The Chicago Bears flipped a a fourth round pick in this year’s draft to Los Angeles to acquire Chargers legend and Pro Bowl receiver, Keenan Allen, on Thursday. The 31-year-old receiver will be joining Bears superstar D.J. Moore in the Windy City, creating a formidable duo that should help whoever is at quarterback this season access their highest potential.
With that being said, let’s see how Allen and Moore stack up against some of the best receiving duos going into 2024 and rank the top five.
5. Seahawks Second Year Receiver Breaks Out
Yes, this one is a lot of speculation.
From 2019 to 2022, D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett created one of the scariest receiver duos in the league. In 2023, though, Lockett finally started showing signs of age. This past season was the first time since 2018 that Lockett hadn’t put up 1,000 receiving yards in a season, despite playing and starting in every game. With Lockett on the decline, 2023 first round pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba will look to step up in a Ryan Grubb-led air raid offense.
While Smith-Njigba had what many would call a less-than-remarkable season, his 2024 season looks to be the year he breaks out. Smith-Njigba was the Seahawks third-most targeted receiver in 2023, but a majority of his receptions happened short of the first down marker. Many factors impeded the young receiver’s production, such as Seattle’s need to put extra tight ends and undrafted rookie wideout Jake Bobo on the field to supplement a weak offensive line in the run, effectively showing their hand whenever JSN and Bobo switched in a game.
With Lockett taking a step back, a brand new coaching staff and offense, a suitable offensive line and experience in the league now, expect Jaxon Smith-Njigba to take a leap this season, especially next to superstar D.K. Metcalf.
Over his five years with the Seahawks, D.K. Metcalf has established himself as the best player in the Seattle. The 26-year-old receiver has racked up 5,332 receiving yards and 43 touchdowns, placing him fifth all time in receiving touchdowns for the Seahawks already.
Metcalf is coming off one of his best seasons as a pro, earning himself a Pro Bowl nod for putting up 1,114 yards and eight touchdowns, while only hauling in 66 receptions. If Metcalf can bring his receptions up to at least 80 in 2024, we could see a repeat of his 2020 All-Pro season, where he racked up over 1,300 yards and ten touchdowns.
4. Kupp Stays Healthy and Rams Shock the League
This placement comes to fruition only if Cooper Kupp can stay healthy in 2024. The 2021 Offensive Player of the Year has only played in 21 contests over the past two seasons and has only had two completely healthy seasons throughout his seven year career. With that being said, one of those seasons happened to be one of the greatest seasons a receiver has ever put up.
In his award-winning 2021 season, Kupp won the Triple Crown after leading the league in receptions, yards and touchdowns, putting up 191 receptions 1,947 yard and 16 touchdowns. He was just 15 yards shy of breaking Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson’s single-season receiving record.
Kupp played in just 12 games in 2023, but still managed to cobble together a respectable season of 737 yards and five touchdowns. If he played the whole season, his projected numbers would look like 1,044 yards and seven touchdowns. a far shot from 2021, but a more than satisfactory performance. If Kupp can at least put up those numbers, the duo of him and Puka Nacua could be a deadly combo for a Rams team that overachieved in 2023.
Nacua was drafted out of BYU in the fifth round of the 2023 draft by the Rams, and almost immediately exploded onto the scene as the clear best receiver out of a draft loaded with quality-to-great pass catchers. In his first two games as a part of Los Angeles, he racked up 266 yards while Kupp recovered from a nagging hamstring issue that kept him sidelined for the first four weeks of 2023.
Nacua would go on to gain 1,486 yards and four touchdowns on his way to an All-Pro Second Team nod and a second place finish for the Offensive Rookie of the Year (Which he would’ve won any other year if it weren’t for C.J. Stroud).
With a healthy Kupp and Matthew Stafford, and another big season from Nacua, the Rams could look to make a lot more noise in the playoffs in 2024.
3. Moore and Allen Run It Up in the Windy City
Bears fans rejoice, they have the highest quality receiving core in Chicago since Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery were in town catching passes from Jay Cutler. D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen could have an exponentially higher ceiling than Marshall and Jeffery, though.
D.J. Moore is coming off the best season of his career after being acquired from the Panthers in the 2023 offseason. He racked up 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns. After being snubbed from the Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams, Moore will be looking to recreate his 2023 season with vengeance.
Moore’s ability to improvise and his insane catch radius were a perfect pairing for Justin Fields, who is at his best out of the pocket. With Moore, Fields improved greatly in the passing game, but Chicago’s air attack was still in the bottom half of the league most weeks. That’s where Keenan Allen comes in.
Allen is one of the best players in Chargers history, so when the Chargers decided to deal him to Chicago late Thursday night, the NFL world erupted. In his age-31 season, Allen caught 108 balls for 1,243 yards and seven touchdowns. That was good enough to earn him his sixth career Pro Bowl selection.
Allen looks to add a whole new dynamic to the Bears’ passing game with Hall of Fame-level route running skills that will allow him to take on a possession receiver role compatible to D.J. Moore’s propensity to be a big play guy. Having a sure-handed star like Allen will add to Fields’ confidence if the Bears run the offense through him in 2024.
2. Brown and Smith Make Philly Go
There was a period in the 2023 season where A.J. Brown looked like he may be the best player in the NFL. Between weeks three and eight, Brown racked up 831 yards and five touchdowns, a respectable season in the matter of six games. He ended the season with 1,456 yards and seven touchdowns.
The last nine games of the season were not as kind to Brown, though, only reaching 100 yards once more in that span. while that may make some question this placement on the list, anybody that watched the Eagles last season understand Brown does not hold all the blame for his second half falloff.
The Philadelphia Eagles as whole had a second half collapse. After beginning the season 10-1, they would go on to finish 11-6. Head Coach Nick Sirianni and former Offensive Coordinator Brian Johnson took a bulk of the flack for their un-imaginative play calling that became predictable as the season wore on. The Eagles vaunted defense began falling apart without the offensive support, especially the defensive backfield, which greatly regressed from 2022 to 2023, even with big names like Darius Slay and Kevin Byard in the position room.
With Kellen Moore now up in the box as offensive coordinator, the Eagles will look to find ways to keep Brown more consistent and also utilize fourth-year wideout DeVonta Smith, who began heating up in the second half of the season when Brown began declining.
Smith finished the season with 1,066 yards and seven touchdowns. Smith is a great example of a player who understands his role and takes advantage of his opportunities. Playing next to A.J. Brown in a run-first offense could’ve been a death sentence for the 10th overall pick in 2021, but Smith has constantly found ways to fit in the offense and Kellen Moore will look for ways to maximize the talent in this wide receiver room.
1. The Miami Track Squad Runs the League
Plain and simple, Tyreek Hill should’ve received more MVP votes last season. Hill cemented himself as the best receiver in the league last year, tallying 1,799 yards and 13 touchdowns. In a season of uncharacteristically bad quarterback play, Hill helped Tua Tagovailoa look like an MVP candidate as well, even after the holes in Tua’s games became apparent as the season wore on.
Hill being traded to the Dolphins has been one of the most influential trades in recent memory, as he has stacked up 3,509 yard in two seasons with Miami. When healthy, Hill has been one of the most consistent receivers in the league since arriving in 2016, it’s just a matter of how long he will play now.
The Dolphins will have a lot to prove in 2024 after collapsing in the second half of the year the past two seasons, and Hill looks to make an even bigger impact on the field after revealing he plans to retire at the end of the 2025 after his contract is up with Miami. To help the Fins reach new heights, he will need help from his running mate, Jaylen Waddle.
Waddle has been a revelation for Miami since they drafted him sixth overall in the 2021 draft. In each of his first three seasons, he has surpassed 70 receptions and 1,000 yards. While his yards and touchdowns were down slightly in 2023 compared to 2022, Waddle only played in 14 games.
In a week 16 contest against the Dallas Cowboys, Waddle suffered a high ankle sprain, which kept him sidelined through the end of the season. High ankle sprains can be very serious injuries for wide receivers, but having the offseason to rest and recover should limit the concern for Waddle in 2024.
As long as both Waddle and Hill can stay healthy in 2024, there is no doubt that they are the most dangerous duo in the entire league, capable of winning games by themselves, which happened to be the case on occasion in 2023.
1 Comment
Spot on analysis!!!