In terms of scenery, not much changed between 2009 and 2010 for Roddy White. Tony Gonzalez was back as the Falcons tight end and #2 target. Michael Turner and Jason Snelling returned to handle the team's rushing load. Finally, a young and improving Matt Ryan, albeit a little healthier than in 2009, was back as his quarterback. Still, we saw a shift from White. Up went his targets and catch rate, down went his yards-per-reception and touchdown rate. Why the change? Let's dig deeper.
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| Total | |||
| Yr | Catch% | YPR | TD% |
| 2008 | 63% | 14.8 | 8.1% |
| 2009 | 56% | 13.6 | 12.9% |
| 2010 | 69% | 12.0 | 9.1% |
| Total | 63% | 13.3 | 9.8% |
| Lg Avg | 60% | 13.2 | 8.4% |
| 20+ yards | ||||
| Yr | % of targ | Catch% | YPR | TD% |
| 2008 | 19% | 47% | 34.1 | 21.4% |
| 2009 | 13% | 25% | 40.0 | 60.0% |
| 2010 | 9% | 53% | 28.8 | 37.5% |
| Total | 13% | 42% | 33.6 | 33.3% |
| Lg Avg | 19% | 33% | 34.2 | 30.4% |
In an article I wrote on Monday, it was pointed out that White was near the league's basement in terms of percentage of his targets that were 20+ yards down field. 19% of the balls thrown his way were in that zone in 2008, which is right at the wide receiver league average, but that number fell to 13% in 2009 and to just 9% one year ago. White's ridiculous 69% overall catch rate is partially a product of both that drop and a 53% catch rate on the 20+ yard targets he did see. Despite 5 fewer targets, White caught 3 more balls and racked up 30 additional yards. Add the improved production on the long passes to the additional targets closer to the quarterback, which are easier to catch, and you have a much-improved catch rate.
| 10-19 yards | ||||
| Yr | % of targ | Catch% | YPR | TD% |
| 2008 | 28% | 61% | 17.5 | 11.1% |
| 2009 | 28% | 51% | 16.8 | 4.5% |
| 2010 | 33% | 62% | 16.7 | 5.6% |
| Total | 30% | 59% | 17.0 | 7.1% |
| Lg Avg | 30% | 56% | 16.4 | 9.9% |
Investigating White's 10-19 yard production, we see a 5% increase in White's targets in this range over the 28% he saw in both 2008 and 2009. Similar to the 20+ zone, we see a large increase in terms of catch rate in this zone (from 51% in 2009 to 62% in 2010). Interestingly, White's yards-per-reception and touchdown rates remained about the same.
| 0-9 yards | ||||
| Yr | % of targ | Catch% | YPR | TD% |
| 2008 | 50% | 67% | 9.2 | 3.8% |
| 2009 | 52% | 64% | 10.0 | 12.0% |
| 2010 | 53% | 73% | 8.6 | 8.7% |
| Total | 52% | 69% | 9.2 | 8.1% |
| Lg Avg | 45% | 71% | 8.8 | 4.7% |
Moving into the 0-9 range, we see some consistency in terms of targets, but changes in the yardage and scoring departments. After 50% of his targets were this range in 2008, that number jumped just 2% in 2009 and another 1% in 2010. Again, White's catch rate made a significant jump (from 64% in 2009 to 73% in 2010). The noticeable changes here are a 1.4 drop in YPR to a below average 8.6 and a sharp drop in TD rate from 12% to 8.7%.
| Behind LOS | ||||
| Yr | % of targ | Catch% | YPR | TD% |
| 2008 | 3% | 100% | 6.4 | 0.0% |
| 2009 | 7% | 80% | 10.5 | 12.5% |
| 2010 | 5% | 89% | 2.9 | 0.0% |
| Total | 5% | 88% | 6.6 | 4.8% |
| Lg Avg | 7% | 89% | 5.9 | 1.3% |
Finally, we have passes thrown to White behind the line of scrimmage. We see some significant movement here, but the sample size is very small – 24 total targets over 3 seasons. We can't take much from the touchdown data, but one interesting note is the sharp drop in yards-per-reception from 10.5 in 2009 to 2.9 in 2010.
White certainly was helped by seeing more of passes closer to the line of scrimmage, but, more importantly, he also saw a catch rate improvement of at least 9% in all four zones – an impressive achievement. His 1.3 yard drop in yards-per-reception can also be slightly blamed on the change in target location, but large drops in YPR on throws of 20+ yards and behind the line of scrimmage is the real culprit. Finally, we have a relatively significant 3.8% drop in touchdown rate. Considering White's 8.1% mark in 2008 and 8.4% league average, this should be, to some degree, credited to regression after an inflated mark in 2009.
After proving his talent over the last few seasons, White proved in 2010 how reliable of target he can be. His catch rate is likely to regress a bit in 2011, especially if he sees more deep targets, but it's clear that he's a threat regardless of where his pass route takes him.
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