![]() Offensive Tackle: (Very Big) Advantage NFC There is just a greater depth of talent in the conference, in addition to featuring probably the two best pass-catching tight ends in the league. It even has Darren Waller now, after a trade from the Raiders to the Giants.īut the AFC supplements its elite duo with David Njoku, Pat Freiermuth, and Evan Engram, plus solid players like Dawson Knox, Hunter Henry, Mike Gesicki, Tyler Conklin, and Dalton Schultz, and has young players with potential like Greg Dulcich, Chigoziem Okonkwo, Michael Mayer, and Isaiah Likely. Hockenson, Dallas Goedert, and Kyle Pitts, and technically Taysom Hill. The NFC has George Kittle, who is an outstanding receiver who doesn't get to show it quite as often as his elite counterparts but makes up for it by being the best blocking tight end in the NFL. ConferenceĬonsidering the AFC is home to Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews, that's not surprising. With the talent on hand, we can expect that to continue. They were targeted more often, caught a higher share of their targets, averaged more yards per route run, created more yards after the catch, had a higher success rate, and dropped the ball less often. That's why I wasn't necessarily surprised to discover that despite AFC quarterbacks being better overall, the NFC receivers out-performed those from the AFC last season. The AFC also has stars like Stefon Diggs, Davante Adams, Garrett Wilson, and Amari Cooper, but the depth of talent isn't there like it is in the NFC. Not to mention rookies like Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jordan Addison, and AFC arrivals like Brandin Cooks. Brown, Justin Jefferson, Drake London, Chris Olave, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Cooper Kupp, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, DK Metcalf, and Tyler Lockett. There's CeeDee Lamb, Terry McLaurin, D.J. Wide Receiver: Advantage NFCīut there are also more AFC teams with sort of blah receiver corps, and the talent is just more spread out in the NFC overall. it just seems like there is more depth of high-end backs than in the conference featuring the aforementioned McCaffrey, Pollard, Robinson, and Gibbs, along with Saquon Barkley, a likely-to-be-suspended Alvin Kamara, and Kenneth Walker III, Alexander Mattison and Miles Sanders (among others). And the AFC could take a step backward if Derrick Henry starts to break down or Josh Jacobs returns to the type of player he was before his career-best season or Joe Mixon disappoints or the older backs in Miami can't recapture its 49er form, or any number of other reasons.īut if you just look at the talent and what matters in running back production, one conference has players like Nick Chubb, Austin Ekeler, Jonathan Taylor, Jacobs, Henry, Rhamondre Stevenson, Travis Etienne, Breece Hall, J.K. The NFC could be helped by, for example, Tony Pollard taking over even more of Ezekiel Elliott's workload (or Rachaad White taking Leonard Fournette's) the additions of Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Zach Charbonnet in the draft Christian McCaffrey having a full season in San Francisco, and more. Of course, this year's backs are not the same as last year's. ![]() Still, we know which conference is clearly superior. Hurts and Fields helped the NFC pull ahead in the rushing statistics, while Jackson missing a significant portion of the season hurt the AFC there. Were it not for NFC quarterbacks' interception luck (39% of their potential interceptions were dropped, compared with 31.8% of them for AFC quarterbacks, per Tru Media), this might have been even more of a landslide in the passing department. Even looking at how these quarterbacks performed in 2023, AFC passers were more efficient (EPA per dropback), more accurate, took sacks less often as a percentage of overall dropbacks and pressured dropbacks despite being under pressure more often, and created more explosive plays than their NFC counterparts. Matthew Stafford, Kyler Murray, and Derek Carr, plus Justin Fields, Jordan Love, Desmond Ridder, Brock Purdy, Sam Howell, Bryce Young, and I guess Baker Mayfield? ![]() Geno Smith, Kirk Cousins, Jared Goff, Daniel Jones. That's the whole conference.Ĭontrast that with the NFC, where it's Jalen Hurts and Dak Prescott, and then, uh. And then there's second-year man Kenny Pickett, plus rookies in C.J. The conference also features players like Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, and Deshaun Watson, who played at Pro Bowl or better levels recently but not last season, plus players like Ryan Tannehill, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Mac Jones, who have been average or better starters. And those are just the guys who played at any extremely high level last year. ![]() The AFC has (deep breath) Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, and Tua Tagovailoa. Well, we know where the big advantage lies here. ![]()
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