NFL's best and worst position groups: Offense

Rookie minicamps are underway, the silly season of free agency and the draft is behind us and teams and fans alike are starting to get a glimpse of how their 2017 rosters are shaping up.

And while some are optimistic, others aren’t so lucky.

After the additions and subtractions that come with the NFL off-season, these are the best and worst prospective offensive units heading into 2017.

Quarterback

Best – New England Patriots
This one is pretty self-explanatory. The Patriots have the greatest quarterback of all time at their disposal for another season (if not two to three), and while Tom Brady’s mental acumen, pre-snap recognition and ability to exploit whatever defense is thrown his way has long been evident, he seems to be as close to his physical peak as ever despite being 39 years old.

Brady’s demands of his teammates are legendary; his pursuit of perfection turns the most seemingly innocuous practice mishap into something worthy of public castigation. Whether this be the subtle nuances of route depth or the positioning of the snap on his hip, the attention to the most insignificant details is what separates Brady from the rest.

In addition to “The Goat”, the Pats also host arguably the best backup quarterback in the league in Jimmy Garoppolo. But like most backups with any value, there’s an extremely limited sample size, having started only two games in his young career.

That being said, the Eastern Illinois product had arguably the most impressive single-game quarterbacking performance of the 2016 season; Throwing for 234 yards and three touchdowns in a little over a quarter of football in their matchup against Miami in week three.

The Patriots have a top three level starter and a potential top-fifteen calibre quarterback serving as their backup. Whether this will remain the case when faced with the reality of Bill Belichick’s ‘better a year early than a year late’ approach to trading is the big question.

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Worst – New York Jets
Like New England, New York enjoys a bevy of options in their quarterback room. Unfortunately, these options are considerably less desirable, a fair amount more laughable, and produce a completely different product.

The Jets have invested two years worth of second round picks on project quarterbacks Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg, both of whom have shown little reason to give Gang Green any reason for optimism.

Such is the pessimism surrounding the two young signal callers that the Jets brought in 37-year-old career stop-gap Josh McCown as the unquestioned starter.

The Jets are starting the Jeff Fisher of QBs at the most important position on the field. McCown is a cockroach of the NFL (I mean that in the nicest possible way), and has managed to turn fleeting moments of competent quarterback play into a starting job again and again.

Unfortunately for Jets fans, it may be bad, but he just may be just competent enough to lure the Jets out of a top five pick and once again torpedo the franchise’s hopes of finally getting their QB of the future.

Running Back

Best – Atlanta Falcons
Firstly, I think there are more talented backfields in the NFL. The Titans sledgehammer attack of Demarco Murray and Derrick Henry comes to mind, as does the triple-threat of Jeremy Hill, Gio Bernard and the soon to be top-five running back Joe Mixon in Cincinnati.

But in terms of efficiency, complementary styles and ability to affect the game each down, the Falcons tandem of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman reign supreme.

Freeman’s low to the ground, between the tackles running ability is perfectly complemented by Coleman’s one-cut, breakaway speed and provides Atlanta’s offense with a different look anytime they’re in the game.

While they split duties throughout last season, they were equally efficient with ball in hand, both averaging more than 4.4 yards per rushing attempt.

Freeman and Coleman were handy contributors in the passing game as well, finishing with more than 400 yards and two receiving touchdowns each.

What speaks volumes to their ability is that the two made up for nearly 37 per cent of a Falcons offense that statistically finished as the fifth most potent offensive unit of all time.

Worst – New York Giants
The Giants were the fourth worst running attack in the NFL in 2016 and enter the 2017 season without their reigning leading rusher (Rashad Jennings, 593yds) on the roster.

Second-year running back Paul Perkins has been pegged as the starter heading into training camp, and while he averaged more than four yards a carry in 2016, his sleight frame (5’10, 210lb) begs questions as to whether he’ll be able to carry the load whilst still retaining his greatest attribute, that being his change of explosive change of direction and big play ability.

In addition to the lack of backfield talent, the Giants failed to address their offensive line and will likely be running behind a well below average front, with the exception of left guard John Pugh. They don’t possess the raw talent to make up for poor line play and create yardage in adverse situations.

Receiving Corps

Best – Los Angeles Chargers

For me it came down to the Chargers and the Patriots. I’m expecting disagreement on this and it’s welcomed, but my logic is simply:

• Based on a pure athleticism and ability, the Patriots receiving corps are more a product of Brady and Belichick than their Chargers counter parts are of Rivers and Whisenhunt.
• Much of the Patriots passing attack is directed through their running backs, who for the sake of this article, not included as part of the “receiving corps”.
• While the Pats have signed a considerable amount of talent in the off-season (Allen, Cooks, Gillislee etc), it’s highly likely they’ll lose recent contributors simply as there’s only so much room on the 53-man roster.

As it pertains to the Chargers, I rate them so highly as they possess both underrated and proven talent as well incredible depth at the receiver and tight end position.

Tyrell Williams had perhaps the quietest 1000-yard receiving season ever documented and is still only 25. Dontrelle Inman (810yd, 4td) continues to grow into the role despite being a relative late bloomer, coming into his fourth year in the NFL at 28 years of age.

Travis Benjamin averaged nearly 15 yards a reception as a vertical threat out of the slot and Keenan Allen – if he can remain healthy – has shown the potential to be a 100 reception a year, chain mover in the ilk of Anquan Boldin.

The Chargers finally found their heir apparent to Antonio Gates in Hunter Henry. The Arkansas product had eight touchdowns as a rookie and his freakish athleticism is the perfect complement to Gates’ veteran nous in a two-tight end set.

All this would be enough to put the Chargers in the conversation, but then they also add first round pick Mike Williams in the draft, who should make an immediate impact in red-zone situations.

His unparalleled ability to track the football while blanketed should make him a friendly target in jump ball situations; especially on fade routes close the goal line.

Worst – Los Angeles Rams
Unlike their new neighbours, the Rams have little to work with once the ball leaves Jared Goff’s hands. I initially thought the 49ers held claim to worst receiving group but with the signing of Pierre Garcon in the off-season they have at least one receiver who has proven to be productive in multiple offenses, and that itself is more than the Rams have at their disposal.

We’re still waiting to see Tavon Austin translate the otherworldly ability he displayed at West Virginia onto the Sunday stage, they signed Robert Woods to starting receiver money despite the fact that he never proved himself to be anything more than an erratic number three in Buffalo, and arguably their two most physically gifted weapons, Gerald Everett and Cooper Kupp are rookies and so shouldn’t be expected to contribute on a consistent basis in their first season.

It remains to be seen whether new coach Sean McVay can get the most out of the Rams receiving corps but if I were fan I’d be optimistic that can at least get more out of them than the vanilla stylings of Jeff Fisher.

But until we see that on the field, the Rams have the worst receiving unit in the NFL.

Offensive Line

Best – Dallas Cowboys
A no brainer and quite possibly the largest discrepancy between other position groups in the NFL. The first round selections of Tryon Smith, Travis Frederick and Zach Martin have gone a long way to erasing the long-standing perception of Jerry Jones as a general manager.

Gone are the days of flashy, high potential, character risks and as a result, the Cowboys have had the best offensive line for the better part of three years now.

The Cowboys line will look somewhat different but perhaps even improved. Guard Ronald Leary signed with the Broncos, but was a fairly one dimensional, mauling lineman who greatly benefitted from one-on-one matchups that came as a result of playing alongside such esteemed teammates.

Doug Free retired but this will most likely result in a move from guard to tackle for La’el Collins, a significantly more athletically gifted lineman, who was once seen as a first round talent before becoming embroiled pre-draft murder controversy that saw him fall undrafted (he was swiftly cleared of any involvement).

The Boys’ O-Line bolstered the league’s second ranked rushing attack, helped Ezekiel Elliott win the rushing record as a rookie and allowed only 28 sacks in pass protection, ranked seventh lowest in the league.

Given their continuity and potential upgrade at the right tackle position, there’s little reason why they won’t continue to dominate.

Worst – Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals take out worst O-Line by default.

In 2016, they allowed 41 sacks in pass protection (8th in NFL) and also possessed the seventh highest sack percentage, allowing Andy Dalton to be taken down on 6.8 per cent of all drop backs.

In 2017, they’ll attempt to improve despite losing the only two competent members of their offensive line. Andrew Whitworth signed with the Rams while Kevin Zeitler signed for big money with in-state rival, Cleveland.

What’s more is that the Bengals failed to address offensive line until the fifth round of the draft when they selected JJ Dielman, a center out of Utah.

With the draft additions of John Ross, Joe Mixon and Josh Malone on offense, the Bengals look poised to play a quicker brand of football. Hopefully this will see Dalton take less five to seven step drops and enable him to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers early.

But if this doesn’t eventuate, I struggle to see how a leaky offensive line improves without two of its best players from the previous season.