Which wideouts had the worst hands in 2010?
Certain players take a lot of criticism for dropped passes. James Jones was one of those guys in 2010, especially after he missed an opportunity for a huge gainer in Super Bowl XLV.
The Packers have to decide what to do with Jones this offseason. There was a report that they didn’t offer him a restricted free agent tender, but he says they did. This got me thinking — just how bad were Jones’ drops this year?
The number of passes that a WR drops is not a stat that is widely available. I found this table over at the Washington Post, which allowed me to calculate each player’s drops as a percentage of their targets:
| Player | Tm | Drops | Targets | Drop% | Rec% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Hernandez | NE | 7 | 64 | 10.9% | 70.3% |
| Brandon Tate | NE | 5 | 46 | 10.9% | 52.2% |
| Steve Smith | Car | 8 | 75 | 10.7% | 64.0% |
| Wes Welker | NE | 13 | 123 | 10.6% | 69.9% |
| Bo Scaife | Ten | 5 | 49 | 10.2% | 73.5% |
| Brent Celek | Phi | 8 | 79 | 10.1% | 53.2% |
| Devin Hester | Chi | 7 | 73 | 9.6% | 54.8% |
| Jerricho Cotchery | NYJ | 8 | 85 | 9.4% | 48.2% |
| Jacoby Ford | Oak | 5 | 54 | 9.3% | 46.3% |
| Brandon LaFell | Car | 7 | 76 | 9.2% | 50.0% |
| Brandon Gibson | StL | 8 | 91 | 8.8% | 58.2% |
| Kevin Boss | NYG | 6 | 70 | 8.6% | 50.0% |
| Miles Austin | Dal | 10 | 119 | 8.4% | 58.0% |
| Donald Driver | GB | 7 | 86 | 8.1% | 59.3% |
| Steve Breaston | Ari | 7 | 87 | 8.0% | 54.0% |
| Randy Moss | Ten | 5 | 63 | 7.9% | 44.4% |
| Terrell Owens | Cin | 11 | 139 | 7.9% | 51.8% |
| Pierre Garcon | Ind | 9 | 117 | 7.7% | 57.3% |
| Brandon Marshall | Mia | 11 | 146 | 7.5% | 58.9% |
| Owen Daniels | Hou | 5 | 68 | 7.4% | 55.9% |
| Brandon Pettigrew | Det | 8 | 110 | 7.3% | 64.5% |
| Michael Crabtree | SF | 7 | 101 | 6.9% | 54.5% |
| Dustin Keller | NYJ | 7 | 101 | 6.9% | 54.5% |
| James Jones | GB | 6 | 87 | 6.9% | 57.5% |
| Reggie Wayne | Ind | 12 | 175 | 6.9% | 63.4% |
| Danny Amendola | StL | 8 | 123 | 6.5% | 69.1% |
| Chad Ochocinco | Cin | 8 | 124 | 6.5% | 54.0% |
| Hines Ward | Pit | 6 | 93 | 6.5% | 63.4% |
| Tony Gonzalez | Atl | 7 | 109 | 6.4% | 64.2% |
| Mike Williams | TB | 7 | 110 | 6.4% | 59.1% |
| DeSean Jackson | Phi | 6 | 95 | 6.3% | 49.5% |
| Johnny Knox | Chi | 6 | 97 | 6.2% | 52.6% |
| Jermaine Gresham | Cin | 5 | 81 | 6.2% | 64.2% |
| Mike Wallace | Pit | 6 | 98 | 6.1% | 61.2% |
| Steve Johnson | Buf | 8 | 142 | 5.6% | 57.7% |
| Zach Miller | Oak | 5 | 92 | 5.4% | 65.2% |
| Jeremy Maclin | Phi | 6 | 113 | 5.3% | 61.9% |
| Santonio Holmes | NYJ | 5 | 95 | 5.3% | 54.7% |
| Andre Johnson | Hou | 7 | 136 | 5.1% | 63.2% |
| Hakeem Nicks | NYG | 6 | 128 | 4.7% | 61.7% |
| Marques Colston | NO | 6 | 130 | 4.6% | 64.6% |
| Dwayne Bowe | KC | 6 | 131 | 4.6% | 55.0% |
| Calvin Johnson | Det | 6 | 137 | 4.4% | 56.2% |
| Santana Moss | Was | 6 | 145 | 4.1% | 64.1% |
| Roddy White | Atl | 6 | 177 | 3.4% | 65.0% |
While this is not a list that a player wants to be on at all, Jones wasn’t terrible this year in terms of drop %. He fared as well as Reggie Wayne, and wasn’t even the biggest butterfingers on his own team. The normally sure-handed Donald Driver (8.1%) earned that title.
I’ve always liked Jones and thought he would eventually take over for Driver once he retired. That role may now go to Jordy Nelson, but there’s no doubt that Jones can be a productive receiver in Green Bay’s offense with Aaron Rodgers throwing to him. He has good strength and quickness and is able to get open, which is why his drops probably seem worse than they are. And with his reputation not reflective of his actual performance, the Packers may be able to get him at a discount this offseason.
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Its amazing that Hernandez, Tate, and Welker are 3 of the top 4, and Brady still put up monster numbers and a great year. What would those numbers look like if Randy Moss wasn’t traded?
This year everyone was talking, and justifiably so, about how good Peyton Manning was despite his receivers. Looks like TB was too.
Interesting that Hernandez and Welker both were high in drop % but also had a high reception %. That’s why Brady still found success. His guys had some drops, but they also pulled in a ton of (short) passes.
Braylon Edwards, partially vindicated.
Partially is right. Edwards’ rec% was 53%, which is not good, but better than guys like Johnny Knox, Mike Williams (TB), Brandon Lloyd and Terrell Owens, all of whom had similarly talented QBs throwing to them.
There’s never a good time for a dropped pass, but I’d be curious to see the stats/percentages for drops in the red zone and drops on 3rd downs. Some of these names (like Reggie Wayne and Wes Welker) are considered to be clutch players and seeing how they fare in clutch situatins would be interesting.
Wait! There are no Seahawks on the table! I was wondering if if the total drops for Mike Williams includes those as a Seahawk? and how that might affect his overall stats? He seemed to regress after signing a new contract.
If the Washington Post’s numbers are to be believed, M. Williams (SEA) didn’t have enough drops to make the list.