Cardinals GM Steve Keim has to be optimistic about a free agent signing, but he laid it on a little thick with A.J. Green.
For most of the past decade, A.J. Green has been one of the most productive wide receivers in the NFL. But after missing the 2019 season, 2020 was the worst season of his career (47 catches for 523 yards in 16 games).
With rust to shake off and trying to build rapport with rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, there was early optimism for Green after a slow start last season. Burrow missing the final six games obviously didn’t help, but Green had a 45.2 percent catch rate (104 targets) and according to Player Profiler he came in third in unrealized air yards (939).
Steve Keim is very optimistic about A.J. Green
Green signed a one-year deal worth up to $8 million with the Arizona Cardinals in free agency. General manager Steve Keim was on the Huddle and Flow podcast with NFL Network’s Jim Trotter and Steve Wyche, and talked about Green.
“A.J. Green, people seem to think maybe he’s lost a step,” “He’s a guy to me that could play the Z position for us, has great character, as you guys know, and I still think he has some stuff left in the tank.”
Keim added that part of Green’s issue last season was uncatchable passes, which his staff charted out at 38. During a Monday press conference Keim went further, suggesting Green was the third-best receiver in the league at “catching balls in traffic.”
Kevin Patra of NFL.com debunked some of that.
According to Pro Football Focus, Green did have the third-most contested catches in 2020 with 19 — behind DeVante Parker and Allen Robinson (21) — and second-most contested-catch targets at 41. Green’s contested catch rate of 46.3 placed him 26th among all WRs with at least 80 targets. (For comparison, DeAndre Hopkins caught 50% of 26 contested catches last season.)
According to Next Gen Stats, Green’s was tied for worst in the league (with DeVante Parker) with 1.7 average yards of separation per target last year. With that failure to separate, 39.4 percent of his targets were deemed contested targets by Pro Football Focus. There’s no way all of them were also uncatchable.
With DeAndre Hopkins alongside him, Green does not have to be a star to be a meaningful contributor for the Cardinals. It’s fine for Keim to be optimistic, and no one expects anything less, but the 2015 version of Green is long gone.