Last week, while writing about the Bears’ offseason, I said GM Ryan Poles had assembled one of the 10 best skill-position groups in the NFL. Danny Parkins, who hosts the afternoon drive show on Chicago’s 670 The Score, had me on to talk about the piece and, because he’s one of the best in the business, he challenged me on my assertion.
We started rattling off receivers, running backs and tight ends. At the risk of losing his entire audience hearing me talk, Parkins and crew wisely pivoted. But that kept me wondering. Who does have the best skill-position unit in the NFL? Was I overhyping DJ Moore, Cole Kmet, Darnell Mooney, D’Onta Foreman and Travis Homer? Could it be that a sports columnist—gasp—was prone to a bit of hyperbole?
So, I took the liberty of making a top-15 ranking here (you’ll see why in a moment), which is a fun process after free agency and, I hope, a useful exercise in humility.
These are, in my opinion, the best units (quarterbacks not included) in the NFL. I’ve also listed the players I felt were their biggest contributors, factored in age and weighted the overall attributes of the running backs (Can they catch? Are they old? Do they get injured a lot?) so as not to dismiss the position entirely and become too wide receiver dependent.
I think the Bears belong on that list, even if they ultimately fell short of my original top-10 assertion. Can that still change? Absolutely.
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Darren Yamashita/USA TODAY Sports
