On National Tight Ends Day, Hummer defeated Ferrari, a fitting result in the end.
Flashy statistics published in Sunday’s nightcap show superstar speedster CeeDee Lamb outplaying tortoise-like George Kittle. The most important numbers are not.
In the final score, Kittle’s 49ers defeated the Rams’ Cowboys 30-24 (again). But when you look at the bigger picture, the disparity was even greater.
As we all know, Lamb is part of a growing problem in the NFL. Simply put, wide receivers are too lucrative.
Paying $34 million for a wideout, like the Cowboys’ Lamb, forces defenses to run over a third-string running back.
Not always, but enough so that some forward-thinking NFL teams are changing the way they model their rosters.
Let’s bring some banknotes. Last offseason, when it came time to commit big money to Stefon Diggs, the Bills told him to go for a hike…and brought buddy Gabe Davis with him.
Rookie Keon Coleman would be more than enough…especially since he could save about $15 million a year.
Don’t look now, but the Bills are arguably better than Detroit, even though they let someone else (thank you, Browns) pay a hefty sum for almost No. 1 receiver Amari Cooper. We play the best soccer in the East.
The Chargers took that concept a step further when Jim Harbaugh turned his latest NFL project into a college economics class.
Simply put, hire great talent cheaply, build wealth over four years, then say goodbye and start the process all over again, all the while investing heavily in line depth on both sides of the ball.
Few, if any, people in the NFL understand this concept. Harbaugh took this concept all the way to the University of Michigan, where he won a national title. So it’s not really surprising that the first thing he did when he got the Chargers gig was tell Keenan Allen and Mike Williams to hit the pike.
Rudd McConkie is here. Many expected Harbaugh’s first season to be a disaster due to the huge savings, but the club currently has a better record than the Cowboys.
And so are savings accounts, which show a very good future.
On National Tight End Day, Cade Otton had nine catches, 81 yards, and two touchdowns. Kyle Pitts had 91 yards and two scores. 9 receptions, 124 yards from Trey McBride.
Players Adam Troutman, Josh Oliver, Tucker Craft, Tyler Conklin, Brock Wright and Nate Adkins were joined Sunday by AJ Brown, Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Davante Adams, DJ Moore, He scored six more touchdowns than Deebo Samuel. Feel free to throw in Justin Jefferson, who won’t be in the end zone Thursday night, to maintain the shutout.
David Njoku, Sam LaPorta, Dalton Kincaid and Evan Engram also joined the big man scoring act on Sunday. Michael Pittman, Calvin Ridley, Terry McLaurin, and even Cooper didn’t.
Some tight ends make decent money. Don’t get me wrong. But on the day it was worth it.
Kittle had six catches for 128 yards and one touchdown, and Travis Kelce had 10 catches for 90 yards and one score. Sam LaPorta and Mark Andrews also scored touchdowns.
And rounding out the $20 million per year wideout group was the aforementioned Diggs and Allen, who laid a goose egg.
Oh, don’t forget. Hummers are not only cheaper, but they are also much more durable than Ferraris.
Dallas Goedert and TJ Hockenson were unable to cheer on their brothers on Sunday due to injuries. Meanwhile, Brandon Aiyuk, Nico Collins, DJ Metcalfe, Tee Higgins and Mike Evans were unable to earn big salaries due to blowouts.
Although it didn’t appear on any scoreboard, the real final score Sunday was this: 17 touchdowns for the tight end, 4 for the 22 members of the $20 million wide receiver club.
Note to Ja’Marr Chase: This is probably not a good time to negotiate.
Then again, it’s probably Jerry Jones on Line 1.
