Jordan Cameron keeps dropping passes. He dropped a touchdown at Dallas a week ago. He dropped a third-down pass against Atlanta, and he failed to catch another potential touchdown in the Falcons game.
According to a story in the Miami Herald, he’s also been dropping passes in practice.
What the heck is going on here?
He may be in a slump, but in these kind of situations, probably better to look at the big picture.
Cameron has dropped only one of his last 60 catchable balls. Over the last two years, 41 other tight ends have had the opportunity to catch at least 40 passes, and only one of them (Jason Witten) has a better drop rate.
| TIGHT END DROPS (2014-2015) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Rec | Drops | Pct |
| 1. | Jason Witten | 141 | 2 | 1.4% |
| 2. | Jordan Cameron | 59 | 1 | 1.7% |
| 3. | Brent Celek | 59 | 1 | 1.7% |
| 4. | Jordan Reed | 137 | 3 | 2.1% |
| 5. | Antonio Gates | 125 | 3 | 2.3% |
| 6. | Jacob Tamme | 73 | 2 | 2.7% |
| 7. | Greg Olsen | 161 | 5 | 3.0% |
| 8. | Larry Donnell | 92 | 3 | 3.2% |
| 9. | Richard Rodgers | 78 | 3 | 3.7% |
| 10. | Anthony Fasano | 51 | 2 | 3.8% |
| 11. | Heath Miller | 126 | 5 | 3.8% |
| 12. | Gary Barnidge | 92 | 4 | 4.2% |
| 13. | Delanie Walker | 157 | 7 | 4.3% |
| 14. | Dion Sims | 42 | 2 | 4.5% |
| 15. | Jermaine Gresham | 80 | 4 | 4.8% |
| 16. | Clay Harbor | 40 | 2 | 4.8% |
| 17. | Rob Gronkowski | 154 | 8 | 4.9% |
| 18. | Zach Ertz | 133 | 7 | 5.0% |
| 19. | Ladarius Green | 56 | 3 | 5.1% |
| 20. | Martellus Bennett | 143 | 9 | 5.9% |
| 21. | Charles Clay | 109 | 7 | 6.0% |
| 22. | Travis Kelce | 139 | 9 | 6.1% |
| 23. | Mychal Rivera | 90 | 6 | 6.3% |
| 24. | Jimmy Graham | 133 | 9 | 6.3% |
| 25. | Crockett Gillmore | 43 | 3 | 6.5% |
| 26. | Benjamin Watson | 94 | 7 | 6.9% |
| 27. | Coby Fleener | 105 | 8 | 7.1% |
| 28. | Lance Kendricks | 52 | 4 | 7.1% |
| 29. | Kyle Rudolph | 73 | 6 | 7.6% |
| 30. | Owen Daniels | 94 | 8 | 7.8% |
| 31. | Scott Chandler | 70 | 6 | 7.9% |
| 32. | Will Tye | 42 | 4 | 8.7% |
| 33. | Jared Cook | 91 | 9 | 9.0% |
| 34. | Julius Thomas | 89 | 9 | 9.2% |
| 35. | Tyler Eifert | 55 | 6 | 9.8% |
| 36. | Eric Ebron | 72 | 9 | 11.1% |
| 37. | Vernon Davis | 64 | 8 | 11.1% |
| 38. | Luke Willson | 39 | 5 | 11.4% |
| 39. | Levine Toilolo | 38 | 5 | 11.6% |
| 40. | Dwayne Allen | 45 | 6 | 11.8% |
| 41. | Austin Seferian-Jenkins | 42 | 6 | 12.5% |
| 42. | Vance McDonald | 32 | 8 | 20.0% |
So while Cameron has dropped a couple, I think we can cut him some slack.
Also on this front, I notice that in the Dallas game, when they were inside the 10, they put all three of their wide receivers on one side of the field, leaving Cameron isolated against a cornerback. They ran Cameron on a slant route, and it should have been a touchdown.
In the Atlanta game, they ran the same play from the other side. This time the coverage was much tighter. Can’t be called a drop because the defensive back got a hand in, but it’s the kind of play where you would expect the tight end would box out the defender and make the catch (or just catch it despite the coverage). Again goes incomplete.
This is a play that Adam Gase will use. Go back and watch the highlights of the Chicago-Washington game form Week 14 last year, and you’ll see Zach Miller catching a 9-yard touchdown on this exact same concept – stick all the wide receivers on one side, split your tight end wide, then have him run a slant against a smaller defensive back.
It’s one they may circle back to in the regular season. Only worry is they may be losing confidence in Cameron’s ability to execute it.
—Ian Allan