NFL’s Brooks whiffs by ignoring Rams WRs for Top 5 list

LA Rams win some and lose some, but NFL.com’s Brooks omission of Rams WRs for 2020 Top-5 list is a huge mistake

The LA Rams boasted two 1000 yard receivers in 2019. The outlook for 2020 is even better, as the Rams return virtually everyone associated with their passing game for the 2020 season.  Add to the fact that the Rams WR Cooper Kupp enters his contract year, and you’ve got the makings of an outstanding season. So good, in fact, that we believe that Kupp will challenge the NFL’s wide receivers for the top-spot.

But NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks doesn’t see it that way. In fact, in his latest Top-5 wide receivers list, he ignores practically everything we know about the NFL and the impact made by COVID-19 this season. Of his top five wide receivers, only two have the same quarterback from 2019 throwing to them in 2020:  New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas and Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones.

False assumptions

Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins no longer is the primary receiver for hot quarterback DeShaun Watson, but rather is the new target for second-year Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray. Does the Murray-Hopkins seem like a top-5 connection? Not to me. This pair has had almost no time to work through any repoire this off-season. It will be worse than Odell Beckham Jr.’s debut with the Cleveland Browns.

On a similar front, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans will find himself playing second fiddle to newly acquired tight end Rob Gronkowski. That’s due to the fact that new quarterback Tom Brady has played with Gronk for years, and has yet to throw a single pass to Evans in an NFL Game.  Suddenly Brady will change his career trend of spreading the ball around and focus on Evans?  Don’t believe it.

Who will throw the ball?

Finally, the inclusion of Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen is a real head-scratcher. It’s not that Allen is not talented, he is. In fact, he is a very gifted talent. But the Chargers no longer boast veteran quarterback Phillip Rivers. So a rookie QB is going to push the ball to a receiver he has barely met in 16 NFL games?  That seems very optimistic, if now downright foolish.

Meanwhile, the LA Rams line up veteran QB Jared Goff, return nine starting offensive linemen from 2019, have 2019’s third-best passing offense in the NFL which will likely improve in 2020, and there is not a single receiver from that offense among his Top-5 list?

Big mistake. BIG mistake.