Tetairoa McMillan’s tight window acrobatic catches open up passing game

They have, including Coker’s in the red zone on the first drive of the Week 1 game against the Bears, and not one but two contortionist catches from McMillan in the win over Atlanta that seemed like dangerous throws until they weren’t because Young and his big-bodied receivers have spent hours narrowing in on the centimeters available to them in those situations.

A big catch radius often refers to the ability to high-point a ball or go get one away from a defender. But the catch radius of these receivers coupled with their large frames — a unique trait for the majority of a corps to have, as even Canales pointed out on Monday — creates windows that feel un-defendable at times. McMillan, for reference, has faced tight windows on 22.2 percent of his targets through two games.

“They all have huge catch radius, so it just makes it a lot more friendly for Bryce, especially when you’re pushing the ball down the field a little bit,” explained Idzik. “You feel comfortable about, OK, what might be a 50/50 ball for a smaller athlete, these guys that have great body control and have size to kind of hold off the DB and to hold space on the sideline becomes a 60/40 or a 70/30 ball.”

McMillan’s 28-yard reception in the third quarter of the Week 2 game in Atlanta comes to mind. By the time the ball was in his radius, he was essentially backpedaling with a defensive back draped over his front. But TMac made the catch, then had the wherewithal to pull off what amounted to an élevé to keep his toes in bounds.