You're about to read the most offseason column ever. Considered yourself warned. But this is something I just can't let go.
It all started with a relatively innocent tweet.
Here's the thing about the #Chiefs offense: Charles, Kelce, Maclin is arguably the best trio of RB, TE, WR in the NFL.
— R.S.H (@ryanscotthall) June 1, 2015
When I first heard that my immediate reaction was "chyeah right."
Then the more I thought about it, the more I kept thinking of team after team that doesn't stack up. After a little while it was hard to NOT think the Chiefs might have the absolute best grouping of its kind in the NFL. I kept trying to think of team where I'd say "oh yeah, they're absolutely better at those spots" and I kept coming up short.
There's only one thing to do ... it's offseason power ranking time.
First, a list of every NFL team and their expected starters at those three positions (RB, TE, WR). Just for the record, I'm going with the best player at each spot, not a guy who is listed as the No. 1 (for example, Edelman > LaFell for the Patriots even though LaFell is listed about Edelman). Presented in alphabetical order...
Arizona Cardinals | Ellington | Fells | Fitzgerald |
Atlanta Falcons | Freeman | Tamme | Jones |
Baltimore Ravens | Forsett | Gillmore | S. Smith |
Buffalo Bills | McCoy | Clay | Watkins |
Carolina Panthers | Stewart | Olsen | Benjamin |
Chicago Bears | Forte | Bennett | White |
Cincinnati Bengals | Hill | Eifert | Green |
Cleveland Browns | Crowell | Barnidge | Bowe |
Dallas Cowboys | Randle | Witten | Bryant |
Denver Broncos | Anderson | Daniels | Sanders |
Detroit Lions | Bell | Ebron | Johnson |
Green Bay Packers | Lacy | Quarless | Nelson |
Houston Texans | Foster | Graham | Hopkins |
Indianapolis Colts | Gore | Fleener | Hilton |
Jacksonville Jaguars | Robinson | Thomas | Hurns |
Kansas City Chiefs | Charles | Kelce | Maclin |
Miami Dolphins | Miller | Cameron | Parker |
Minnesota Vikings | Peterson | Rudolph | Wallace |
New England Patriots | Blount | Gronkowski | Edelman |
New Orleans Saints | Spiller | Watson | Cooks |
N.Y. Giants | Jennings | Donnell | ODB |
N.Y. Jets | Ridley | Amaro | Marshall |
Oakland Raiders | Murray | Rivera | Cooper |
Philadelphia Eagles | Murray | Celek | Agholor |
Pittsburgh Steelers | Bell | Miller | Brown |
St. Louis Rams | Gurley | Cook | Britt |
San Diego Chargers | Gordon | Gates | Allen |
San Francisco 49ers | Bush | Davis | Boldin |
Seattle Seahawks | Lynch | Graham | Baldwin |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Martin | Seferian-Jenkins | Jackson |
Tennessee Titans | Sankey | Walker | Wright |
Washington Redskins | Morris | Reed | Jackson |
All right, there's NO WAY I'm ranking every single one of those teams. Even I don't have that kind of commitment. So we need to narrow the field somewhat. But first, a few ground rules...
You can have a "weak link" at one position, but if he's an absolute nobody your other two players have to be stars. Ideally, we want strength across the board.
Also, for the sake of this article, we're not giving any position more importance than any other. So if you're awful at TE but good at WR and RB, you don't get a "curve" for having a weakness at a "less important" position. And just because a WR plays a more important role on Team X doesn't given them a pass for being terrible at RB. No weighted points for scheme. We're looking at the players and that's it.
Because we're not giving weights to positions, the ultimate question isn't "would you trade these three players from Team X for those three players from Team Y." It's "would you trade this WR for that WR, this TE for that TE, and this RB for that RB... and how easy or hard would the decision be?" Using that weighted scoring we try and come up with some sort of idea what team has the best trio.
With all those in mind, let's eliminate the most obvious teams ... the Cardinals, Falcons, Ravens, Panthers, Browns, Lions, Jaguars, Dolphins, Saints, Giants, Jets, Raiders, Rams, Chargers, 49ers, Buccaneers, Titans, and Redskins are all out.
I'm sure someone is going to try to make an argument for the Giants, or maybe the Dolphins. But c'mon. Odell Beckham is great, but Jennings and Donnell are solid role players based on what we know. Not enough to put in the same league as the best teams. And as much as I love DeVante Parker, he doesn't belong with the big boys at WR yet and can't help Miller and Cameron out with their "they're OK I guess" ability.
Those teams have varying levels of ability at the three positions, but they are comfortably behind the teams we have remaining.
Buffalo Bills | McCoy | Clay | Watkins |
Chicago Bears | Forte | Bennett | White |
Cincinnati Bengals | Hill | Eifert | Green |
Dallas Cowboys | Randle | Witten | Bryant |
Denver Broncos | Anderson | Daniels | Sanders |
Green Bay Packers | Lacy | Quarless | Nelson |
Houston Texans | Foster | Graham | Hopkins |
Indianapolis Colts | Gore | Fleener | Hilton |
Kansas City Chiefs | Charles | Kelce | Maclin |
Minnesota Vikings | Peterson | Rudolph | Wallace |
New England Patriots | Blount | Gronkowski | Edelman |
Philadelphia Eagles | Murray | Celek | Agholor |
Pittsburgh Steelers | Bell | Miller | Brown |
Seattle Seahawks | Lynch | Graham | Baldwin |
All right, that's a more manageable list. However, I want to get it down to a top five. Because power rankings are always at their best when you've got a top five. That is a scientific fact and I will not argue with you about it. It's like saying the sun is hot. It's just truth.
Bills are out
LeSean McCoy was great ... two years ago. Clay is decent, but nothing special. Watkins has shown flashes of brilliance but isn't nearly enough of a "win" over the best receivers on this list to help his team's cause.
Bengals are out
A.J. Green is phenomenal, and I'd take him over most WRs in the league. The other two are "OK." Yeah, OK doesn't do it when you want to be top five. Frankly, the fact that they can't figure out a way to make Giovanni Bernard a focal point of that offense might be the most damning thing about Marvin Lewis.
Broncos are out
Nothing gives me greater pleasure in this list than the (kinda) early elimination of the Broncos. Emmanuel Sanders is a very good wide receiver. But C.J. Anderson is good (not great), and Owen Daniels is in the same category. They lose two out of three at least to any top five team. Also, Justin Houston > Von Miller. That has nothing to do with this article, but I think it's important we all understand it anyway.
Vikings are out
I've got a bit of hometown bias toward the Vikings considering my location. Adrian Peterson is a freak, and Rudolph is a top 10 tight end when he's on. But Mike Wallace is fast, and that's about it. Not even a top 20 wide receiver in the league. Maybe if we knew we were guaranteed 2012 Peterson and a fully healthy and fully "on" Rudolph it'd be enough to sneak them in. Alas, such guarantees are for other, lesser power rankings.
Packers are out
Really, they should've been out with the first batch. I like Lacy just fine, but Quarless is JAG. You can't make top five with two guys like that. I think my respect for Aaron Rodgbot got them here.
Eagles are out
Agholor is a rookie (though that's not stopping me with Kevin White, but he's a whole separate guy whose film was incredible). Murray has exactly one healthy season in which he was behind a fantastic offensive line and wore down as the season went along. And Celek is ... Celek.
Patriots are out
Rob Gronkowski plays tight end better than almost anyone does anything on the planet. He's ridiculous, and I've written before that I believe he's the most important player on that offense. Blount, on the other hand, is a sub-average back. And while Edelman has grown into a solid receiver, he doesn't hold a candle to most of the other remaining receivers. Again, one out of three just doesn't cut it.
Texans are out
I like Arian Foster. I like DeAndre Hopkins. But Garrett Graham has done nothing to make me think he's even a top 20 tight end in the NFL. To compensate for something like that you'd better have STUDS at the other two spots who make trades a no-brainer Neither Foster or Hopkins fits the bill, though both are solid.
Colts are out
These guys were my very last "not top five" cut, and it was a tough(ish) one to make. I really, really like the way Frank Gore runs. T.Y. Hilton (an argument could be made for Andre Johnson here in his place) is a unique deep threat who complements his quarterback insanely well. But Coby Fleener is just OK.
Now, some people might think I'm harsh on Fleener to call him OK, considering he had 51 catches for over 700 yards last season. But it took 92 targets to get him there (per ESPN). Compare that to Travis Kelce, who had more catches and yards despite 5 fewer targets and was put in a position to where he had to earn a great deal of YAC on his own. It's not as close as stats would have it seem.
And while I JUST was talking about how much I love Frank Gore, he can't compare to other backs on this list (except one who is carried by his teammates). Combine that with Fleener's "OK-ness" and this was a clear call. Sure, Indy's trio looks very solid on the surface, but compare them to the top five teams (presented, again, in alphabetical order)...
Chicago Bears | Forte | Bennett | White |
Dallas Cowboys | Randle | Witten | Bryant |
Kansas City Chiefs | Charles | Kelce | Maclin |
Pittsburgh Steelers | Bell | Miller | Brown |
Seattle Seahawks | Lynch | Graham | Baldwin |
... and it becomes really easy to see that they don't measure up. These last five teams are just exceptional in terms of the talent they bring to the table. No shame in losing out to them, Indy! Maybe next year!
The Top Five RB/TE/WR Trios
At this point it gets pretty difficult to choose. I'm trying to stick with my formula of "strong across the board" being important, but with all the talent you see in these groups it's very, very difficult to say one team truly has it better than the other. I mean, I'm still gonna do it, and insist I'm absolutely right about it, but it's still difficult. Let's go in reverse order for the sake of drama.
Number 5: Chicago Bears
Perhaps the thing to talk about first is the fact that Kevin White is listed here rather than Alshon Jeffery. Look, that's not done as a potshot at Jeffery, who is a good wide receiver. He's one of the better players in the league at winning at the catch point. He does a remarkable job out-fighting corners for the ball. He's well above average.
That said, I don't think Kevin White is going to be a good wide receiver. I think he's going to be an exceptional one. So White actually rates a little higher in my book despite being a rookie. Part of that has to do with me rating Jeffery a little lower than it seems some do (again, I think he's good. Not great), but it's mostly just a matter of Kevin White's college film looking like a senior playing against JV kids a lot of the time.
However, the only player on this list we can reasonably say White is BETTER than at this point is Seattle's Doug Baldwin (the same would be true for Jeffery as well). And even that's a stretch since he hasn't seen the field yet. That drags Chicago down a bit
Matt Forte is a very good running back who is a little underrated at this point. He brings more to the table as a receiver than maybe any other running back in the league. That kind of versatility matters in today's NFL. At the same time, he's absolutely not as good as Bell, Charles, or Lynch. Again, the Bears end up 2nd from the bottom.
Finally, we have Martellus Bennett, who put up very good stats last season. He's a solid run blocker as well, which is a big deal when evaluating a tight end. He's an upper-tier guy. However, he did suffer from a case of the dropsies last season, and isn't the best athlete you'll find at tight end. He's a very, very high end Anthony Fasano, basically. Again, good but not great.
Overall, there's just not enough juice here to get the Bears higher than top five.
Number 4: Seattle Seahawks
This is where the cuts start getting REALLY tough. I won't even describe the "good" with these guys as it's so obvious, but rather explain why they fall.
First, the simple fact is that Doug Baldwin is the 2nd "worst" player left on this list at ANY position. He's a decent receiver to be sure, but he's a drastic step down from Brown, Maclin, and Bryant. That's tough to recover from, as strength across the board is a big deal in this totally meaningless power ranking.
Marshawn Lynch is the only running back I put in Jamaal Charles's league. He's a stud. But then you have Jimmy Graham. A fantastic player to be sure. HOWEVER... he's the least-well-rounded tight end on the list in that he's a very limited blocker. He also doesn't do much after the catch and was reliant on Drew Brees to get him the ball when and where it worked best for him.
Are those nitpicks on one of the best tight ends in the NFL? Absolutely. But when you're dealing with decisions that are this close, nitpicks matter. Jimmy Graham isn't as much better than the other TE's here as Doug Baldwin is worse than the other WR's here. If that makes sense (re-reads... yeah, it kinda does. Kinda). And Lynch helps, but again, the gap isn't so massive that it makes up for Baldwin being "OK" as a wide receiver.
So that leaves three. With these teams, you really could make arguments for anyone being anywhere. But let's try and make a determination.
Number 3: Dallas Cowboys
This was a really, really tough decision. Of the three teams left, two of them (Dallas and Pittsburgh) have a guy who isn't top 10 at his position in Randle and Miller. The "other" guys on Dallas (Witten and Bryant) have legitimate claims of top 3 at their position.
However, The Steelers ALSO have two players in the top 3-4 at their position in Bell and Brown. And Miller, while not a top 10 TE, is significantly more proven than Randle is as a RB and is a top FIFTEEN player at his position without much of a doubt.
Yes, that's how thin these distinctions are at this point. I don't know if I'd trade Brown for Bryant. But I absolutely know Bell >>>>> Randle while Witten >> Miller. so you see, it's simply a matter of more of those arrow thingies when it comes to Bell and Randle.
Tough luck, Dallas.
Number 2: Pittsburgh Steelers
I really, really, really had to think about this one. The Steelers have Brown, arguably the best wide receiver in the league. They also have Bell, a top 3-4 back. And they have Miller, a (as stated) top 15 tight end.
There really aren't any weak spots here. But that's not enough (for reasons I'll explain next) against...
Number 1: Kansas City Chiefs
For those of you who think this is some homer-soaked delusion, please believe me that I spent over an hour agonizing about this top five and especially the top three.
Here's the deal with the Chiefs ... they are the only team in the league with a guy who is top three in one category while still having top eight guys at the other two positions.
We'll use the Steelers as the sounding board. Jamaal Charles is better than Bell. Watch the two of them run. It's not even a question. Bell is a very good back, but he's a tier below Charles and Lynch (and likely Peterson if he comes back full strength) as an impact runner.
Next we have Maclin and Brown. It's kind of the same analysis only weighted in the Steelers favor. Maclin is a very good wide receiver, but Brown is one of the best in the NFL and is a tier above Maclin. No question about it.
So with a similar analysis at those two positions it comes down to the third. And Travis Kelce is just BETTER than Heath Miller (and also doesn't lead to an annoying "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttthhhhhh" when he makes a catch), and it's not particularly close.
Dallas makes a decent case against the Chiefs, as you'd PROBABLY take Witten over Kelce and would take Bryant over Maclin without too much agonizing. However, Charles is so far ahead of Randle that it tips the balance in the Chiefs favor.
Seattle has a similar situation to Dallas in that you'd MAYBE take Lynch over Charles and PROBABLY take Graham over Kelce ... but Maclin is so much better than Baldwin it's unfair. Again, scales tipped due to one player being so, so much better than the other.
Chicago has more balance than the other non-Chiefs teams here, but their problem is that their balance is inferior to the Chiefs's balance. Charles > Forte, Kelce > Bennett, and Maclin > White. Even if none is by a mile, the edge goes to the Chiefs at every spot.
The longer you look at it the more obvious the Chiefs become as a choice. No other team boasts the combination of elite-level players and no "weak" spot.
I have no idea how the Chiefs will do this season, but Charles, Kelce, and Maclin are an absolutely fantastic base of skill players to build around. Here's hoping for average offensive line play. Because with even that, this could easily be the best offense the Chiefs have had in a dozen years.