What one NFL Coach Believes Will 'Be Giants' Downfall' | Mailbag

Projecting the impacts made by the players changing zip codes, the Chicago Bears' upside, and what the Seahawks are building in Seattle!

It’s the final countdown.

We’re now merely two weeks away from the Kansas City Chiefs raising a second consecutive Super Bowl banner in a raucous Arrowhead while staring across the sideline at Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens, perhaps their biggest threat to a historic Lombardi Three-Peat.

Rosters are about to be trimmed, gameplans for Week 1 assembled, and anticipation is peaking for the start of the 2024 regular season.

Let’s throw open the mailbag and tackle some of your questions from this week!

Which veteran WR signing do you have the best expectations for out of Odell Beckham Jr. in Miami, Stefon Diggs in Houston, and Cordarelle Patterson in Pittsburgh? Or, is there another experienced skill player you expect to have a particularly strong season? (via _Bluemike_ on Threads.)

Given the choices among wide receivers who were on the move this offseason, Diggs is the runaway winner here.

Diggs not only lands on a Super Bowl-caliber roster but will be on the receiving end of passes from one of the sport’s ascending quarterbacks who just took home Offensive Rookie of The Year honors after passing for 4,108 yards and 23 touchdowns to just five interceptions.

Remember not-so-many years ago when rookie quarterbacks held clipboards and wore backwards hats on the sideline for three or four games and then struggled out of the chute? Stroud once again proved that you can make an immediate impact, and Diggs’ arrival elevates the Texans into the pantheon of Super Bowl favorites for the upcoming season.

However, Diggs is just one cog in a potentially elite receiving corps that already includes emerging yet underrated superstar Nico Collins, off a 1,300-yard and eight-touchdown 2023 season and Tank Dell who offers so many similarities to a young Diggs.

There is though, one offseason signing whom at least one coach suggests to me has the opportunity to play his way into the MVP conversation, and that’s Eagles running back Saquon Barkley.

I posed your question, as asked, to a current NFL coordinator and he reaffirmed my instinct and that coach’s bold call.

“I think Saquon in Philly with that offensive line,” the coordinator told me. “I only have two words for you; ‘look out.’

“If he stays healthy, he could make a run at Offensive Player of The Year. It will be the Giants’ downfall when this is all said and done. What a horrible decision to let him walk.”

Barkley becomes a multi-faceted focal point, capable of changing the outcome of a game as a runner or receiver out of the backfield, and will play with his most consistently dominant quarterback of his career, in Jalen Hurts, with myriad weapons around him in A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, and now former first-round pick Jahan Dotson who all command serious respect from opposing defensive coordinators.

I’ll go on record to suggest Barkley surpasses 2,000 all-purpose yards for the first time since his rookie season back in 2018.

Setting Caleb Williams Mania aside for a second, what are your thoughts on the 2024 Bears? (Dire_Wolf_54 on Threads)

I’ll get to my thoughts in a second, but it’s worth noting that an AFC Scouting Director suggests to me that the job Ryan Poles has done surrounding Caleb Williams with premium talent gives them a chance to be a playoff team this year.