On Friday morning, Ali Bhanpuri of NFL.com published his ranking of the league’s top ‘triplets’ – that is, the quarterback, running back and no. 1 pass-catcher on each team.
Starting with statistics for players at these positions – just as he did for this ranking last season – Bhanpuri decided to change his criteria for quarterbacks by evaluating who he wants in a one-and-a-half situation and their projected 2020- production. He then multiplied the quarterback’s share by 1.5 to account for what he called a ‘value boost’.
1 Kansas City Chiefs (4th last season)
MVP, Super Bowl Champion, Super Bowl MVP, highest paid athlete in team sports and now, Triplets King. Mahomes saves the best for last, clearly. His sweep of the two QB categories, plus my exaggerated CEH ranking, throws Kansas City narrowly into No. 1 spot. It’s probably unfair (and not even sensible) to rank a rookie so high, but just think of what that crime extracts from guys like Damien Williams, Kareem Hunt and Spencer Ware, and then imagine what it could do for someone with CEHs skill set and family tree. The Chiefs are upset with two playmakers who would probably land in the top 15 in a rank passing rankings, but for the purposes of this exercise I stumbled upon Kelce – the $ 57 million human security blanket for the best quarterback in the world.
De New Orleans Saints (Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara en Michael Thomas), Dallas Cowboys, (Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott en Amari Cooper), Atlanta Falcons (Matt Ryan, Todd Gurley en Julio Jones) en Seattle Seahawks (Russell Wilson, Chris Carson en Tyler Lockett) fill in the top five.
I’ll have to agree with Bhanpuri’s take – in particular the section on ranking which quarterback you want to have in a “one and another” situation. For all the years I’ve been dealing with other Chiefs fans, I’ve learned that most of their players appreciate that mystical clutch ability above all others. And now with Mahomes, Chiefs fans can de clutchiest player of them all.
It tells me that the Baltimore Ravens – with current NFL MVP Lamar Jackson at the helm – are eighth on the list of Bhanpuri ranks. The San Francisco 49ers – a very good team that deserved to make it to Super Bowl LIV – ranked 18th.
For decades, Chiefs fans have complained about not having a real franchise quarterback – and also about not getting respect from national writers. At last those days are over.
That’s something a bit 2-3 Jet Chip Wasp in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl will do for you.
