspinzone.com/2022/05/09/dan- ... ago-bears/

Stats from the article show that Mooney, if not there yet as a #1, are better than most of the #2s that Orlovsky uses for comparison.
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Bearfacts
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I saw that one yesterday. I put Orlovsky in the same pile as I do Ryan Heckman from Fan Side. Both are major click bait artists with far too much freedom to produce dumb stuff. When you can't even find facts to back your bull shit maybe you should just STFU.
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Shocking.

I think people can make a valid argument that he isn't a "true #1 WR." I personally don't think he is that far from it, if not already there. But to say he isn't a #2 when he is in the top 20 of so many stats for WRs is illogical.

He talks about Fields only having 2 "pass catchers" drafted in the third round or earlier. Kmet and Jones. I think that Monty counts as a "pass catcher" so that would be three. But then again why should he let facts get in the way of his click baits.
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See now if Orlovsky had thrown for 30 more TD and 4000 More yards maybe!

Otherwise terrible take
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I hope his body holds up but as it currently stands hes a solid #2 and I think a lot of teams would take him in that roll.
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He was 21st in receptions and 19th in yardage - with the McNagy albatross - fuck Orlovsky. There’s no argument he’s not a #2 at a minimum, low end #1 could easily be justified.
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dplank wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 4:25 pm He was 21st in receptions and 19th in yardage - with the McNagy albatross - fuck Orlovsky. There’s no argument he’s not a #2 at a minimum, low end #1 could easily be justified.
I counted 18 Guys I "No Doubt" have in front of him. Of those 18 - 4 Sets were on the Same team (Bucs, Vikes, Eagles, Chargers) - So give or take he'd be at least in the discussion as #1 WR on about half the teams in the NFL
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RichH55 wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 4:33 pm I counted 18 Guys I "No Doubt" have in front of him. Of those 18 - 4 Sets were on the Same team (Bucs, Vikes, Eagles, Chargers) - So give or take he'd be at least in the discussion as #1 WR on about half the teams in the NFL
And there you have it.

Not much more to say, really. And to think next season won't be his breakout year---never mind...Orlovsky isn't "thinking". He's shooting for clicks and ratings.
dplank wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 4:25 pm He was 21st in receptions and 19th in yardage - with the McNagy albatross - fuck Orlovsky. There’s no argument he’s not a #2 at a minimum, low end #1 could easily be justified.
Fuck Orlovsky, indeed. Thank you, @dplank .

To say Mooney's not even a #2 is entirely based on one thing--where he was drafted. It ignores what he's done in the league since then.

I used to think Orlovsky was sort of annoying, and hot and cold with his takes. Now, it's pretty clear he's just an attention hog/tool.
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Previous snide remark by we all know who aside......(just couldn't resist could you). :naughty: Catch that one UOK?

Orlovsky isn't the Bears GM, HC or OC who all see Mooney as their #1 WR and I agree that on a team with a more established QB than those Mooney has dealt with to date his stats may have been even better. So to even question whether or not he's proficient enough to be any teams #2 pretty much says all that needs to be said about Dan Orlovsky Mr. Football 2022. A man so good at evaluating talent he's a shoe in for the HOF just as soon as they create a lifetime achievement award for lousy backup QBs.
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Bearfacts wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 12:44 am Previous snide remark by we all know who aside......(just couldn't resist could you). :naughty: Catch that one UOK?

Orlovsky isn't the Bears GM, HC or OC who all see Mooney as their #1 WR and I agree that on a team with a more established QB than those Mooney has dealt with to date his stats may have been even better. So to even question whether or not he's proficient enough to be any teams #2 pretty much says all that needs to be said about Dan Orlovsky Mr. Football 2022. A man so good at evaluating talent he's a shoe in for the HOF just as soon as they create a lifetime achievement award for lousy backup QBs who lose track of where an end zone stops and out of bounds starts.
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RichH55 wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 4:12 pm See now if Orlovsky had thrown for 30 more TD and 4000 More yards maybe!

Otherwise terrible take
You're catching on.

Just wait for The GOAT to start his broadcast deal with Fox.

That moron Joe Buck is gone from Fox, but it wouldn't surprise me if they paired up The GOAT with the football equivalent of Tim McCarver.
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Mooney had 140 passes thrown to him last year and caught 81. He wasn't a one-trick pony, he consistently got open on more than just fly patterns. Let's see him moved around like Adams in GB and see what he can really do.
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I see Mooney as sort of a mini Keenan Allen. I don't care about the semantics about #this or #that.... he's a darn good receiver and a valuable asset.
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IE wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 12:49 pm I see Mooney as sort of a mini Keenan Allen. I don't care about the semantics about #this or #that.... he's a darn good receiver and a valuable asset.
I've been thinking of this for a long time and I've never really been able to put my finger on who exactly I'd compare Mooney to. I think I finally figured it out.

It's Dennis Northcutt.

Like Northcutt, Mooney is a guy that everyone wants to replace with a true #1 WR even though he's a reliable receiver who gets open and creates space in spite of his small size.
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wab wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 1:32 pm
IE wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 12:49 pm I see Mooney as sort of a mini Keenan Allen. I don't care about the semantics about #this or #that.... he's a darn good receiver and a valuable asset.
I've been thinking of this for a long time and I've never really been able to put my finger on who exactly I'd compare Mooney to. I think I finally figured it out.

It's Dennis Northcutt.

Like Northcutt, Mooney is a guy that everyone wants to replace with a true #1 WR even though he's a reliable receiver who gets open and creates space in spite of his small size.
That...is really close, yeah.
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dplank wrote:I agree with Rich here
RichH55 wrote: Dplank is correct
:shocked:
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Grizzled wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 9:57 am Mooney had 140 passes thrown to him last year and caught 81. He wasn't a one-trick pony, he consistently got open on more than just fly patterns.

For however much it may be worth, 81/140 (57.9%) is a really poor catch rate.

Out of the top 50 targeted receivers in 2021, only 1 person had (very, very slightly) lower than that (57.1%).
On the flip side, many had percentages in the 70s and the top end was more than 22% higher than Mooney.
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While Mooney is outperforming his (supercheap rookie) contract, is much better than I expected, the best WR on the team, and a rare bright spot on the offense -

I think it's also very fair to look at him at wonder if he isn't seriously overrated, precisely because the offense is so devoid of bright spots and the WR group was and is so terrible that he gets a lot more opportunity than he would on another team in a competent unit.
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Moriarty wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 2:17 pm While Mooney is outperforming his (supercheap rookie) contract, is much better than I expected, the best WR on the team, and a rare bright spot on the offense -

I think it's also very fair to look at him at wonder if he isn't seriously overrated, precisely because the offense is so devoid of bright spots and the WR group was and is so terrible that he gets a lot more opportunity than he would on another team in a competent unit.
I guess I'd suggest looking at it the other way. A bright spot on an offense that is objectively and near historically bad...might be seriously underrated.

The catch rate has to improve for sure. But looking at some of those catches in context...many were impossible to make.

He also won 77 of his 148 matchup in man coverage (landing him in the top 5 in the NFL for win rate).

I think the reason people don't see him as a true #1 is because he isn't going to consistently open up the offense for other guys or cause defensive coordinators to stay up all night trying to figure out how to slow him down.

But IMO that is the difference between the definition of a "superstar" and a "number 1 WR".

Mooney doesn't have to be a superstar. He does everything REALLY well. He is a tireless worker, has speed, toughness, can run every route, and has a connection with Fields that was plainly obvious.

If someone told me that the Bears would have a WR who eclipsed a 1000 yards in only his second season as a pro, I'd be all in on that dude.

1000 yard seasons by Bears WR's don't come along very often. There have only been 6 guys who have eclipsed 1000 yards for the Bears in the last 20 years. Mooney is one of them. I don't think it should be discounted.
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Mooney is a very good WR, the problem is every other WR on the team. Pinrgle was the 5th option on a very good offense so asking him to be one of the primary targets is a lot of speculation. David Moore is a decent 4th or 5th WR, but asking him to be a primary target is probably not a good idea. Then you have nothing but enigmas after that with no real NFL experiance.
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Mooney dropped just 4.1% of catchable balls. His total yards his first 2 seasons are the highest for any Chicago Bears WR (which, admittedly, isn't a high bar to clear).
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Interesting take from DBB with a lot of stats to dig into
https://www.dabearsblog.com/tag/darnell-mooney
A fair conclusion:
Wrap-Up
So, what have we learned about Mooney today? Here are my main takeaways:

He has shown he can be productive both against man and zone coverage.
He’s very good on screen passes.
When Fields was his QB, he was a weapon down the field and produced explosive plays at a near-elite rate.
He wasn’t super productive on third and fourth down, and the Bears will have to find some way to replace Allen Robinson’s production in that area in 2022.
He wasn’t targeted very often in the red zone, so we can’t say all that much about whether he can be a threat there. His small size may be a limitation in this area.
All in all, there’s nothing in Mooney’s underlying metrics to say he’s a stud WR, but there’s also nothing to say that he wasn’t as good as his overall volume numbers indicate. He was forced to take on a greatly expanded role in a dysfunctional offense, with no real other WR threats around him, and he mostly held up well.

Because of that, I think it’s fair to say Mooney has proven he is a quality starting WR in the NFL. What remains to be seen is if he can develop into more than that.
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Orlovsky Strikes Again

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I would argue that if we wanted the WRs to be better then we need a top 10 OL.

That being said, Mooney is not a top WR in this league.

Yes he's been McNagy'd. They all have. For all I know, and hope, Mooney could tee off this year with 1,400 yards and 10 TDs.

I love being wrong when I underestimate our players.

Despite being McNagy'd, he's improving every year. WRs take 3 years. We are going into year 3.

I just think that if Mooney was a true #1 we would've seen that dominance come out. Then again, McNagy.
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