NFC East: Is the Wide Receiver Position Losing its Value?

There has been a bit of a thought around the NFL about the real value of the wide receiver position since the Super Bowl. The New England Patriots biggest impact wide receiver was Julian Edelman who was originally drafted in the seventh round. For the Seattle Seahawks it was former undrafted free agent Doug Baldwin who acted as their top threat. The two teams reached the peak of NFL football despite not having bonafide number one threats. Does this mean that going forward teams should stop investing heavily in the position? Not exactly.

This conversation is especially relevant because the NFC East boasts perhaps the best group of wide receivers in the league. Dez Bryant, Odell Beckham Jr, Pierre Garcon, DeSean Jackson, Victor Cruz, and Jeremy Maclin make up the talented group.

Last offseason, Jackson was released by the Philadelphia Eagles after having his best season as a professional. It was somewhat head scratching, but some off-field concerns may have been the reason. Nonetheless, the Washington Redskins were no less dissuaded from handing out a three-year, 24 million dollar contract for one of the best deep threats in the league. The team is also just three years removed from handing out a five-year, 42.4 million dollar contract to Pierre Garcon. Both were affected by a tumultuous year at the quarterback position, but both were productive regardless. The Redskins issues as a team stem more from an unsettled quarterback position and a defense that needs to be addressed.

The New York Giants just burned a top-15 pick to add a playmaking wide receiver. If any team were to go back to last year’s draft and say that they would still pass on Odell Beckham Jr, then they are probably just lying to you. The LSU product not only had an all-time season for himself, but his addition into the Giants offense brought energy and playmaking that had been missing for a few seasons. The team could not have been better served by adding any other position. Beckham’s value to his team is higher than any other rookie in the league last year. His NFL Rookie of the Year award serves as proof to that.

The Cowboys and Eagles  will be tested to this new logic this offseason when the contracts of Dez Bryant and Jeremy Maclin need to be addressed. Both are set for unrestricted free agency. Bryant would likely receiver a top-three receiver contract among his position, while Maclin would likely be paid among the top-10. Would these two teams be better served by withholding the money due to these two and reallocating it to other positions? Hardly.

Bryant’s value to his offense goes way beyond what any of his amazing statistics will show. While the running game gets much of the praise for the offensive punch last season, it was really attributed to many other things as well. Bryant was responsible for not allowing team’s to feel comfortable dropping safeties into the box. He is the one receiver in the league who draws consistent double coverage. All the while, he was allowing DeMarco Murray to gobble up yards and Tony Romo a plethora of one-on-one matchups to attack. While providing that to his offense, he also notched a career high 16 touchdown receptions and his third straight 1,000 yard season.

Maclin was obviously a big reason the Eagles felt comfortable letting Jackson go. With Riley Cooper having a down year and rookie Mathews learning on the fly, the bulk of the playmaking was put squarely on Maclin’s shoulders. He did not disappoint. Maclin recovered magnificently from ACL injury to eclipse 1,000 yards. He deserves to be paid what he will eventually get.

The important mechanism to analyze about the construction of team’s is playing to their strength. The strength of the Seattle Seahawks and Patriots were not their outside receiving threats. The Seahawks relied on superb defense, a strong running game, and an athletic quarterback playing within and outside of the pocket to make plays. The Patriots game planned with the best coach in the league to exploit mismatches on both sides of the ball. Tom Brady featured a small-ball type of passing game. He diced up the middle of  the field will All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski and Edelman running a lot of option routes.

These teams would not have had the same success if they hadn’t have played to their strengths as a team. The strength of each of these NFC East teams lies in their wide receiver position. Scrapping these talented players and building from scratch would be playing away from those strengths. Now that these teams have the talent on the outside, more should look at bulking up in the trenches like the Cowboys have done in past years to allow their skill players to do what they do best. Wide receiver is still one of the five impact positions in the league despite what the Patriots and Seahawks accomplished this past season. Count it as a coincidence rather than a new league wide epidemic. Players like Bryant and Beckham Jr are still rare talents that cannot be replaced by just anyone.