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Back in 1997, I saw Jake Plummer as a
perfect fit on two teams, the Broncos and 49ers, so much so that I thought
either team would be well-advised to spend a 1st round pick on him
to secure him on their roster. The
49ers instead opted for another quarterback with their 1st round
pick, Jim Druckenmiller, who was seen as one of the best prototypical, big,
strong-armed, pocket QB’s of the 1997 draft, but, without great speed or
scrambling ability, apparently not ideally suited for the West Coast Offense,
while Jake “the Snake” Plummer, who is, entered the NFL in the 2nd
round of that 1997 draft, the 42nd pick overall, going to the
Arizona Cardinals. Nevertheless, he
was and has continued to be met with the pomp befitting a prototypical 1st
round pick of the top-10 variety by both his team and, for the most part, the
media at large. Having played and
been a hero at Arizona State, such treatment by the Cardinals was foreseeable
and even somewhat apropos, but the media’s embrace was uncharacteristic and,
going into last year, was overwhelming to the point of ridiculous. Plummer’s wearing of the number 16 was
just the beginning of the (premature/tendentious) comparisons writers have
drawn between him and the great Joe Montana.
Take notice, though, to the fact that I used the words “premature” or
“tendentious” in the parenthetical above, not “erroneous”. That is because “erroneous” they are
not. “Insufficient” and, thus,
“premature and tendentious” they were and still are. When observing their talents as
individuals in isolation, many of the comparisons, particularly those
regarding intangibles and style of play, hold true, more or less. It is when one compares their situations
that the striking contrasts appear.
Montana’s positive attributes that we also attribute to Plummer are
particularly well-suited and exploitable in what is now commonly known as the
West Coast Offense, which brings me back to my original thinking. Jake could have spent a couple years
under the tutelage of John Elway or Steve Young. Then, at a more reasonable pace, have learned the system and
taken the reigns of one of these two teams’ West Coast Offenses in due time,
which would have been last season. If
Jake Plummer’s skills were applied in a West Coast Offense, he would
undoubtedly flourish. The crossing
(over the middle) patterns of receivers, the short, crisp passes in the flats
to running backs coming out of the backfield, the manufactured quarterback
rushes and bootlegs, not to mention the impromptu scrambling and rushing, all
ideally suit “the Snake’s” athletic ability and style of play. Instead he mires in Arizona’s Marc
Trestman offense. Amidst all the
“Snake” hype last year at this time, some sources actually did point out the
“‘Marc’-ed-for-(statistical)death” Trestman scheme, but most of us ignored or
even scoffed at the warnings.
Remember Trestman is the guy who only lasted two years in San
Francisco before being unceremoniously dismissed. This guy is to offensive coordinators what Rick Mirer
(ironically now possibly getting his chance to completely ruin that
aforementioned 49er West Coast Offense) is to quarterbacks. He gave it a good go early on, but has
stunk it up ever since. Another huge fundamental difference
between Montana and Plummer is their respective receiving corps. Though Plummer has a good (but as-of-late
underachieving) trio of catchers in Moore, Sanders and Boston, they are not
Montana’s Rice, Taylor and Clark (and Craig). This difference is obviously not easily reconciled. With the other issue, Trestman could go or
Plummer could go, but with this one…
For one, it depends on individuals, particularly David Boston and
rookie running back Thomas Jones, to live up to (or exceed) their billing and
the Cardinals organization to scout well and string together a few really
good drafts. At least the latter half
of that can surely be put into question.
Secondly, in Montana’s list of top receiving threats, you find a tight
end, something you will almost always find in a true, successful West Coast
Offense, but will never find in a “‘Marc’ed-for-death” Trestman offense. Unless Arizona installs more 3-receiver
sets, which also will not happen too often in a Trestman-run(into the ground)
offense especially with the coming of Thomas Jones, Jake will usually only
have 2 options. What “the Snake”
could do with a tight end, the glory of it!
;) Having said all that, I am a believer in
Jake “the Snake”. He has spent more
consecutive years on my keeper league
team (4) than any other player on my current roster. I drafted him back in 1997, and I still
think he has a very bright future ahead of him…in the long run. Heck, for this season I named my team
“Plummer’s Snake” in his honor. However,
Plummer’s ability to succeed this year will be largely compromised by the presence
of Trestman. As Pro Football Weekly
stated, “…he (Trestman) must give the (starting) quarterback (Plummer) more
room to be himself” in his (Trestman’s) system which “…may be too rigid and
structured in the way it does things.”
The bottom line though is that whatever Trestman does it will not mean
converting to a full-time, full-on West Coast Offense. I flinch when I say this because it means
that Plummer would have to have a bad year this year along with Griese in
Denver, Garcia in San Francisco or Kitna in Seattle (which, in reality, I do
not wish on any of them as this is their livelihoods), but sometimes I think
Jake would be better off ending up in the West Coast Offense of Denver, San
Francisco or Seattle next year as all three of these teams are more or less
in a period of transition at the quarterback position. Nevertheless,
Plummer has value this year (more in keeper leagues),
but I would not count on him this season being anything more than a
platooning #2 fantasy quarterback.
Hopefully, the “offensive” line overachieves; Thomas Jones gets out of
the gate fast, taking the heat off Jake, and his favorite target Rob Moore
stays healthy, and David Boston breaks out.
But, do not count your Cardinals before they hatch! It is best to play it safe and keep your
expectations low when it comes to Plummer (and all of the aforementioned
Cardinals) this season, and then, you might be pleasantly surprised by decent
#2/#3 numbers rather than being disappointed by ugly #1 stats. |
Copyright © 1999 by GBRFL. All rights reserved.
Revised: 08 Oct 2014 11:56:22 -0700