Is Myles Price For Real?

In something of a low-grade breakout against the New York Giants, Myles Price put up a team-high 51 yards and the team’s only preseason touchdown. That’s a very preseason-y line, but Price was one of the bright spots on the 2nd- and 3rd-team offense, which otherwise struggled mightily. 

In the second game against Baltimore, Price only caught one of his four targets for eight yards. With some inaccuracy from J.J. McCarthy, that’s not necessarily his fault. With such a small sample, can we glean anything anyway?

We probably are squeezing blood out of a stone. That’s kind of all I do here. So let’s go ahead and overanalyze a game you had on the second monitor. One way to expand that sample is to look at more than just the eight plays where Myles Price was targeted.

_{The full article is available for subscribers. Wide Left is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.}

Price’s first snap of the game was a 2nd down run where he was responsible for crack blocking Chauncey Golston, who has a 94-pound advantage, according to their official listings. Putting this much effort into setting the edge on a toss play was a nice way to set the tone.

On the ensuing 3rd down, Price ran an under against press coverage from rookie Colton Hood. This is a good test for the 183-pound Price because there is no way to avoid a physical barrier. There’s no route stem to manipulate Hood — he’s in your face and in your way. 

Price gets jacked up, creating no separation. JJ McCarthy has to progress onward to a corner from Jeshaun Jones, whom he overthrows.

This is especially unfortunate because Hood denied the outside release, and Price wanted an inside release. If Hood’s two-hand jam didn’t get as much purchase, the route would have been free and clear. 

In the next series, Price works against Hood again in press coverage. This is a 20-yard curl route mixed with a seven-step play pass, so there is a lot to do. 

Price gives an outside release to widen Hood, then tries to cut back inside. Hood stays square with Price, making Price fight through all that contact anyway. Only then can he stack up Hood, break down at 20 yards, and work back to the ball.

This is all a lot of stuff to do when you still have 20 yards of a route stem to run. So while Price eventually gets by Hood, this takes a ton of time. Here’s the play at the three-second mark, where McCarthy is expected to have a throw ready.

Price is still eight yards away from breaking. Even with perfect anticipation, the QB will have to wait past 3 seconds for Price to finish his route. You can mitigate this to some degree by pairing long routes with long dropbacks, but that only goes so far.

Hood is called for holding over more contact at the top of the route, slowing things down further. McCarthy has to buy the extra time by hitching in the pocket, and he has a bad habit of hitching his way into trouble. So when the time to throw comes, he’s too close to the line to set his feet, and has to hitch back. 

Now the throw is late, and Price is waiting on McCarthy (what a mess!). So he works back toward the quarterback to preserve the separation he spent so much time earning and catches the pass when it arrives.

This is a tough play to evaluate. There’s a focused plan to get separation, which is nice, but Price simply cannot spend that much time, especially if physical contact will slow him down even further, and especially not with a quarterback who routinely makes things worse for himself in long developing plays.

There is a difference between getting open and getting open on time. But don’t mistake this for a wet blanket on Price’s big day. The intentionality behind Price’s routes will carry him farther than his issues with physicality will hold him back.

Take Jordan Addison, at 173 pounds. He carries the same issues with slowdowns when a corner can get physical with him, but Addison is still plenty productive. You can live that way. You just need the right plan to create separation that can’t be thwarted by a good jam. Too often, Price chose the wrong one.