Coach Ron Rivera named WR Stephen Hill the standout player of Panthers OTAs

[Superman55]

Stephen Hill - WR - Panthers
Coach Ron Rivera named WR Stephen Hill the standout player of Panthers OTAs.
Rivera has spent a good part of the offseason talking up Hill. Shining at pad-less practices in shorts and t-shirts is nothing new for former second-rounder Hill. He's bigger, faster, and stronger than most of the players lining up with him and opposite him. The hard part for Hill thus far during his career has been translating it to the field when the games count.

 

[isired]

Stephen Hill - WR - Panthers
Coach Ron Rivera named WR Stephen Hill the standout player of Panthers OTAs.
Rivera has spent a good part of the offseason talking up Hill. Shining at pad-less practices in shorts and t-shirts is nothing new for former second-rounder Hill. He's bigger, faster, and stronger than most of the players lining up with him and opposite him. The hard part for Hill thus far during his career has been catching the fucking ball.

Fixed

 

[johnnysd]

Hill came into the worst possible situation for him. A coach that HATED using a 2nd round pick on a WR, and let that be known almost from Day 1. Rookie QBs to throw him the ball. But most importantly the worst possible coaching you could find for him from OC and especially WR coach in Lal who is likely the worst in the NFL. Hill blossoming would not surprise me in the least.

 

[JohnnyBaseball1]

I always thought Hill seemed to be open a lot of the time, but obviously that didn't translate into anything meaningful.

 

[Green Jets & Ham]

I would not have cut someone with his size & speed, especially when the early part of his career was derailed by injuries.

Rex had no patience for Hill to begin with and Idzik is an incompetent when it comes to personnel. I don't believe Mac would have cut Stephen Hill. I can never prove it and I don't know that for sure, but I suspect Hill would still be here if Mac and Bowles were calling the shots last year. For example there's no way they keep Clyde Gates over Hill.

 

[TebowCan'tThrow]

If Hill is the best WR they have then cancel the season.

 

[Green Jets & Ham]

If Hill is the best WR they have then cancel the season.

They don't need him to be their best WR, Kelvin Benjamin has already proven to be a legit # 1 WR in my view, and that was only his rookie season, he figures to keep getting better. They also drafted Devin Funchess who has the potential to be a good # 2 with tremendous size. If Hill can challenge Funchess for the # 2 spot I'm sure they'll be trilled, and the loser will hopefully give them a good # 3.

 

[Golden Rott]

Hill has all the tools -- if you ever watched his combine tape, he looked like a stud. In my opinion, his problem is contact. No surprise that he shines in OTAs when there is no contact. If he is still a standout when the hitting is live in pre-season, I will be shocked.

 

[BlindsideD'Brick]

Stephen Hill had a couple of years to prove himself, and he didn't. This isn't Idizk or Rex or anyone else.

He stunk. See ya later,Hill.

 

[Green Jets & Ham]

Stephen Hill had a couple of years to prove himself, and he didn't. This isn't Idizk or Rex or anyone else.

He stunk. See ya later,Hill.

I would totally agree if he was healthy, but he wasn't and you have to take that into consideration when you are cutting bait with a size/speed freak you drafted in the second round.

Stephen Hill was having a dominant NFL debut in his first ever NFL Game, not just good, he looked terrific that home opener (verses the Raiders?), but late in the game he was seemingly going in for a TD when he got his legs taken out from under him inside the five yard line, close to the goal line, and it was a direct hit on his knee that came in from a side angle, the kind of hit that usually results in a torn ACL and that was my immediate fear when he came up limping.

It wasn't an ACL, but it was a sprained MCL and perhaps some torn cartilage that kept him out for the next six weeks or thereabouts, and the knee never completely healed, for the next two years that knee was an ongoing issue that sidelined him for weeks at a time and for most of the following years training camp when it flared up again and he had to have some fluid drained (twice). IOW's I don't know who was treating him, but he probably could have sued the SOB for malpractice!

Anyway, nobody ever talks about that history but its true, every word of it, and thats why I wouldn't have cut him last year.

It seems to me the Panthers did it the right way and gave him a full year to get healthy while they taught him their system.

We'll see how it goes, he very well could fail, but I would have held onto him for at least another year, especially with all of the crap we had at WR last year, there was at least one WR (Gates?) we could have cut to keep Stephen Hill.

 

[NYJDraftKing]

I still think Stephen Hill will come back to haunt us !!!

 

[Superman55]

Maybe, but hills issues were hill and no one else. The guy couldn't get off the jam, ran the wrong routes, was confused when he was and was not the hot read, rarely broke his routes off short when he was supposed to, didnt run good routes, and even when runnin wide open it was 50-50 he would catch it. The game was too much in his head for him.

He's also a converted soccer player still learning the game...much like Ducass. I think Hill and Ducass both tried real hard, and had all the talent to be successful, but the complexities of the game were too much.

 

[Green Jets & Ham]

Maybe, but hills issues were hill and no one else. The guy couldn't get off the jam, ran the wrong routes, was confused when he was and was not the hot read, rarely broke his routes off short when he was supposed to, didnt run good routes, and even when runnin wide open it was 50-50 he would catch it. The game was too much in his head for him.

He's also a converted soccer player still learning the game...much like Ducass. I think Hill and Ducass both tried real hard, and had all the talent to be successful, but the complexities of the game were too much.

We knew the learning curve was steep when we drafted him, similar to Bryce Petty. He came from a system where the WR's are an afterthought. He caught what, 15 to 20 Passes his last year in college? If you draft a kid like that, knowing his learning curve is steep, then you can't lose patience when he has some real difficulties adapting to pro football, especially when so much of his grooming was setback by injuries. You need to show some patience and work with the kid to get better. That seems to be the Panthers approach with Hill, essentially giving him a full year to just worry about getting healthy and learning, now we'll see if it works.

 

[BlindsideD'Brick]

We knew the learning curve was steep when we drafted him, similar to Bryce Petty. He came from a system where the WR's are an afterthought. He caught what, 15 to 20 Passes his last year in college? If you draft a kid like that, knowing his learning curve is steep, then you can't lose patience when he has some real difficulties adapting to pro football, especially when so much of his grooming was setback by injuries. You need to show some patience and work with the kid to get better. That seems to be the Panthers approach with Hill, essentially giving him a full year to just worry about getting healthy and learning, now we'll see if it works.

Now, more than ever, this league is a "what have you done lately" league. Teams don't have much patience anymore. You get drafted in the second round, it's because the team thinks you can contribute right away (unless you're a QB, and even then...). As 55 posted, he had numerous issues related to his rawness that was making him a non-factor on this offense. Could he eventually become a decent NFL receiver? Sure. But the Jets were too desperate for help right now to wait on that. How many years do you devote a roster spot to a young player? 3 years, 5 years? The Jets needed to move on, IMO.

 

[Superman55]

Now, more than ever, this league is a "what have you done lately" league. Teams don't have much patience anymore. You get drafted in the second round, it's because the team thinks you can contribute right away (unless you're a QB, and even then...). As 55 posted, he had numerous issues related to his rawness that was making him a non-factor on this offense. Could he eventually become a decent NFL receiver? Sure. But the Jets were too desperate for help right now to wait on that. How many years do you devote a roster spot to a young player? 3 years, 5 years? The Jets needed to move on, IMO.

It was also in hills best interest to move on, imo. when the game is too big, the NYC media only makes it bigger with the constant tomato throwing. It was a much needed divorce.

 

[Mainejet]

I've got news for all of you....

Rex, Idzik, Tanny, Bowles, or Mac would have cut Stephen Hill. EASILY. And rightfully so. The guy was terrible and NEVER developed as a WR.

The guy was an amazing athlete, I will give him that much. But we're not talking about track athletes, we're talking about FOOTBALL players.

Just as much as any team can never measure "football speed", no team can measure "translation speed". In other words, there a million examples out there of truly GREAT combine athletes/college players that could never play an NFL down. They simply lacked that "translation ability/speed".

Vernon Gholston is just another GREAT example of exactly what I am talking about.

Hill and his wonderful athleticism got his chance for which he screwed the pooch. Stop blaming past coaches and GM's for something that is very clearly STEPHEN HILL's fault and no one else's.

Hill got exactly what he deserved by getting cut and I wouldn't think any of you should lose a seconds sleep about it?

I'll also go out on a limb and predict something else...

Ron Rivera will eventually cut Stephen Hill. GUARANTEED.

 

[NYJETSDAN16]

We're talking about Ron Rivera folks, Ron Rivera.

Stephen Hill was horrible. Had one dimension and that was the deep ball and even that, he would never fight for the ball at its highest point, with all that size and talent.

Sorry, he will not haunt us. If he turns it around, good for him. How I see it, he aint our concern, we have that position correctly solidified in Brandon Marshall & Eric Decker. Monster studs, not projects.

 

[Sarge]

Stephen Hill couldn't make plays at WR and couldn't help on Special Teams. He was a waste of a roster spot. If he turns into a player at Carolina that has no impact on what happened in NY

 

[Superman55]

We're talking about Ron Rivera folks, Ron Rivera.

Stephen Hill was horrible. Had one dimension and that was the deep ball and even that, he would never fight for the ball at its highest point, with all that size and talent.

Sorry, he will not haunt us. If he turns it around, good for him. How I see it, he aint our concern, we have that position correctly solidified in Brandon Marshall & Eric Decker. Monster studs, not projects.

I agree. If hill showed progress, progressive growth from year to year, he would still be here. I made a list earlier of issues he had, everything from running wrong routes, not being able to read defensive alignments, not getting off thevjam, and not catching...if he improved in a couple of those areas every year, he'd still be here. He didnt. So he isn't here. If the light comes on 2-3 years later, like you said, good for him. But that doesn't take away from the fact he didn't display the progressive growth we hoped for while here.

 

[Lakerfan80]

I didn't think we had any other receivers last season to justify cutting the young receiver outside of Decker and Kerley. Evans was already on IR and Saunders was eventually released. I do believe if the coaching change happened last season that Hill would played that 3rd year as a Jet.