NFL groups don’t want a No. 1 receiver and right here’s why

Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers is among the NFL’s most highly-regarded younger quarterbacks, and that’s partially due to the efficiency he placed on within the second half of the 2023 season. From Week 10 via the Packers’ 24-21 divisional spherical loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Love accomplished 254 of 374 passes (67.9%) for two,904 yards (7.8 yards per try), 25 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, and a passer score of 107.7.

Moreover, Love did all of that with out the advantage of what most individuals would think about a real No. 1 receiver. The Packers did have estimable targets in Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Tucker Kraft, and Dontayvion Wicks, however there’s no one in that receiver/tight finish group who scares opposing defenses to the purpose the place defenses will likely be routinely arrayed towards them.

And moreover, that’s the way in which Love desires it.

“I believe you don’t need to have a No. 1 receiver,” Love said on June 4. “I believe it really works out effectively when you may unfold the ball out and also you’ve received completely different guys making completely different performs and you’ll put them in numerous areas.

“I believe it places much more stress on the protection and the calls that they’ll get in, so I believe in the long term it helps us not having a No. 1 man, a real No. 1 man, however I believe all these guys can step up and be the one any given day.”

For Love, it offers him the liberty to hit the man who’s open within the development, versus leaning too typically on the alpha canine.

“I can simply play the play.”

During an appearance on Colin Cowherd’s show on July 19, Tom Brady offered the hypothetical different: What when you have a No. 1 receiver, and it’s important to throttle your complete passing recreation round him?

“You at all times felt such as you needed to do one thing to get them the ball,” Brady mentioned concerning the specter of a real No. 1 man. “I would like him to maintain operating laborious. I would like him to be prepared for when the ball does come.”

“The very last thing you need is your No. 1 receiver to go two-and-a-half quarters right into a recreation and never see a ball… ‘trigger he’s going to get discouraged.”

“He’s received to go on the market and break the huddle, run out 25 yards to his alignment, run down the sphere as quick as he can and attempt to get open, then again to the huddle. It’s quite a lot of effort that he’s placing in to not getting the ball… reward that man earlier within the recreation.”

It’s fascinating that for essentially the most half, Brady received his factor completed at a GOAT stage with out the advantage of a real No.1 receiver. Yes, he had Randy Moss for just a few seasons, and there was Rob Gronkowski at his finest, however the most effective quarterback ever to play the place had as many seasons with out these drive multipliers as he did with them.

Brady’s feedback about how that true alpha receiver impacts the quarterback’s mindset are fascinating in that the NFL appears to be trending away from the No. 1 receiver as a should.

How can we outline a ‘No. 1 receiver’?

True No. 1 receivers aren’t at all times aligned exterior in remoted conditions, however there must be sufficient of that to make it apparent that that is the man. They should be capable to beat press protection on the line of scrimmage, and so they want to have the ability to run away from tight match protection towards the NFL’s finest cornerbacks. If they’re bracketed by an opposing protection, they will need to have solutions towards it. And whether or not it’s via demon velocity or unimaginable route acumen (ideally each), they must be the one man their quarterback can at all times go to.

Here’s the issue: It doesn’t at all times work. And even when it does, what number of true high guys are there at any given level within the league? Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings. Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals. Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins. Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Davante Adams of the Las Vegas Raiders. Depending on how broad you wish to be with the definition, there are at most possibly 10-15 receivers within the league at any time who’re true field-tilters in that sense.

NFL groups are realizing this, and as a substitute of going all in on one man within the hope that he’s The Guy, they’re transferring their assets round, and relying extra on superior schemes and concert events to get it completed.

Making No. 1 receivers out of the mixture

“It’s extra concerning the collective unit of all these guys and simply the rapport that they’re constructing with Jordan all through the course of the offseason,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur mentioned of his receiver group, proper across the time Love made his fascinating proclamation. “I’m excited to get to coaching camp with them.

“All these guys had their moments the place they had been the main receiver in a recreation. I really feel actually good concerning the collective unit. The hardest half is we really feel so good about them, it’s laborious to get all people the quantity of touches that you just’d prefer to get, however that’s a superb downside to have.”

It’s a superb downside to have whenever you’re not depending on one receiver, and you’ll scheme your receivers open to their finest talents. Last season, Jayden Reed and Romeo Doubs tied for the Packers’ lead in receptions on passes of 20 or extra air yards – 9 every, and on 19 targets every. LaFleur used Reed’s sneaky get-up velocity to use opposing defenses in movement ideas, as proven on this 32-yard catch towards the Bears within the regular-season finale.

Doubs received extra exterior targets than Reed did, and his means to leverage his route precision towards cornerbacks and safeties made him a really perfect foil in that regard. Here towards the Dallas Cowboys in final season’s wild-card win, the Packers ran an identical idea with Reed operating movement. But on this case, Doubs ran the out-cut at 15 yards whereas Reed and Bo Melton ran the vertical routes. It was an awesome beater for the Cover-3 protection the Cowboys had been operating, and it resulted in a 39-yard acquire. Is the dearth of a No. 1 receiver a releasing element for the Packers’ offense? The tape appears to again it up.

You can win a Super Bowl (a number of, really) with out an alpha canine

The Kansas City Chiefs simply gained their third Super Bowl within the final 5 seasons, and with out Steve Spagnuolo’s protection, they won’t have even made the playoffs. Patrick Mahomes needed to make quite a lot of hen salad out of different issues within the 2023 marketing campaign, as a result of exterior of Travis Kelce, it may very well be argued that the Chiefs didn’t actually have a constant No. 2 receiver. The Chiefs tried to convey extra to that equation in free company with Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, and within the draft with Texas’ Xavier Worthy, but it surely stays to be seen whether or not both Brown or Worthy will be an alpha canine in Andy Reid’s offense.

It additionally stays to be seen whether or not Reid sees it as a precedence.

Last season, per Sports Info Solutions, the Chiefs led the NFL in dropbacks with pre-snap movement with 546. Mahomes accomplished 336 passes in 489 makes an attempt with movement for 3,389 yards, 1,219 air yards, 23 touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a passer score of 109.9. Without movement, Mahomes accomplished 169 of 257 passes for 1,845 yards, 850 air yards, 10 touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a passer score of 88.4. The Chiefs knew they didn’t have the sorts of receivers who might persistently separate with out schematic assist, in order that they gave them as a lot schematic assist as potential.

Mahomes additionally had the NFL’s most passing makes an attempt with three tight ends on the sphere – 46, of which he accomplished 30 for 391 yards, 115 air yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer score of 88.2. Not the most effective numbers, however the level stays: If the Chiefs didn’t have splendid targets, they had been going to do their stage finest to transcend that with deployment and scheme.

How else do coaches work round a scarcity of alpha receivers?

San Francisco 49ers followers would possibly argue the purpose that their staff doesn’t have a real No. 1 receiver, however except you suppose that Brandon Aiyuk is one, it’s a tricky level to contend. I think that Aiyuk is an ideal 1A receiver – he does a ton in Kyle Shanahan’s ideas, and a type of ideas is condensed splits that permit receivers to search out extra room on the skin of the formation. Per Pro Football Focus, the 49ers led the league with 829 snaps in formations the place receivers had been tighter to the formation. The Los Angeles Rams ranked second with 730, and that’s one other staff the place the No. 1 receiver argument turns into sophisticated.

285 of San Francisco’s passing performs got here out of condensed formations final season, and the reasoning was clear. Brock Purdy had 20 explosive completions out of these tighter splits within the 2023 season.

Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has been turning down head teaching jobs of late – maybe as a result of he realizes that as a lot as he’s completed along with his playbook to amplify Detroit’s offense, he’ll be capable to decide his spot in a relative sense. Now, some would possibly say that Amon-Ra St. Brown is a No. 1 receiver. The Lions actually paid him that manner with the four-year, $120.01-million contract extension with $77 million assured St. Brown received in April, however St. Brown presents an Aiyuk-like case of an excellent receiver whose efforts are amplified by scheme. That’s to not denigrate Brown in any respect – it’s extra a practical evaluation of his attributes.

In Johnson’s offense, the Lions ran quite a lot of 11 personnel (one operating again, one tight finish, three receivers) and 12 personnel (one operating again, two tight ends, two receivers). They ranked third in 3×1 formation snaps behind the Chiefs and the Washington Commanders with 515, and so they ranked third in 2×2 formation snaps behind the Philadelphia Eagles and the Indianapolis Colts with 627. Factor in Johnson’s multi-faceted run recreation, and there isn’t one e book on the Lions’ offense – making all the pieces tougher to learn.

And ultimately, possibly that’s the entire level in right now’s NFL. More than ever, the league is about spacing and matchups greater than this set of routes versus that type of protection. NFL offensive coordinators try all the pieces potential to win these explicit battles, and and not using a true No. 1 receiver, and all the benefits and limitations therein, possibly it’s that rather more tough for defenses to grasp what a passing recreation is making an attempt to perform.

In a recreation the place milliseconds play out like minutes, any type of hesitation is a giant deal.

So sure, it’s nice to have a No. 1 receiver when you can determine, develop, and maintain one. But increasingly, the NFL’s finest offensive minds are in search of workarounds to that previously incontrovertible splendid.