RP Clips: Rashod Bateman & Jakobi Lane Buzz

**Matt Harmon** (0:00)
This is Reception Perception, The Show. James Koh and Matt Harmon.

**James Koh** (0:06)
I know this one peaked your entrance, but when I saw that Rashod Bateman is moving around the formation, it's like the Godfather meme, you know, it's like just when I think I'm out, they pulled me back in. But no, Rashod Bateman is reportedly moving around the formation. Matt Harmon, let's go.
What's the thoughts here, pal?

**Matt Harmon** (0:30)
Oh, my God, I finally, finally broke.
I went against what my therapist has been demanding of me, saying I can't talk about Rashod Bateman. I said, screw it. Bateman is going to come out there and talk about how he's moving around the formation. I'm going to talk about it, man.

**James Koh** (0:49)
I'm going to talk about it.

**Matt Harmon** (0:51)
So I even let off the tweet with F it.
We're going to talk about this. By the way, it is easily my most engaged with post on that website.

**James Koh** (1:04)
Oh, my God. That is funny.

**Matt Harmon** (1:07)
So what can I do? You got to give the people what they want. By the way, it was really funny how many people were replying with it. Like, I'm glad you lasted this long. It was good to see you last this long. But eventually the dog must return to its vomit, and that is what I did with the Rashod Bateman stuff. So Bateman comes out and says, as you mentioned, quote, I'm moving all over the place. In the past, I've been a one-dimensional receiver. I feel like he sees my talent. Talking about Declan Doyle's offense. As a receiver, you want somebody to believe in you to see your ability. I'm in the slot outside. That's a blessing for me. I appreciate him for doing that.
So I get to show my talent more and more. Okay. Obviously, everybody talks about, I'm moving around more in this offense, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Few receivers have moved around less than Rashod Bateman since he came to the NFL. To that point, there have been 180-wide receivers to run 500-plus routes since 2021 when Rashod Bateman entered the league. He has lined up in the slot on just 10.3% of his snaps in his entire career. That is the third lowest mark in that span. 180 receivers. He is 178th in slot percentage.

**James Koh** (2:19)
Wow. Okay.

**Matt Harmon** (2:19)
You want to guess who the other two guys are? The two lower ones?

**James Koh** (2:23)
Terry McLaurin and, okay, I don't know.

**Matt Harmon** (2:27)
AJ Green and Michael Gallup.

**James Koh** (2:29)
Oh, Michael Gallup. Perfect.

**Matt Harmon** (2:31)
So ancient AJ Green in, by the way, the Cliff Kingsbury.

**James Koh** (2:34)
Kingsbury offense. Good. Yes.

**Matt Harmon** (2:36)
Pile and lining up if Deandre Hopkins only, like we lined up on one side of the field. I didn't chart AJ Green with the Cardinals offense, but yeah, that hit him there. And then yeah, Michael Gallup playing that PRX role for the Dallas Cowboys. So consistently when I've charted Rashod Bateman, he's taken more than 80% of his snaps lined up as the on-ball receiver in the last three seasons for when I've charted him for Reception Perception. So listen, you can say whatever you want. You can make fun of me all you want about Rashod Bateman. But he has objectively played in one of the most static roles in the NFL while he's been in the pros. And I don't think that makes any sense for who he is as a player. And I'm not here to like slam on Todd Monkin or whatever, you know, because I think Todd Monkin is a good coach. But I think that with how much 12 personnel they played, and obviously Zay Flowers is a particular type of player. Because Bateman is the best route runner on the team. You play a lot at X. And I just think it doesn't make sense for his game, because number one, he's not a vertical threat after all of the injuries. Even in seasons where I've charted him that he was good, 2023 and 2024, he was still a good player. I'm really trying to avoid charting him his season last year. I don't know.
We'll see if I can make it out there, but...
I really don't want to put myself through it.
But anyway, so he's still good. He's their best separator, but he's not the vertical threat that he once was. He's also never been a true ball winner for this team either. So I always thought he made more sense as kind of like a... In his prospect profile, I think I compare him to a Keenan Allen type of player, like a slot Z option. That's kind of who he should be. I think there's just no way that if he plays, he's going to have the same static role. Because I want to talk about Jakobi Lane here in a second too. He's one of the reasons I think they took him in the third round. We can get into that in a second. But yeah, I'm definitely buying this report that Bateman is going to move around more.