It’s Put Up Or Shut Up Time For DHB

Darrius Heyward-Bey is a 6-foot-2-inch, 205 lbs. rocket boosted wide receiver who has never lived up to being the 7th overall selection by the Oakland Raiders in the 2009 NFL Draft. However, with the recent suspension of Martavis Bryant and a potential reluctance to rush a rookie, 4th round pick Sammie Coates, onto the field, it is now put up or shut up time for DHB.

Heyward-Bey’s first two seasons in the NFL were marred by injuries and erratic quarterback play. Afterall, he did play for the Oakland Raiders, who’s ever-spinning QB carousel is rivaled only by the Cleveland Browns.

DHB’s best two seasons came during the arrival of Carson Palmer to Oakland. Appearing in 15 games both years, he put up 64 catches for 975 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2011 and 41 catches for 606 yards and 5 scores in 2012. Not exactly eye-popping numbers, but there have been flashes of brilliance with 15.2 and 14.8 yards average per reception.

DHB’s next two seasons were a complete wash. He totaled 29/309/1/10.7 with the Colts in 2013 and was mostly lost in the regular rotation in Pittsburgh last season, with only 3 receptions for 33 yards. Considering the deep receiving corps, and a knock on Heyward-Bey’s hands, he fell behind receivers such as Justin Brown, Lance Moore and an emerging first-year player in Martavis Bryant.

Now with Bryant being suspended for 4 games to start the 2015 season, Ben Roethlisberger is looking at DHB to be the veteran leader who steps in to fill the role on the outside.

Just like Big Ben, I believe he can.

DHB possesses the physical tools to add a similar threat as Bryant did on the outside. While we forget Markus Wheaton was technically drafted as Mike Wallace’s heir, we saw he was better suited to playing the slot role with a larger, faster body running down the numbers.

And while fans will question why DHB is even on the roster, we tend to forget he is a special teams ace, of which Mike Tomlin highly values. Consider his veteran experience and ability to keep the secondary honest when covering the plethora of other weapons on the Steelers offense (such as Antonio Brown and Heath Miller) and the threat alone will help the offense in ways that Justin Brown was incapable of at the beginning of last season.

One final note: everyone rags on DHB’s hands. In my opinion, he may have had more trouble with the Raider QBs. Consider the source of those passes that weren’t thrown by Carson Palmer: JaMarcus Russell, Bruce Gradkowski, Charlie Frye, Jason Campbell and Terrelle Pryor were the signal callers for 39 games while Heyward-Bey wore the black-and-silver.

Now that he’s in black-and-gold, there are now more excuses. That’s why it’s time for DHB to put up… or shut up.