NFLRT 6/14/2024

The questions and discussion… 

1) Since the end of last season there have been more than a new QB/WR duos introduced into the NFL… including new combos such as Daniel Jones and Malik Nabors, CJ Stroud and Stefon Diggs and Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. to name a few to go along with some of the established QB/WR duos presently in the league.

Which QB/WR combination is your choice to end the 2024-25 season as the best duo for the year? Why?

I think the best wide receiver-quarterback duo in the NFL this season will be Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase. Burrow is coming back to the roster after missing the second half of the season. Since Cincinnati finished last in the AFC North last season, they will feature an easier schedule than if they had finished where they were expected to finish at the start of the season if everybody was healthy. Ja’Marr Chase is trying to get a new contract. If that doesn’t happen before the season, he’s going to be working his ass off to make sure he gets a better deal than the huge deal Justin Jefferson just recently signed. With the duo back, and wanting to run their team to the Super Bowl, I expect both players to have massive seasons together. They missed out on a great opportunity last season with injuries and a slow start to Joe Burrow. This season, they’re both healthy, Chase is looking for a big contract, and they’re going to be ready to play. I think this duo is going to be an unstoppable match. 

The Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill.

 After acquiring Hill in 2022, Tagovailoa led the league in touchdown pass rate (6.3 percent), yards gained per pass attempt (8.9), yards per completion (13.7) and passer rating (105.5). Then last season he led the NFL in passing yards (4,624) and threw for a career-high 29 touchdowns.

During that same time period Hill has recorded 119 receptions and eclipsed 1,700 receiving yards in back-to-back seasons…. 1,710 yards in 2022 and in 2023 he was on well on pace to becoming the first NFL player to surpass 2,000 receiving yards in as single season but an ankle injury kept him from game 14 putting the kibosh on his attempt at achieving that milestone. Still he set a led the NFL in receiving yards as well as setting the Dolphins record for receiving yards in a season.

In 2024 with a healthy combo of Tua and Tyreek going at opposing defenses Tyreek Hill will beat Calvin Johnson’s signal season record of 1,964 yards and become the first player ever to surpass 2,000 yards. Thus making Tagovailoa and Hill the best QB/WR combination for the upcoming season.

2) And speaking about some of the new talent entering the league at the WR position…

Will a rookie wide receiver lead the NFL in total receiving yards this season? And if so which player will it be? Why?

No, there will not be a rookie that leads the NFL in receiving yards. There’s too many good wide receivers who aren’t rookies who have established themselves already as top wide receivers in the NFL. Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill, AJ Brown, Nico Collins, Stefon Diggs, Ja’Marr Chase, etc. There’s a lot of great options out there to lead the league, and I don’t think Marvin Harrison Jr, Malik Nabers, or Rome Odunze is going to get into that top echelon of receiver yards this season. The other candidates are just too good and demand the football plus yards. Hill has a chance to, again, take a crack at 2,000 receiving yards. AJ Brown is also in the same boat. Nico Collins and Diggs have each other to balance out their total yardage, but CJ Stroud could pass for massive yards this season with multiple weapons and an improved running situation down in Houston. Jefferson, if healthy, can run a passing offense all by himself. While I’m not saying the new influx of rookie receivers are bad, but I don’t think they’re going to be passing up the established veterans. 

Nope.

See my answer to question 1.

Tyreek Hill will blow away all the competition for the most receiving yards in the 2024 season.

Nuff said.

3) A recent CBSSports.com article by Jared Dubin said that last season’s “… Green Bay Packers had one of the most unusual wide receiver rooms in recent NFL history. Every receiver in their regular rotation entered the league in either 2022 or 2023, meaning they were all first- or second-year players… (and) Green Bay is now entering the 2024 season with largely the same group on hand… (however) there is not necessarily a ‘No. 1’ type of receiver among that group. But the Packers don’t care.”

Do your agree or disagree with Dubin’s assessment of the Packers’ wide receiver room? Why or why not?

And if the Packers don’t have a true number one receiver will it matter that much or are the Packers “right’ to not care? Why?

I agree with the Packers’ locker room assessment. They don’t have a true number one wide receiver anymore. I would say that Christian Watson can definitely be a true number one, but he can’t stay on the field. He’s hurt non-stop with one ailment after another. So until he can play an entire season, and stay healthy, he isn’t a true number one in Green Bay. The Packers were able to utilize their large crop of receivers last season with Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, and Dontayvion Wicks leading the way and all playing a big part getting open. Bo Melton had a lot of contributions late in the season, his name emerging in big moments with big receptions. He was able to get down field and get open. He was able to get across the field. Tucker Kraft stepped up in a huge way when Luke Musgrave went down with an injury later in the season and was forced to miss multiple games. Jordan Love doesn’t need a true number one. The Packers don’t need to pay a receiver huge money to have a very solid, and dangerous, offense. They just need these many pieces to their offense and have options. With these receivers growing a year in the NFL, with Jordan Love having a full season under his belt, with this team growing together and learning together, it’s going to elevate their growth. The Packers always had one receiver who was a big name, and a bunch of unknown names to casual fans, and succeeded heavily on offense under Brett Favre, under Aaron Rodgers, and now, under Jordan Love. 

I can agree with Dubin’s assessment of the Packers’ wide receiver room as long as the Dolphins coaching staff can get the wide receivers as a group to be into the wide receiver by committee program the Packers appear to be planning to use in the 2024 season.

If they can get that buy-in, then yeah, they really don’t need a true number 1 wide receiver because in each game QB Jordan Love will find the receiver who is having a hot day or who is simply finding the holes in the defense and be the number 1 receiver for that particular game.  

4) Which team is your pre-season pick to win the AFC East? Why?

My pick for the AFC East is the Buffalo Bills. The Jets are supposed to be great this season with the return of Aaron Rodgers. But, will he have a season like he did in his last year in Green Bay? Will it be worse after the Achilles injury? Will he gel with the offense properly? He showed up on voluntary workouts, but has been a no-show one day into mandatory mini-camp appearances. Right now, the Jets have a lot of uncertainties with questions that need answering. I can’t pick them to win the division quite yet. Going south, I love the Dolphins. I think they have a great team, an absolute explosive offense, but it seems like they haven’t been able to close it out when they need to. But, they play two road games in cold environments the final two weeks of the season, playing in Cleveland, then against the Jets in New York. They are notoriously horrible in cold weather historically, and why would that trend change this season? They also have to play Green Bay on Thanksgiving night, which, historically, is usually under 50 degrees and dipping into the 30s, which is another mismatch for them. The Bills play in cold weather. They’re use to that. They still have Josh Allen at quarterback. They still have weapons for him, including two massive tight ends that can command a lot of throws and get past defenders. They have James Cook and Ray Davis in the backfield. They still have weapons on defense. I’m not worried about them losing two wide receivers, or multiple defenders. The Bills are a winning organization as of late, and they’re going to make it to the playoffs as division champs again. 

As a New York Jets fan…

I’m going all in on the Jets front office and coaching staff going all in on Aaron Rodgers leading the team into the playoffs and then taking their best shot at stopping the Chiefs three-peating in 2024.

Jets start it all off by winning the AFC East.

5) Which team is your pre-season pick to win the AFC North? Why?

My pre-season pick to win the AFC North are the Cincinnati Bengals. I think they’re going to have an explosive year on offense with the return of Joe Burrow, who’s coming into the season almost fully healthy. Ja’Marr Chase still doesn’t have a contract yet, and he’s going to playing with a massive chip and a reason to prove that he deserves big money from the Bengals. They lost Joe Mixon, but they have Zach Moss and Chase Brown. Chase Brown is explosive, can catch balls out of the backfield and surprised a lot in his limited action last season. Zach Moss had a fantastic season for Indianapolis last year and will mesh with Burrow greatly. They also have an easier schedule this season due to them finishing in last place last season, which means their opponents should be a little easier than the Steelers or Browns or Ravens. The Bengals will return to one of the best teams in the AFC. They still finished 9-8 last season, and that’s with Joe Burrow dealing with an ankle injury to begin the season, then breaking his wrist mid-season and missing the rest. So they have the team to win. They’ll get Burrow for the full season. They’ll win games. They’ll win the North. 

I’m thinking that after essentially having a lost season last year due to various injuries that the Bengals’ QB Joe Burrow comes back strong in 2024 and takes the N Bengals back into the playoffs.

And similar to the Jets… it all starts with the Bengals’ winning the AFC North.