Draft the tandem.
If you’re in the market for a quarterback, especially a rookie quarterback, it behooves you, NFL franchise, to draft not just the best quarterback available but to pair him with a wide receiver he enjoyed great success with in college.
You know I’m right.
Tua Tagovailoa and Jaylen Waddle have been outstanding, not just at Miami but back at Tuscaloosa when they were two of the best players in the sport at Alabama.
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The Philadelphia Eagles came up just short in the Super Bowl last month with QB Jalen Hurts and DeVonta Smith as his bona fide deep threat, not just in the NFL but with the Crimson Tide, too. (Since we’re here, all things being equal, draft the guy from Alabama. Trust me. It’ll work. You’re welcome.)
Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase helped turn LSU into a national champion and one of the best teams in the sport in the last decade. Then, in short order, they took the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl just a year ago. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Bengals are a franchise that hadn’t been a safe bet to reach the AFC championship since Boomer Esiason played there — and ol’ Norman Julius Esaison ain’t been a Bengal for 25 years.
So when you see Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud on the board, whether you’re Houston, Detroit, New Orleans or the New York Jets, don’t overthink this. Pair the best QBs in this draft with wideouts they’ve already built relationships with like the Texans’ John Metchie, the Saints’ Chris Olave, the Lions’ Jameson Williams and the Jets’ reigning Rookie of the Year, Garrett Wilson.
And it ain’t just me saying it.
“I know that some people believe that familiarity breeds contempt, but I happen to believe when it comes to QB/WR duos, familiarity breeds content,” a longtime NFL scout told me. “There is a level of comfort knowing that someone is going to be where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there because they have done it in the past.
“There has been film study together, so you see things the same. The duos already have a history of work together that gives them a leg up. There is already an established rapport and chemistry. There is an established respect. There is something to be said about having success with a player in college and the confidence it brings at the next level. This is a trend I can see continuing as there are more successful pairings in the NFL.”
Football doesn’t have to be that difficult when building a roster, especially if your personnel are already familiar with each other. That could also be true for Stroud being paired with wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who might still be there in the second round, or Young and Jahmyr Gibbs, a Bama running back who could just as easily be a receiver.
Gibbs led the Tide in rushing yards and receiving yards last season with Young as his quarterback.
Smith-Njigba became the best wideout in the sport in 2021 with 95 catches for 1,606 yards.
Metchie caught 96 passes for 1,142 yards with Young as his quarterback in the QB’s Heisman-winning 2021 season.
Williams caught 79 for 1,572 yards with Young in that same season.
Wilson caught 70 passes for 1,058 yards in 2021 from Stroud, and Olave caught 65 for 936 during that season. Both would tell you Jaxon Smith-Njigba was the best wideout on their team through that campaign, and he’s only just now become draft eligible.
In a sport with such thin margins as the NFL, this kind of edge in chemistry could be the difference between playing in the Super Bowl and not even making the playoffs.
This also is one more reason to keep an eye on the Ohio State quarterback derby this spring. If Kyle McCord wins it, he’ll pair with the best wide receiver in the sport in Marvin Harrison, Jr.
That means McCord and Harrison Jr. will play five years of football together by the end of 2023, dating back to their days as a QB-WR tandem at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia. Someone might be wise to pair them up again in the NFL, taking advantage of a familiarity that borders on brotherly between two prodigious talents — one who has a Pro Football Hall of Fame wideout for a father.
Again, draft the tandem.
Watch them work at the Combine
The NFL Combine is my favorite portion of the NFL Draft experience every year. It’s the largest venue in the country to see the best draft-eligible group of prospects in the sport. This year that means more than 300 men will be interviewed and measured to a scientific degree.
One player to keep an eye on is Devon Achane, whose personal best in the 100-meter is an Olympian-caliber 10.02 (wind-aided) and 10.14 (wind-legal) at Texas A&M. He is perhaps the best threat to run the fastest 40-yard dash at the Combine, and he’ll do it as a running back.
Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson can throw the ball a country mile from a standstill, but he might be the best all-around prospect at QB since Kyler Murray. If he runs sub-4.5 in the 40-yard dash, he could go from a fringe top-10 pick to a solid top-five pick in this year’s draft.
Among defenders, Will McDonald will have a chance to make himself a lot of money with a solid Combine. He not only led the Big 12 in sacks twice, but was a 2021 first-team All-America selection. He could vertically leap above 40 inches and lay down a sub-4.5 40-yard dash to solidify his physical prowess at a position where he was dominant at Iowa State.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast “The Number One College Football Show.” Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young and subscribe to “The RJ Young Show” on YouTube.
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