Smart teams win. Dumb teams lose.
That may sound reductive but success and failure in the NFL is that simple. To wit: Since 2000, the New England Patriots and Washington Football Team have combined for 22 postseason appearances. The Pats account for 17.
New England is run by one of the more intelligent owners in the league, Robert Kraft, and head coach Bill Belichick, who may be the best mind in the history of the sport. …
In the third installment of this year’s Top Five Series, we take a look at the best running backs in the NFL. Be sure to check out prior lists highlighting the best coaches and receivers in the game as well.
A special thank you goes out to the 2017 NFL draft, which provided four of the five entries on this list as well as Kareem Hunt, Leonard Fournette, Joe Mixon, James Conner, Marlon Mack and Chris Carson. That is one heck of a return on a single class of running backs.
5. Aaron Jones
Team: Green Bay Packers
3,364 rush yards, 37…
The second run of The Top Five Series opened last week with a look at the top coaches in the NFL today. Take a look here if you missed out on last week’s list.
This week, we take a look at the best wide receivers in the league.
5. Stefon Diggs
Team: Buffalo Bills
492 receptions; 6,158 yards, 38 TD (six seasons)
Stefon Diggs has not received the respect he deserves.
Despite being the no. 2 option behind Adam Thielen in Minnesota, Diggs’ per-year numbers were on par with those of former division rival Davante Adams, who some consider the…
Rob Gordon — or Robin “Rob” Brooks, if you prefer a more current reference — is one of my kindred spirits from the world of fiction. Both Robs, based on the main character in Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel, High Fidelity, love top five lists.
My natural predilection for ranking things, like the aforementioned Robs, dovetailed nicely with the NFL 100 All-Time Team that was part of the league’s recent centennial celebration. The position players who were, or were not, included in the NFL’s list became a hot topic of debate. A proper ranking was required.
Maybe Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams were on to something.
Maybe, years from now, ESPN will make a documentary about one of the NFL’s most storied franchises pushing two Hall-of-Famers out of town while the team’s championship window was still open.
Maybe Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst will go down in history as the NFL’s Jerry Krause, a personnel man who tried to prove himself to the world but only confirmed he was beyond his depth.
Maybe the Green Bay Packers will wander the wilderness of mediocrity after spending 30 years under the stewardship of two Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks.
The 2021 NFL season unofficially started last month with the opening of free agency, but the league’s first landmark event of the season begins tonight in Cleveland. After conducting an entirely virtual draft last spring, fans will once again attend the league’s premier offseason affair, where the newest members of the National Football League will walk across the stage to don their new team’s colors for the first time.
My Baltimore Ravens draft preview was especially sunny thanks to an impeccable showing by general manager Eric DeCosta last spring. My look into the Green Bay Packers, however, will be a…
The 2021 NFL season unofficially started last month with the opening of free agency, but the league’s first landmark event of the season begins tomorrow night in Cleveland. After conducting an entirely virtual draft last spring, the NFL’s off-season spectacle will accept fans at FirstEnergy Stadium, where the newest members of the National Football League will walk across the stage to hold their new team’s jersey.
Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta hit last year’s draft out of the park, picking up multiple on-field contributors in what many analysts considered the best draft class of 2020. …
Location, location, location.
The concept is widely attributed to real estate but it also needs a home in the National Football League. Talent is an obvious prerequisite for success in professional football, as no player will succeed if they lack the talent to do so. A player’s home is equally important to their success, no more so than quarterbacks that are brought in to save a franchise.
Josh Rosen is a great example. Rosen, taken 10th overall in 2018, was tasked with leading two of the worst offenses in recent NFL history — first in Arizona, then in Miami —…
Jalen Suggs’ time in Spokane was supposed to be a pit stop to NBA greatness.
Suggs entered the 2020–21 season as a consensus top-five pick in a loaded draft class. His company at the top of those draft boards, Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham and USC’s Evan Mobley, made some noise of their own during this NCAA tournament. Cunningham averaged 19.5 points in two tournament games despite shooting just 26 percent from the field, while Mobley helped lead the Trojans to their first Elite Eight appearance since 2001.
Suggs helped Gonzaga eliminate USC and upped the ante by ending the season…
Popular author Richard Connell wrote the famous story, “The Most Dangerous Game”, nearly 100 years ago. In that work, Sanger Rainsford tells his friend, Whitney, “The world is made up two classes — the hunters and the huntees.”
The same concept applies to the National Football League, where there are two types of teams: Those in search of a franchise quarterback and those already employing one.
For the first time since they drafted quarterback Russell Wilson in 2012, the Seattle Seahawks may need to prepare themselves for the hunt.
Shortly after the Super Bowl, Wilson stirred feelings in the Pacific…
