I wonder (maybe incredibly stupidly) whether CJF sees JJ as a project and is trying to rebuild his WR skills (e.g. route running, YAC, hands, etc) kind of like a good golfer changing his swing or a shooter changing his form). And part of that process involves some misfires and frustration. Just a hope maybe.
I will say that there have been replays of passes to other WRs where you can see JJ just jogging in the background on a zero or giving up early. I don't go to the games so I can only see it in the background on TV in some of the replays.
I would’ve loved to see, from game 1 and every first or second series, Trace throw a highball/zero/Hail-mary to JJ. In the OB era it always seemed that analysts were saying “watchout for the deep ball, Hail Mary.” The 0 with JJ at the very least (if you throw it) forces the safety to play it safe. Maybe those who go to the games will say that JJ is running the 0. But I'd like to see it actually thrown.
I'd also like to see JJ on same Flag route that the O would use to get the ball to Gesicki.
There does seem to be some lack of creativity in routes. How many times do you see Hamler run the exact same Post from the slot position?
Interesting (at least to me) data point(s): Somewhere I've seen JJ listed at 230+lbs. RLR had him listed as 231 in August. I'm not sure that's accurate, but if he is 230+, he'd have been the heaviest WR in the 2018 NFL combine. His listed weight of 2018 on the roster is 225lbs, and 213lbs in 2016. All this to say, it might be interesting if we see him drop weight coming into 2019. His Ht/Wt isn't an anomaly. There are WRs that are 230+ (Mike Evans and Kelvin Benjamin), but they are rare. Felton Davis is 6'4 200lbs. I wonder if his 40/shuttle/pad-speed has changed after 10-15-20lbs.
Sorry for the long rant. I really like JJ and want to see him play on Sundays.