Who has the best group of receivers in the NFC North? It’s a tough question. Three of the four teams have big-time star power and a compelling case to be in the top spot.
That’s why it’s shocking to see that ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky put none of those three teams atop his ranking. He somehow has the Packers in first, followed by the Vikings, Bears, and Lions. As an attempt to explain himself, he clarified that tight ends are included and he wanted five above-average pass catchers.
It’s close for me between Chicago and Minnesota for the top spot, but Jefferson is the tiebreaker there. Nailor is also a lot better than you realize unless you’ve seen him playing throughout training camp, and Allen could potentially start to fade a little bit at 32 years old.
I think Orlovsky’s mistake was giving too much weight to having four or five above-average guys instead of a really good top three, which is what matters most. I have the Lions third because I’d much rather have St. Brown, LaPorta, and Williams than any three-man Packers combination. Yes, Detroit drops off hard after their top three, but that doesn’t matter as much to me. Meanwhile, the Packers have like six good pass-catchers (you can throw TE Tucker Kraft in there too) but are the only team in the division without a legitimate star.
