Peerless Price

After leaving Buffalo for a huge free agent deal with Atlanta before the 2003 season, things went downhill for the former second-round pick. In 64 games with Buffalo, Price had 232 receptions for 3,302 yards and 22 TDs. He never came close to that level of production in three seasons with Atlanta and Dallas, regressing from 64 to 45 to just six catches across those years. Price will provide veteran leadership to the young receiving corps in Buffalo following the trade of Eric Moulds, and will hope to get his career back on track by winning the vacant #2 job. If he wins that, he'll have some value in deeper leagues again, though Andre Davis seems to pose a decent threat there. Plus, the Bills don't have the look of a team that's going to put up mega passing game points.

Price was the single worst per-play receiver (100 targets or more) in the NFL last season, averaging just 5.3 yards per target. Not only did he average just 12.8 yards per catch, but he managed to catch a league-worst 42 percent of the balls thrown his way. While things can only get better as the Falcons enter their second season in the West Coast offense, even a 40 percent improvement would put Price in the bottom half of the league on a per-pass basis. Price is still a good athlete with the speed to get deep and the quickness to make defenders miss. And as the No. 1 wideout on his team, he should see another 100-plus targets. If last season’s first-round pick, Michael Jenkins, can emerge as a viable receiving threat, and Michael Vick can get more comfortable in Atlanta’s scheme, Price could once again display some of the big-play skills he showed in Buffalo three seasons ago.

Last year was lost for Price as soon as Michael Vick broke his leg. Price caught an off-the-charts bad 45 percent of the 141 passes thrown his way. Let’s say that figure improves to a more representative 60 percent in ’04. That’s another 21 catches, assuming the same number of passes are thrown his way. And everything will be different for Price this year. Vick’s leg has healed, there’s a new offensive system, and Price has moved to flanker, which means he’ll be used as the motion receiver to ensure a clean release on the snap. Price should be drafted well ahead of his 2003 productivity. Just remember that he’s still an unproven go-to receiver.

Price will have a lot of adjustments to make with the Falcons - for one thing, he'll be receiving double coverage just about all the time, and for another, Vick threw almost 200 passes less than Drew Bledsoe did last year. Still, Price is probably too talented not to produce quality numbers, and he'll also learn that Vick's most successful plays are often broken ones. In other words, if Price learns to never give up on a pattern, no matter how far downfield he is, Vick should find a way to hook up with him on some long touchdowns.