With Green/Atkins/Dalton's Window Closing......

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(01-19-2019, 02:30 PM)CornerBlitz Wrote: I think AJ Green and Atkins are still playing at an elite level.  The problem is we need a QB that matches them and we don't have it.

This might get a lot of hate... but is he? Really? Here are his rankings the last 5 years:

Receptions / Yards / Rec TDs
2014: t-34th (2 way tie) / 20th / t-29th (17 way tie)
2015: 14th / 8th / t-10th (4 way tie)
2016: t-42nd (3 way tie) / 28th / t-48th (37 way tie)
2017: 16th / 12th / t-8th (11 way tie)
2018: 76th / 51st / t-24th (16 way tie)


The last 5 years averaged out, he's produced a 68 / 1,015 / 7 line. That's good, but nowhere near elite. It actually looks worse if I cut it to a more recent 3 year sample (62 / 912 / 6).

The last 5 years averaged for...
Antonio Brown: 115 / 1,529 / 12
Julio Jones: 105 / 1,599 / 6
DeAndre Hopkins: 95 / 1,327 / 9
Mike Evans: 79 / 1,221 / 8
TY Hilton: 75 / 1,231 / 6

Michael Thomas: 107 / 1,262 / 8  (only been in the league for 3 years, so career average rather than 5 years)
Tyreek Hill: 74 / 1,085 / 8  (only been in the league for 3 years, so career average rather than 5 years)
JuJu SS: 85 / 1,172 / 7 (only been in the league for 2 years, so career average rather than 5 years)



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I'm sure that there's more guys, but I feel that's sufficient to prove my point. AJ Green hasn't been elite for at least half a decade, if ever. His highest yardage year he was 5th in the league. He has never been a 1st Team All-Pro, and only 2nd Team twice ('12 and '13, or 6 and 7 years ago.)

If you look at his last 5 years, the player he is actually pretty darn close to is Brandin Cooks...
Brandin Cooks: 72 / 1,029 / 6
AJ Green: 68 / 1,015 / 7


He'd probably have better numbers if he were more healthy, but the guy is heading into his age 31 season and has been hurt 3 out of the last 5 years and more seriously 2 out of the last 3. Elite Players have to play, otherwise they'd just be Elite Street Clothser, like Eifert.