Coaches, Scouts, Execs: "Chase is number 1 WR"

[Nepa]

From ESPN survey of league executives, coaches and scouts of top 10 at different positions.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45689023/top-10-nfl-wide-receivers-execs-scouts-2025-espn-jeremy-fowler-position-rankings

Chase came in #1WR; Tee Higgins earned an honorable mention.

Some quotes from article:

"Chase separated from defenders on the field all year, then separated from the pack in these rankings in Year 4. He earned around 70% of the first-place votes after producing the fifth triple crown of the Super Bowl era"

""Honestly, it comes down to Chase is a b--- to cover," a high-ranking NFL personnel executive said. "We are super aware of him and have played him a bunch and been torched by him a bunch."

"Not many NFL players scare defensive coaches more than Chase, whose 787 yards after the catch were 190 more than the next-closest receiver (Buffalo's Khalil Shakir). But the Bengals feel he's still refining his game, with improvements in defensive scheme recognition, attack plans based on coverages and creative route running with different speeds or stem."

[*pally*]

AP NFL writers tied him with Justin Jefferson; they split the 1st and 2nd place votes. I think this is the year that Ja'Marr truly separates himself. As totally excellent as Jefferson is, Ja'Marr is just so very dynamic in the game and can play all over the field

[Sled21]

(Yesterday, 04:02 PM)pally Wrote: AP NFL writers tied him with Justin Jefferson; they split the 1st and 2nd place votes.  I think this is the year that Ja'Marr truly separates himself.  As totally excellent as Jefferson is, Ja'Marr is just so very dynamic in the game and can play all over the field

I think Jefferson was maybe initially slightly better than Chase when he came into the league. I feel, especially after last season's Triple Crown, that Ja'Marr has passed him and is undoubtedly #1. 

[*pally*]

(Yesterday, 04:11 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I think Jefferson was maybe initially slightly better than Chase when he came into the league. I feel, especially after last season's Triple Crown, that Ja'Marr has passed him and is undoubtedly #1. 

I think that Ja'Marr's excellence (Tee's too)  gets underrated by some because of that whole "but Joe Burrow is throwing to them"  thing

[StoneTheCrow]

The triple crown should do that. If he plays for any other team he’s OPOY last year as well.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

I won't tell people that say that are wrong, but personally I do think Chase probably needs to repeat a similar level of performance at least once more to conclusively dethrone Jefferson.

Chase 2024 Triple Crown: 1708 yards
Jefferson Career 17 game AVERAGE: 1640 yards

Maybe it's the baseball fan in me, but I like large sample sizes to make definitive decisions like that. Otherwise you end up potentially proclaiming Cooper Kupp/Josh Gordon/Victor Cruz/Juju Smith-Schuster as the best WR in football. (Not that Chase is any of those guys, but just proving my point that one amazing year far better than anything he's put up before isn't necessarily the new norm.)

[Nicomo Cosca]

I think Chase has proven he’s the most explosive playmaker in the league at this point.



Jefferson is probably the better route runner, but Chase just puts up a lot more TD’s at the end of the day. I basically see those 2 as 1 & 1A, with Chase getting the slight edge because of his explosiveness and YAC.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(Yesterday, 05:13 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Jefferson is probably the better route runner, but Chase just puts up a lot more TD’s at the end of the day. I basically see those 2 as 1 & 1A, with Chase getting the slight edge because of his explosiveness and YAC.

Bengals are 25th, 19th, and 20th in rushing TDs over those 3 years.
Bengals are 1st, 13th, and 3rd in passing TDs over those 3 years.

Because the Bengals are 2nd, 7th, and 7th in passing attempts over the last 3 years.
And 30th, 30th, and 29th in rushing attempts over the last 3 years.

Chase is great, but also it's just a statistical reality that the Bengals have more passing TDs because they have less rushing TDs. The Bengals have thrown 52 TDs the last 3 years inside of the opponent's 10 yard line when a lot of other teams are running it. The inverse of the Eagles.

- - - - - -

Not even an argument against Chase being potentially #1, just pointing out that TDs are often times a product of opportunity. It's not entirely the same because it's passing/receiving instead of rushing, but I made a similar argument a few offseasons ago when people really wanted Jamaal Williams after he led the NFL in rushing TDs.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(Yesterday, 05:35 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Which means teams literally can solely focus on the Bengals passing attack and still can’t stop it. Imagine having to cover Chase and Tee with the Bengals having an actual running game.

Not really how it works. Efficiency numbers can go up from it, but sheer counting numbers will normally drop. It's why Lamar Jackson needed 17 games to finally break 4k passing yards.

Kupp's triple crown: Rams 25th rushing team
Justin Jefferson's >1800 yard season: Vikings 28th rushing team
Julio Jones's near-1900 yard season: Falcons 18th rushing team
Calvin Johnson's near-2k season: Lions 23th rushing team
Smith Sr's triple crown: Panthers 19th rushing team

If you have an actual running game, you're not going to be accumulating big time passing numbers normally.

[NUGDUKWE]

I don't know where Chase falls I'm just glad he's on the team and we got him locked up and hopefully happy. This thread did remind me that a year ago there were people on the board saying Chase wasn't really that good to deserve the money.

[Nicomo Cosca]

I mean, Chase has still never seen a season where he had as many targets as Jefferson’s career high (184). And despite all those targets and putting up 1800 yards Jefferson only had 8 TD’s that year. He just doesn’t find the end zone as much.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(Yesterday, 05:49 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: I don't know where Chase falls I'm just glad he's on the team and we got him locked up and hopefully happy. This thread did remind me that a year ago there were people on the board saying Chase wasn't really that good to deserve the money.

There was one guy in particular that claimed he wasn’t as good as Lamb.

[NUGDUKWE]

(Yesterday, 05:52 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: There was one guy in particular that claimed he wasn’t as good as Lamb.

I don't remember anyone specifically. But I did think it was a bit shocking and probably just a bit of defend the franchise that always pops up in player disputes. Chase is a guy that regardless of stats just seeing his highlights where he catches the ball with 3 defenders in the area and just straight out runs them puts him in a very elite group. Hopefully we see alot more of those plays going forward.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(Yesterday, 06:01 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: But I did think it was a bit shocking and probably just a bit of defend the franchise that always pops up in player disputes.

I'm sure we'll never see THAT again!  

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(Yesterday, 05:13 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: I think Chase has proven he’s the most explosive playmaker in the league at this point.



Jefferson is probably the better route runner, but Chase just puts up a lot more TD’s at the end of the day. I basically see those 2 as 1 & 1A, with Chase getting the slight edge because of his explosiveness and YAC.

Plus, last year Chase got much better route running as well which as you note was the thing separating them for years. Chase gets more TD's
and is more explosive and harder to tackle. Chase is undoubtably the best now in my eyes and can still improve which is insane. Thanks to Nepa
for this thread as well, Ja'Marr Chase deserves it. He might end up being the best ever as he doesn't use stickem on his gloves/hands like Jerry
Rice did. We just need to start winning Super Bowls damn it.

[*michaelsean*]

The 2nd guy quoted is from Baltimore.

[J24]

He's a modern day Jerry Rice. His ability to go from WR to yac machine is eerily similar to Rice.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

(Yesterday, 05:06 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I won't tell people that say that are wrong, but personally I do think Chase probably needs to repeat a similar level of performance at least once more to conclusively dethrone Jefferson.

Chase 2024 Triple Crown: 1708 yards
Jefferson Career 17 game AVERAGE: 1640 yards

Maybe it's the baseball fan in me, but I like large sample sizes to make definitive decisions like that. Otherwise you end up potentially proclaiming Cooper Kupp/Josh Gordon/Victor Cruz/Juju Smith-Schuster as the best WR in football. (Not that Chase is any of those guys, but just proving my point that one amazing year far better than anything he's put up before isn't necessarily the new norm.)

I agree in principle, though I think Chase's rookie year is more than a legitimate second-best stellar season that already separates him from the one-hit wonder types.

I don't object to anyone putting Jefferson first for now.

[Stewy]

(Yesterday, 04:02 PM)pally Wrote: AP NFL writers tied him with Justin Jefferson; they split the 1st and 2nd place votes.  I think this is the year that Ja'Marr truly separates himself.  As totally excellent as Jefferson is, Ja'Marr is just so very dynamic in the game and can play all over the field

Writers write, don't study everyone equally and have no skin in the game, and 90% of them are dumb asses about teams they aren't paid to cover.

NFL executives and coaches have to DEAL with Chase on the field.  That to me garners much more credibility to their ranking.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(Yesterday, 07:39 PM)Stewy Wrote: NFL executives and coaches have to DEAL with Chase on the field.  That to me garners much more credibility to their ranking.

https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/los-angeles-rams/coach-unaware-of-donald-report/

Quote:“Who’s this 99 guy on the Rams? I’m hearing he might be a problem for us.”

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/01/01/ron-rivera-commanders-appeared-unaware-possible-playoff-elimination

Quote:Rivera looked confused and asked, “We can be eliminated?”