Ranking 'NFL triplets' after Giants draft Saquon Barkley | Best QB-RB-WR/TE combos

[T-post Tom]

The Cowboys introduced "triplets" into the NFL lexicon during the Super Bowl-winning era of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin.

Since then, explosive offensives have been measured on the basis of the best combinations of quarterback, running back and pass-catcher (wide receiver or tight end).

The rankings today look very different than they would have at this time last year, before several young quarterbacks hit their stride in 2017 ... and before some 2018 NFL Draft picks entered the league.

For example, Giants running back Saquon Barkley already is the early favorite to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. So how does an offense rank that includes Barkley, Odell Beckham and Eli Manning?

Here are the NFL's 16 (half the league) best "triplets" entering 2018:


16. Seahawks

• QB Russell Wilson
• RB Rashaad Penny
• WR Doug Baldwin

The Seahawks made a bold move by drafting Penny — commonly projected as a second- or third-round pick — with the No. 27 overall pick in the first round. Will he be the answer to a running game that has struggled to replace Marshawn Lynch?

Wilson and Baldwin are one of the most underrated combinations in the NFL, even after two Super Bowl trips.

15. LIONS

• QB Matthew Stafford
• RB Ameer
• Abdullah WR Golden Tate

The Lions get the edge over some other teams despite deficiencies at running back.

Stafford has 85 touchdowns compared to 33 interceptions over the last three seasons, never throwing for less than 4,262 yards in any of them. Marvin Jones had a career year with 1,101 receiving yards, but the 92-catch Tate still is Stafford's No. 1 target. The Lions were one of three teams with two 1,000-yard receivers in 2017.

Abdullah led the team with 552 rushing yards last season, giving way to Theo Riddick on third downs.

14. CARDINALS

• QB Sam Bradford
  
• RB David Johnson
  
• WR Larry Fitzgerald

Eh, it's hard to feel great about this quarterback situation. Given his track record, you can bet Bradford will be injured at some point and rookie Josh Rosen will have to take over.

Still, Johnson, if healthy coming back from missing all but one game last season, might be the NFL's best running back. He had 2,118 yards from scrimmage in 2016.

And the ageless Fitzgerald still is putting up 1,000-yard seasons. His next will be his 10th.

13. CHIEFS

• QB Pat Mahomes
  
• RB Kareem Hunt
  
• WR Tyreek Hill

The Chiefs had 1,000-yard weapons all over the field in 2017: Hunt led the NFL in rushing yards (1,327) as a rookie. Hill was No. 7 in receiving yards (1,183) as a second-year pro. And Travis Kelce was No. 2 among tight ends with 1,038 receiving yards and eight touchdown catches.

The problem is the Chiefs traded quarterback Alex Smith off one of the best years of his career in order to roll with second-year pro Mahomes, who made one meaningless start as a rookie.

Mahomes has a cannon arm, but he is the most unproven quarterback on this list. The Chiefs only make it because of Hill and Hunt and their continued upside. Looking forward to the Chiefs being underestimated. Media seems to have already gone there. Let's hope other teams do as well.

12. TEXANS

• QB Deshaun Watson
  
• RB Lamar Miller
  
• WR Deandre Hopkins

The Texans also are difficult to slot into this list because there are outsized expectations for Watson based off a small pre-injury sampling of six starts as a rookie. He was on pace to win Rookie of the Year, though. And the Texans were 3-3 with Watson and 1-11 without him.

Miller has topped 1,000 yards twice in the last four seasons but had a career-low 3.7 yards per carry in 2017. On the other hand, Hopkins led the NFL in receiving touchdowns (13) while playing with a revolving door of quarterbacks. He is close to entering that upper echelon Julio Jones, Odell Beckham, Mike Evans, A.J. Green conversation.

11. PANTHERS

• QB Cam Newton
  
• RB Christian McCaffrey
  
• TE Greg Olsen

Here is a prediction: Olsen is going to bounce back. Will he get back to the form where he had three straight 1,000-yard seasons and 16 touchdowns from 2014-16? Maybe not, but he will be Newton's favorite target as long as he is on the field and not in the broadcast booth, where he almost wound up.

Olsen played in just seven games last season, which allowed McCaffrey to grow into the offense's best playmaker, with 651 receiving yards and 435 rushing yards. He will need to run the ball more often without Jonathan Stewart as a teammate.

Newton is a former MVP who has talked about cutting back on his rushes and becoming more of a passer. And yet he is coming off a career-high 754 rushing yards in his seventh season.

10. VIKINGS

• QB Kirk Cousins
  
• RB Dalvin Cook
  
• WR Adam Thielen

Think about this: The Vikings went to the 2017 NFC Championship Game with their third-string quarterback and without their No. 1 running back.

Cook, who totaled 444 yards from scrimmage in four games before his rookie season ended with an ACL tear, is back to find a new quarterback. Cousins is the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL (courtesy of hitting free agency at the right time) but never won a playoff game with the Redskins. He went to one Pro Bowl.

Best receiver? The Vikings are loaded. Thielen had 91 catches and 1,276 yards last season, but Stefon Diggs has a case as the team's No. 1 option.

9. PACKERS

• QB Aaron Rodgers
  
• RB Ty Montgomery
  
• WR Davante Adams

Find a running back, Packers!

The best quarterback in the NFL right now no longer has his favorite target after the Packers cut Jordy Nelson, but he has turned Adams and Randall Cobb into dynamic players. Adams is on the verge of becoming elite after 22 touchdowns over the last two seasons.

It will be unfulfilling (like it is with predecessor Brett Favre) if Rodgers, who missed nine games last season, only wins one Super Bowl ring. The Packers improved the defense to help him, but they haven't been able to find a running back while assembling a lot of quantity over quality.

8. EAGLES

• QB Carson Wentz
  
• RB Jay Ajayi
  
• WR Alshon Jeffrey

The Eagles are Super Bowl champions because Wentz played like a MVP before his season-ending injury, and then the offensive and defensive lines dominated in the postseason while backup quarterback Nick Foles didn't skip a beat from Wentz's level.

The Eagles didn't have a 1,000-yard rusher or a 1,000-yard receiver but still had one of the NFL's most prolific offenses. Jeffrey gets the slight nod here over tight end Zach Ertz.

Ajayi was a 1,200-yard back with the Dolphins in 2016 before the Eagles stole him and a reported bad attitude in a trade. It will be his chance to shine without LeGarrette Blounte, even with the rise of Corey Clement.

7. CHARGERS

• QB Phillip Rivers
  
• RB Melvin Gordon
  
• WR Keenan Allen

Here you will find the first of three quarterbacks from the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft who still is hanging on.

After shrugging off an 0-4 start, the Chargers narrowly missed a return to the playoffs in 2017 as Rivers had his fewest interceptions (10) since 2009 while throwing for the second-most yards in the NFL. Allen (1,393) was the beneficiary of a lot of those throws.

And former first-round pick Gordon finally cracked 1,000 yards in his third season.

6. GIANTS

• QB Eli Manning
  
• RB Saquon Barkley
  
• WR Odell Beckham

If you expand past triplets to include Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram, the Giants have one of the NFL's best offensive skill collections.

Narrowed to three, the Giants have a case to be higher on this list because Beckham arguably is the game's best-game-breaker and expectations for No. 2 draft pick Barkley are through the roof as a rusher and pass-catcher. Beckham had the best three-year start to a receiver's career in NFL history before his broken ankle last October.

The thing holding back the Giants from higher on this list is uncertainty around the 37-year-old Manning: How much does the two-time Super Bowl MVP have left? He had his worst numbers since 2012 last season, though most of his top weapons were sidelined. The Giants have only been to the playoffs once in the last six seasons.

5. PATRIOTS

• QB Tom Brady
  
• RB James White
  
• TE Rob Gronkowski

It's difficult to put Brady this far down on the list. Even if he is playing with guys off the street. And, in this case, he is playing with arguably the best tight end of all-time (whenever the oft-injured Gronkowski is in the lineup).

It feels like this could be the final run for at least one of Brady or Gronkowski — retirement speculation follows both — so that should be motivation.

But where do the Patriots turn at running back? Losing Dion Lewis was bigger than you think. For now, it seems like "Mr. Playoffs" White is the lead horse, but it could be first-round pick Sony Michel sooner than the later.

4. FALCONS

• QB Matt Ryan
  
• RB Devonta Freeman
  
• WR Julio Jones

Is this dynamic trio about to break up? Jones is absent from the voluntary offseason program and has deleted the Falcons' presence from his social media accounts. He is coming off an 88-catch, 1,444-yard season that only resulted in three touchdowns.

Ryan is one year removed from winning NFL MVP, but he wasn't nearly as good (20 touchdowns, 12 interceptions) without Kyle Shanahan calling the plays.

The Falcons have a two-headed running game, with Freeman and Tevin Coleman, but Freeman is the lead horse.

3. RAMS

• QB Jared Goff
  
• RB Todd Gurley
  
• WR Brandin Cooks

The Rams never would have been in this discussion at this time last season because it looked like Goff was going to be a No. 1 overall draft pick bust and Gurley had a down year in 2016. Enter new coach and offensive guru Sean McVay: Goff goes to the Pro Bowl and Gurley is a 1,300-yard, 13-touchdown stud again.

The only thing the Rams were missing was a No. 1 receiver. They tried with Sammy Watkins in 2017. It didn't work out. They made a run at Beckham before trading a first-round pick for Cooks, who had a 1,000 yards receiving in his only season with the Patriots.

2. SAINTS

• QB Drew Brees
  
• RB Mark Ingram
  
• WR Michael Thomas

It's a nice problem to have when there is a debate about which running back belongs in the triplets: A 1,000-yard rusher (Ingram) or the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year (Alvin Kamara).

The Saints did a great job rebuilding around Brees to get a second life out of the future Hall of Famer.

Brees likely will become the NFL's all-time leader in passing yardage in 2018. He started his Saints' career firing passes to Marques Colston then to Jimmy Graham and now Thomas is one of the NFL's premier wideouts, but Brees distributes the ball like a point guard to all options.

1. STEELERS

• QB Ben Roethlisberger
  
• RB Le'Veon Bell
  
• WR Antonio Brown

When a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback is the weak link in the triplets, that is pretty good. Roethlisberger sounded like he was nearing the end of his career — until the Steelers prepared to replace him and he got offended — and suddenly he wants play five more years? The Steelers have gone to the playoffs four straight years.

Brown's last five seasons are unparalleled: 582 catches for 7,848 yards and 52 touchdown catches. He led the NFL in receiving yards in 2017 ... and Bell isn't far behind that pace.

Bell was No. 3 in rushing yards and led the NFL with 321 carries. Will he holdout after a second straight franchise tag?

WHO IS MISSING?
There were some tough calls to make, where one or two stars on a team didn't have enough help from the third position. Here are the omissions with the best resumes:

QB: Andrew Luck (Colts), Derek Carr (Raiders), Alex Smith (Redskins), Case Keenum (Broncos)

RB: LeSean McCoy (Bills), Jordan Howard (Bears), Ezekiel Elliott (Cowboys), Leonard Fournette (Jaguars)

WR: A.J. Green (Bengals), Mike Evans (Buccaneers), Demaryius Thomas (Broncos), Jarvis Landry (Browns)


http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2018/05/ranking_nfl_triplets_after_giants_draft_saquon_bar_1.html

[loochy]

Let's rank the NFL's best quintuplets:

1) Chiefs

Mahomes
Hunt
Hill
Watkins
Kelce

Worst Linebacker:

1) Chiefs

Zombo

[Rain Man]

These rankings are insane. The Giants over the Chiefs? That's all I needed to see to make my judgment.

Plus, the Chiefs have quadruplets, not triplets.

[Kiimo]

Ranking the Eagles with

QB Carson Wentz
RB Jay Ajayi
WR Alshon Jeffrey

ahead of the Chiefs. Imagine.

[T-post Tom]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

These rankings are insane. The Giants over the Chiefs? That's all I needed to see to make my judgment.

Plus, the Chiefs have quadruplets, not triplets.

Well it came from a NJ website, so...........

[jjchieffan]

Where is Keesum, Thomas, and Freeman? They should be top 5, if not number 1! //KnowShit

[Kiimo]

5. PATRIOTS

QB Tom Brady
RB James White
TE Rob Gronkowski



JAMES WHITE LOL

The most yards he's ever had in a season was a little over 500. He has two career rushing touchdowns. This is a clownshow.

[Fish]

That list is shit.

[Best22]

The whole "triplets" or "big 3" doesn't make sense for football. Of course Dallas had the "triplets" in the 90s, but that dynasty was built in large part through its dominant lines.

It's partially a reference to the Miami "Big 3" but it really doesn't make much sense. Those guys were 3 out of 5, the equivalent of 12 of 22 in football (since basketball doesn't have a separate defense/offense.

So it's all media clickbait. What's a "Big 3" when an NFL team has 22 (and arguably more) starters? Should be a "Big 12"

[Kiimo]

https://twitter.com/rydunleavy

stick that knife where it belongs

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by T-post Tom

Well it came from a NJ website, so...........

Originally Posted by Kiimosabi

https://twitter.com/rydunleavy

stick that knife where it belongs

I find it funny that I had no idea that it was written by a Giants fan, and when I scanned the list, the Giants ranking was immediately the one that leapt out to me as being completely inaccurate and overrated.

[KChiefs1]

What moron wrote this shit?

[Beef Supreme]

[dj56dt58]

**** Jeff triplette

[Fansy the Famous Bard]

call me crazy, but I'll take our 3 for the next 8 years over any of the other trios on that list.