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Bleacher Report created a group of analysts that would grade every game of the NFL season and then rank players based on the grading.
It is a huge undertaking led by veteran NFL writer Doug Farrar who recruited a mass of talent to grade every player.
I know many of the writers, I make fun of more of them, but the work itself is policed and done thoughtfully, even if the end result is something I disagree with.
That leads us to the B/R 1000 rankings of every wide receiver unit in the NFL.
Now, I am old enough to remember the debate on whether Arizona was the best, or just one of the best, but like all things in life, that debate was fleeting.
Now, in the 2017 rankings, the Arizona Cardinals wide receivers are one of the top 25 units in the NFL... Which is not good.
From Doug:
"If 2017 is Larry Fitzgerald’s final NFL season (and it looks like it might be), he’ll walk away from the game a sure Hall of Famer and one of the most dynamic postseason receivers in NFL history. Also, if 2017 is Larry Fitzgerald’s final NFL season (and it looks like it might be), the Cardinals have some work to do to build the structure of their receiver corps without him."
It is true, the Cardinals have a lot of questions outside of Fitzgerald, as Doug goes on:
"Jaron Brown missed nine games with a torn ACL, John Brown saw his production drastically diminished from 2015 as he dealt with a sickle-cell trait and a cyst on his spine, and J.J. Nelson, who picked up some of the slack as others dealt with medical issues, is a 5’10”, 160-pound player who will be limited by size as an outside receiver, even in a Bruce Arians system that often puts smaller, faster targets in favorable situations."
That all makes sense, but 25th in the NFL?
Is there really that much of an unknown for the Cardinals at wide receiver in 2017?