Nick drops his WR duo rankings & the Tush Push debate intensifies | NFL | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Nick drops his WR duo rankings & the Tush Push debate intensifies | NFL | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Uh, Brew, your reaction. Steve Smith’s right on the money because George Pickkins has number one talent, number one uh, attitude. There you go. He was the number one guy in Pittsburgh his whole career. You know, short, but still was number one. Number one selfimage, all of that. And he’s not going to get number one targets and probably not from Dallas going to get number one money. So yeah, I think this is potentially a huge problem. That’s why I gave it a B. He is talented. There’s a good receiving core on paper, but the possible problems and the fact that Mike Tomlin, who’s handled guys terrifically, is like he’s got to grow up and and then apparently felt like he didn’t grow up enough and send him packing. Yeah, I that’s a real concern in Dallas. Yeah. And and I go ahead. I I also I don’t I don’t think it it is as much of a needle mover as I think the general public does, which is why I did these receiver rankings, the the receiver duos, which is so I I did the top eight wide receiver duos. That’s a quarter of the league, not a random number. And I have the Pickkins and Lamb coming in at eight. So, and that is it. And those are that’s a good list. And so I don’t know if we can show number eight, the Pickkins and Lamb. And and here’s the deal. There’s a lot of guys who could be the number two next to CD Lamb and they’re going to find themselves in this top eight. You know what I So like the I didn’t put the Lions in here. Ah man Ross St. Brown Jameson Williams. I think Jameson Williams if he also he has different kind of issues or whatever but I think he’s better than George Pickkins or at least as good. I would have my point is you put him there if you I’m trying to think of guys that didn’t make it. There’s just a long list of guys who have this duo the lion share of the work is being done by CD Lamb. As long as they have a competent number two the duo is going to be super strong. Where do you feel? So I feel Pickkins is wildly talented. Like could be a number one guy, but the problems are his attitude. You seem to not even think he’s a number one talent. No, I think he is a number one talent, but I think that I I don’t He doesn’t to me have what I would call like off-field problems. his problems manifest themselves on the field, on the sideline, in the game, personal foul, penalties, like those types of things that I think hurt his team. So, I would have them behind all these seven. Number seven, McLaren and Debo. I you Terry McLaren is has been very productive throughout his career despite not having great quarterback play and then got great quarterback play with Jaden. Debo obviously. Now, we’ll see if Debo struggles a bounceback year, but I think I think that’s a and it’s a duo that fits together. Number six, betting that Godwin comes back to his pre-injjury form. Last year, he was having the best year of his career, you know, before the injury. Mike Evans got hurt and still had a thousand yard season. I I’ve seen them do it. That’s the one that was to me the hardest to rank because of the injury concern for Godwin. You got like two guys that are brand new and one duo that’s all right. Number five, Puka and Devonte. I think that Puka is underrated still. Yeah. And I think Devonte as a number two in the Shawn McVey offense is going to be good. I thought he was he and Aaron oddly were not on the same page as much as you would expect right when they got together. But I also like how they fit. And I think Puka has there is a bit of what Brew accuses me correctly of doing with Brock Perie I think done to Puka Leaguewide which is draft position bias. If Puka Nakua was a first round pick people would say right people would say why is he not one of the a shorefire top five receiver but because we’ve kind of looked at him as an overachiever that’s where he is. Uh and now you get to what I think are the really dominant ones. Number four, Tyreek and Jaylen Waddle. Even with Tyreek, what’s up, Ly? No, tell me. I was just saying. Really? No, tell me. The offense doesn’t jump off the screen. Well, their quarterback missed six games last year. Okay. The I mean, do you I’m not I’m not trying to get an argument. Do you Is there are Is there a duo behind them that you think’s better? I don’t know. I It’s It’s It’s really interesting. I just don’t know if like and look when everybody was healthy they Tua did have they did have the number one offense. Maybe I’m just more sour about even when Tuka when Tua was on the field that offense wasn’t just flying around. It wasn’t took a step back. And I think you know certainly of the of the ones we’ve listed thus far I think even you would agree as a Tua guy he’s the worst quarterback of those five. Dak, Jaden, Baker. Yeah. Stafford. It’s a little tricky. Yeah. Yeah. And so like so I I I even if Tyreek is still not a 99 overall on Madden, he’s still excellent obviously. And I think Jaylen Wadd is actually one of the more underrated receivers. This one I think people might argue with uh Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. So I think Addison is a good number two and Justin Jefferson is one of the greatest receivers I’ve ever seen in my life. And so that yeah, it’s based on Jefferson. It and if it was again, it would be lower if I if Jordan Addison was replaced with just a random, you know what I mean? If he was out in their number three, but I think he’s good. And I think Jefferson is a super duper star. And then the top two are I think everyone’s top two. Number two, AJ Brown and Dvonte Smith, uh, which they have an argument that they’re number one. I don’t think you get I’m cur I’d really like to see Dvonte Smith as the number one receiver in an offense. and you might get to see it at some point because I don’t know if AJ Brown’s going to be a lifelong eagle the rest of the way. Um, but I they complent each other well. And then obviously the number one is Chase and Higgins where we thought we were done with them as a duo because we didn’t think the Bengals were going to be able to keep them both. They were and I mean to me the proof is in the pudding as far as what they’ve been able to produce. I’m going to throw a couple. You mentioned Detroit. I’m going to throw two more that Rashid Rice Xavier worthy. Rasheed the injuries. Here’s one based on projection. Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter. Oh, I like that. If the quarterback can get them the football, but I’m But but really Brian Thomas had a great year without really and Trevor obviously missed a lot of games. So without really Yeah, he was fantastic. And now Travis and then the other one was and I don’t know if you protecting your boy DJ Moore and Roma Dunay again a little bit of a projection. A lot of projection that’s to me a ton of pro projection on a Dun is is I think good. Yeah but and obviously DJ Morris. Here’s the Now I like Thomas and Travis better they spent their third or their second round pick on throw in Luther Luther Burden. But that also makes me wonder it do they think DJ Moore is expendable or were they do they think Rome is not like that’s that to me was a surprising pick if you thought both of those guys were the guys we thought they were last year. I’m not trying to protect Caleb. It’s just that was a interesting they should have a great passing game. Oh I I totally agree but I don’t I can’t put I mean that’s a good list. guy when Evans just the injury concern, you know, bounce back and Debo. Is he going to be Debo? Debo. I think he’s going to be all right. Moving on to uh the tush push in April. The NFL owners pushed the decision around the tush push to May 20th in Minnesota. So, that’s coming up. We’re going to get some clarity on if there’s going to be a rule change. Saquon was asked about the tush push at the Met Gallup and said, “You know what? If you don’t like it, get better at stopping it.” as we get closer to a decision. Should the league ban the tush push only if it is a safety risk? And it’s not apparently. I mean, it looks like a safety risk. It feels like a safety risk, but the NFL has said no one’s been injured from the position. I don’t know why the NFL said that because I watched Chris Jones in the Super Bowl get injured, but he played I mean, he he he was banged up, but it was like, and by the way, I don’t think safety is the reason for it, but just about that. Did Chris Jones get hit or did because at one time somebody lined up perpendicular? That was him. Okay. No, but but he kept playing sideways if you got you got your bell ring or whatever. You also can’t jump over the line of scrimmage, but the commanders guy tried to do it cuz they couldn’t stop it. But go ahead. Yeah. I I don’t think they should. Again, unless there’s proof that you don’t want guys getting hurt, but unless there’s proof is a safety risk, they should play cuz other teams do it. Nobody like this uh as much as the Eagles, but Buffalo isn’t that great at it. I mean, they were pretty good, but it still shut them down, right? And then Philly could do it against the Chiefs. So, it this is a thing Philly is excellent at. And be no one’s getting injured. I feel like it would kind of be like taking away one of their strengths for no reason. So it would be taking away one of their strengths for no reason. Uh except the reason is it looks terrible. Uh you say that just you Yeah, cuz I’m not the only person that said it. Youell said it doesn’t look like a football play that it looks like it was the play out of rugby. You’ve used your example of if you you going to go down the field. Yeah. if teams really started doing it on second down third then I agree with you it’ be a problem but the level they’re using it now I don’t think it’s a you think it’s a problem I so I think there’s a a number of things I said when this came up in the off season that I wanted them to ban it a year ago and I would like them to ban it a year from now I don’t want Eagle fans to have in their back pocket for the rest of their lives we don’t want all the Super Bowls but you guys banned like I need the Eagles to not win a Super Bowl and then it gets I think it feels unfair is the wrong word, but just weird to ban it right as they’re the defending champs. Like I wouldn’t love that there. But here is the point about why I don’t I I said Chris Jones got hurt on it. I don’t think it’s a safety risk. I don’t I think it’s a quality of the game risk. And so I’m going to bring up something very very dumb. You ever seen the Reddit post about the Warriors forming a circle around Steph? Okay. You know this one, bro? You basically do like ring around the Rosie with Steph Curry. So like four guys hold hands around Steph Curry. Yeah. And you just walk down the field like Steph is just dribbling in the middle. They were like, “Why wouldn’t the Warriors get four super strong centers, have them all hold their hands and do this, and then Steph will just have a clean look at a jump shot at all times.” And so I understand that’s dumb and that’s not going to happen. I get that. But that’s here’s the point I’m making. I like it though. I I know you don’t. You like that? He likes the concept. But we all right. So, we all agree that when I read that, I’m like, “Okay, that’s probably wouldn’t happen.” But if it did, the NBA the next day would just change a rule and say, “You can’t do it because it would.” And even though it would be like, “Wait a minute, everyone’s allowed to do it. Why are we being penalized because we’re the best at it because we have the best shooter ever?” And the answer would be because that’s not what people are buying tickets for. And the point that I have made is not just Brew that yes, if they got four yards every play, it’s also this. One of the cooler things about modern football is teams going for it on fourth down a lot more than they used to because it’s such a big play and it is suspenseful. And this is not that. This is okay. Just fine. And so I It’s suspenseful with other teams, but that’s the problem. Yeah, it is. The problem is the Bills didn’t get it, right? It was suspenseful when they didn’t get it and even before they didn’t get it. I understand that and I This is where I need the audience to either trust me or just check the archive. You guys can back me up on this. This was my take well before the Eagles won the Super Bowl. This is not about they beat the They would have beat the Chiefs in that Super Bowl with or without this play. I just think it is I think that at some point there is a what is best for the sport as a whole sometimes does trump what is best for one individual team. I don’t know what ground you’re standing on. Why is this bad for the I just a handful of people of like we don’t think it’s good cuz maybe cut this off at the uh at the exit. Sirriani’s quote, “It’s an exciting play. It’s really cool to hear some people talk about it this week and what they think about the excitement it brings to the whole I think it’s exciting. You think it’s boring. All right, let’s meet in the middle. Just keep it.” Yeah, I I understand why Sirion would be doing that. But does anybody think this is as exciting as seeing a team go for a regular fourth down? Is it more exciting than like the Brady Sneak that was also super effective? Uh, no. The Brady sneak though was the Eagles use this play as many times as in a season as Brady did the sneak in his career. And those numbers are rough, but you know, like the Brady sneak was inches on fourth down and sometimes third down, but it was inches. This is anything less than two yards, they’re doing it. And so like that is that that’s I I thought the the biggest argument against it was the playoff game with Washington when the guy at the goal line is diving that if that starts happening you got to ban it because it’s just ridiculous. Thanks for watching. Subscribe here to get more from the show and to check out clips from other shows on FS1.

Nick Wright, Kevin Wildes, and Chris Broussard discuss Steve Smith’s comment on George Pickens being more “Robin than Batman” after he was traded to the Dallas Cowboys. The crew breaks down Pickens’ new role and what it means for the offense. Then, Nick Wright reveals his top 8 WR duo rankings in the NFL and the crew debates whether the Tush Push should be banned.

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Nick drops his WR duo rankings & the Tush Push debate intensifies | NFL | FIRST THINGS FIRST

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