NFLRT 8/9/2024

The questions and discussion…

1) Since 2011, the NFL has been releasing its “NFL Top 100” list, where players around the league vote on which NFL players they consider to be the top talents. And…

The players voted Tyreek Hill… not Patrick Mahomes… as the best player in league. The players had Mahomes behind Christian McCaffrey and Lamar Jackson as the fourth best player in the NFL.

While this is intriguing since these are the guys in Mahome’s every day workplace that’s offering up their opinions on “who is best,” Still…

What is your opinion about the NFL player’s opinion of who is the best player in the league and their top four? Why?

I have no idea what the players were doing with this list.

Not putting Mahomes at one is a huge head-scratcher. This man just led the Kansas City Chiefs to a second straight Super Bowl victory without a star receiver or a reliable receiving core. They also showed struggles throughout the year with a lot of talk and questions about whether the Chiefs could even pull out with the AFC West crown, let alone make the Super Bowl. Then, to make matters worse, they put three players who all lost to Mahomes in the playoffs last season ahead of him.

Lamar Jackson fell flat in the playoffs against Mahomes and the Chiefs to be blocked from reaching the Super Bowl.

Tyreek Hill, while excelling in Miami and definitely a top-five NFL player, lost in Kansas City in the first round of the playoffs last season. Hill is a great player, but you can’t discredit Tua from throwing him the ball and I don’t see him as being more valuable or better than Mahomes, especially last season.

And Christian McCaffrey, while an awesome player and my number two overall player, lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. While McCaffrey is a jack-of-all-trades type player on offense, I just don’t think he’s better than Mahomes, especially since Mahomes just makes magic out of nothing and has led the Chiefs into dominating the league as favorites to win the Super Bowl every single season.

Mahomes is the clear number one player in the NFL, and it’ll be a hard line to cross to knock him out of top position. 

I think the NFL needs to do some serious drug testing of a significant portion of it players especially for marijuana use.

Because otherwise I have no idea why the players did not vote to make Patrick Mahomes the number one player in their league.

As for the second best player?

I wouldn’t argue with anybody who said it’s a coin flip between Tyreek Hill and Christian McCaffrey but, personally, I lean to McAfee who is a threat every season to not only lead the NFL in rushing yards but also in overall yards from scrimmage as well.

Then Comes Hill.

And frankly I don’t know if I would even have Lamar Jackson in my top five.

2)  In your opinion which NFL team made the most significant move(s) this off-season to become a playoff contender if not a Super Bowl contender? Why?  

Honestly, I think the Bears did a lot of great work on their offense to become a top playoff contender this season, as long as Caleb Williams delivers on the hype of the number one quarterback in the draft and matches expectations.

The Bears not only drafted a quarterback first but drafted a top wide receiver at number nine in the draft to give Williams a young, viable weapon that he can grow with. They also went and traded for Keenan Allen, who’s been dominant for the Chargers when he’s been healthy and on the field. They signed DeAndre Swift this off-season to help at running back and Swift came into camp looking great and ready to roll. They still have DJ Moore at wide receiver, so they have a nice trio of weapons at wide out for Williams, along with a very solid running back (and Herbert as the back-up) along with Cole Kmet still at tight end.

The Bears put their rookie quarterback in great position to succeed on offense, and the Bears are definitely playoff contenders now

I agree it’s the Bears.

They used their No. 1 overall pick step to draft Caleb Williams to  be their (hopefully) franchise Qb.

Then general manager Ryan Poles reshaped the roster to ensure the collegiate standout is well protected and has the talent around him to be successful on the field.

The trade for Keenan Allen gives the Bears a pair of veteran pass catchers in the lineup with the capacity to win against one-on-one or double coverage. Add Rome Odunze and the Bears have a three-receiver package that should create some serious problems for most opposing defenses.

D’Andre Swift is a superb rusher who with his speed and quickness has the ability to take it all the way to the end zone on either a hand off or short pass.

Then Poles made some moves to improve the offensive line whose most important job will be to keep Williams upright and safe from opposing defensive linemen and linebackers. He added Matt Pryor to be add depth to the guard spot and Kira Amegadjie should immediately compete with Braxton Jones for the right tackle job.

All in all, if Williams perform anywhere near to what the Bears hope he can be then they could be contending for the playoffs this season and if they get in then who knows how far they could go.

The following three questions deal with QBs who are considered to be unproven at their position as they enter the upcoming NFL regular season… and one simple question…

3) Is this a “make it or break it” year for the Giants’ Daniel Jones? Why or why not?

This is definitely a make-it-or-break-it year for Daniel Jones.

He’s in year two of his big extension he signed with the Giants and, so far, hasn’t lived up to his contract. Granted, last season he did miss most of the year with an injury, but even when he was healthy last season he didn’t look good. Now that was also in part because of a terrible offensive line, but Daniel Jones needs to go back to the self that got him this contract and really perform for the Giants. If he fails to do so, I would expect the Giants to move on from Jones and find a new quarterback of their future either in the draft or go after Dak Prescott very heavily in free agency if he can’t get a contract signed with the Cowboys. 

When GM Joe Schoen signed Daniel Jones to his $160 million four-year deal it wasn’t all guaranteed. In effect what it really was, was a two-year make it or break it contract which the Giants could get out of the remaining years and money if Jones didn’t prove himself.

This is now the season where push will come to shove for Jones… he will either prove he is the guy the Giants need at QB, or he will get his butt fired.

Up to this point, in my opinion, Jones in not an NFL starting QB. He simply make too many errors even while attempting to execute basic plays.

But it’s not all on Jones either.

The OL is, if I’m being kind, a work in progress. The defense needs to prove it can stop teams on a consistent basis before it can be taken seriously. And Schoen allowed their best player… Saquon Barkley… to ride down I95 to the Eagles. And while they added a potential All-Star at wide receiver in Malik Nabors it still leaves the receivers room a tad on the paltry side of things.

This is a team that needs to see lots of improvement in a lot of positions and not just at QB but if the Giants fall flat again this season and if Jones stats don’t show at least a marked improvement from what he has shown thus far in his NFL career then he will take the most flak for the team’s failure and the Giants just might be bad enough that they get a top pick in a what could be a historically good QB class.

Without a doubt this is definitely “a make or break it” year for Jones.

4) Is this a “make it or break it” year for the Titan’s Will Levis? Why or why not?  

I think this is too early to call for Will Levis. He’s only in his second season for the Titans, who seem to be in rebuilding mode, and he’ll also be without DeAndre Hopkins for the first quarter of the season due to injury.

Levis showed growth in his limited starts last season, and this is going to be his first year as the full-time starter from start to finish. Let’s give him a full season under his belt before we start calling his future in Tennessee. I am looking for him to continue growing and developing and improving off of last season, but he’s still young and entering his first full season, so let’s give him time. 

Will Levis had an up-and-down rookie campaign filled with flash moments, and some bad rookie mistakes and at times just bad luck.

Going into the upcoming season Levis is expected to be the surefire starter for the long term and with that in mind general manager Ran Carthon aggressively sought to improve the offense around the young QB in the offseason.

Tennessee gave big bucks to the likes of running back Tony Pollard, center Lloyd Cushenberry III and wideout Tyler Boyd, and added offensive tackle JC Latham with the No. 7 pick. Internally they also agreed to terms with wide receiver Calvin Ridley.

The surrounding talent should make Levis sophomore year easier, but it’ll be on him to utilize all this new talent efficiently and correctly.

Considering the investment the Titans have made in Levis and his surrounding cast, it seems highly unlikely that they’ll pull the plug at any point this season.

However, next seson?

Could be an entirely different story.

5) Is this a “make it or break it” year for the Panthers’ Bryce Young? Why or why not?

Same goes for Bryce Young.

While last year was a disappointing season, how much of that was also due to how terrible Carolina was all-around? They had a poor offensive line. They didn’t really have any consistent, reliable weapons for Young to throw to and the running game couldn’t do a damn thing.

Entering year two, they should be a little bit improved, but they’ve been dealing with a rash of injuries in camp so far, so it’ll be hard to tell on his growth and development. I think you still need to be patient with Young, and I feel like he’s going to turn it around and become a reliable quarterback for the Panthers, but they need to start getting him some weapons.

They did improve the offensive line this off-season, so that’s going to help buy him some time and, hopefully, find some life from the running game, but Young needs more time. Especially with a team as awful as the Panthers were last season. So no, this is not a make-it-or-break-it year for Young either.

Bryce Young’s rookie season will be remembered mostly for his 2-14 record and numbers that placed him at the bottom of ranking for QBs in the NFL… including that he ranked 31^st in the NFL in completion percentage at 59.8%.

Overall, he had one of the worst statistical seasons ever for a quarterback taken at No. 1… his Total QBR (33.3) ranked 29th out of 30 qualified quarterbacks and it was the third worst among players taken No. 1 since 2007. Additionally Young’s 11 touchdown passes tied for the fewest in NFL history… not for rookies bur for any QB who had at least 500 passing attempts. And finally, he had no OL worthwhile in front him as his 62 sacks was the second most for a No. 1 pick in his rookie season, behind only David Carr’s 76 in 2002.

Despite the numbers, Young did show improvement as the season wore on.

Sources from opposing teams’ coaching staffs  staffs say Young has poise in the pocket, can throw on a dime and is mobile in the pocket.

Tampa Todd Bowles says, “He’s very patient. He’s one of the best scramblers I’ve seen this year.”

Saints defensive coordinator Joe Woods says, “In terms of him going through his progressions, throwing the ball to the right position, you see all that… For (the Panthers) it’s more about building up the roster around him.”

So no, this is not a “make it or break year” for Young.