Warrior General Games

A thought just occured to me. Hear me out on this one. I'm sure your first reaction is "wtf is this guy smoking"... but maybe give it a little thought first, then ask me what I'm smoking :-p (or from what I'm seeing of the character of the forums here, ad hominem attacks comparing the level of my players with the level of yours - please prove me wrong on this!)

The title says it all - has anyone built or even thought about a blocking WR? A lot of teams love to run. Some of those teams love to run to the outside. Key blocks by the WR can turn a run for a 4 yard gain into a run for a 40 yard gain. A WR geared specifically towards blocking would be a nice asset for those teams.

This would be difficult to build. The build would be akin to a balanced TE, but even trickier, because he's gotta have it all.

Blocking is, of course, necessarily required. This is a non-skill for a WR, so skill points have to be invested. Strength should be higher than an ordinary WR, but needn't be too high as he'll be taking on CBs rather than LBs as a TE would. Vision would be essential to execute the blocks. Agility is necessary to follow through on the vision, and speed to catch the CBs. Catching's gotta be a reasonable level too so the opponent has to legitimately cover him.

Fortunately, not many points need to be invested into special abilities, as the only relevant ones would be Quick Cut, First Step, and Route Run (in that order).

At this point you're probably asking yourself "why not just reposition a TE at WR?" There are two answers to that question:
1) A WR playing at WR wouldn't get the out-of-position penalty, however small the TE->WR one is.
2) More importantly, I'm crazy and like to experiment with new and unique ideas. I think the pros call it "thinking outside the box".

I think I'll build one. Of course he'll suck ass until level 10 or so, but that's what the D-leagues are for, eh? Tips would be appreciated, if you have any. Criticisms are of course welcome too, just remember my reason #2 ;-)

I think it is a waste to build primarily to be for blocking, and a waste to put SPs into blocking, but to have a WR that can out-block CBs can help spring runs around the outside, for sure. My player has done it plenty of times. All the other attributes (vision, agility, speed) you need for a WR anyway. Strength is not essential for WRs but it also helps to break tackles for YAC so it's a good idea to train in anyway. I think it is probably a waste to put SPs into strength and blocking, at least early on, but you can train them up to a pretty good level, compared to most CBs, and your training is more efficient compared to training more important attributes.

Good ideas.

I've put quite a few SPs into strength and blocking in my initial build, simply because they aren't majors or minors and so won't receive any "free" training over time.

I'll report back regularly with progress. I intentionally chose a D-league team with a high level RB (hopefully he's a speedster, his stats aren't open, and don't steal my guinea pig RB dammit! ;-p) and a relatively good - in a D-league sense - offensive line to test with.

Tetura, Strength IS essential .... not sure how high your strength is.. because not only can he pancake somebody, but he can also run them over...

Amyrlin .... VERY interesting idea, i love it.

Yeah , sounds like a good experiment .

I would for one love to hear back from you how this build goes .

I am a lvl 21 WR with 12 str and 15 blocking and i can tell you i spring the HB to the outside usually once sometimes more a game. In the beginning of last season we saw that our WR were getting run over and the other teams WR were not. So we decided to train our blocking a little and we are seeing a difference of a 10-20 yard carry both ways ever once and a while.

12 str???

Bet you get a lot of deflected passes.

I'm at lvl 21 with 24 str and trying to add.

Originally posted by LionsFan0513
Tetura, Strength IS essential .... not sure how high your strength is.. because not only can he pancake somebody, but he can also run them over...

my strength is 17 and blocking 15 at lvl 16. Not huge, but higher than most CBs. No pancakes yet, but plenty of blocks held long enough for RBs to get around the edge (and I've compared him to teammates who have lower st and bl, and they don't seem to hold blocks as long). If strength was "essential" it would be a major or even a minor attribute. it's not. i'm not saying it isn't important and valuable, it is, but it isn't essential. imho.

It's not essential because GLB WRs are designed to catch the ball. What they do after catching the ball is their business. Strength doesn't directly help you catch. Though I guess it does lead to less deflected passes as you get into position better and/or commit offensive pass interference.

I got my first pancake at WR last game. It is a truly omnipotent feeling.

I would think that it wouldnt be terribly hard to build the "blocking WR". Build just like normal, def put a couple of extra into strength and blocking early on in the d league where it wont affect a real team as much(plus u can see a little of how well it may or may not be working), but then just drop a point or two into them every once in a while. Once you get up to lvl 15 you should be stronger, and blocking at least close to CB's. Def. only put points in to the first 2 of each SA tree. I have an 18 in strength, and only an 8 in blocking, but I have plenty in the SA's. If I had only put into the first 2 of each then lets say anywhere from 15-20 plus more points into strength and blocking.

I don't really think you need blocking , b/c if you have enough strength you will be able to push the CB off , or am I wrong ?

Then you won't "waste" your points in blocking that's only effective on runplays , while the extra points in strength also have an effect on pass plays and especially in the redzone .

Thoughts ?

Originally posted by Iversen5771
I don't really think you need blocking , b/c if you have enough strength you will be able to push the CB off , or am I wrong ?

Then you won't "waste" your points in blocking that's only effective on runplays , while the extra points in strength also have an effect on pass plays and especially in the redzone .

Thoughts ?

I understand what your saying about the strength, but the whole point isn't to push off and get yourself open, it's to hold the block long enough to allow the RB time to get to the outside and down the field. A lot of teams run a lot in the redzones, and that little extra advantage on blocking could become key to running it in.

If your team wants a WR to block, why not just throw a TE or O-linemen out there and not worry if they can catch?

Rob

I plan on training blocking at some point. Not anytime soon, though.