Earlier this week, Barry Werner of USA TODAY’s TouchdownWire ranked the NFL’s best quarterback-wide receiver combos. After a surprising amount of page scrolling, you can find the duo of Tom Brady and Julian Edelman coming in at no. 14 on the list.
Here is what Werner had to say about why Edelman and Brady were ranked surprisingly low.
“Both players have been Super Bowl MVPs, so why are they in the middle of the pack. That’s because Tom Brady lost his beloved target, Rob Gronkowski, and this will ramp up the defenses’ focus on Julian Edelman.”
Gronkowski’s lack of presence in the receiving game in 2018 should be even more of a reason as to why Brady and Edelman deserve to be higher on the list.
The retired tight end played in 13 games last season and had 47 receptions for 682 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Edelman played in 12 games and had 74 receptions for 850 yards and six touchdowns. In the two games that Gronkowski missed, which was Week 7 vs. the Bears and Week 9 vs. the Packers, Edelman had a total of 11 receptions for 107 yards and one touchdown.
Ahead of New England’s dangerous duo in the rankings were Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce (no. 1), Kirk Cousins and Adam Thielen (no. 5), Philip Rivers and Keenan Allen (no. 8), Jared Goff and former Patriot Brandin Cooks (no. 10), and Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper (no. 11).
