The folks at CBS Sports are ranking every NFL’s teams “triplets,” which is their quarterback, No. 1 running back, and No. 1 wide receiver.
As you can imagine, the Cincinnati Bengals’ trio of Joe Burrow, Joe Mixon and Ja’Marr Chase ranked pretty high, as it’s arguably the best of all 32 NFL teams.
CBS ranked that triplet group No. 2 in the league, trailing only the Los Angeles Chargers’ trio of Justin Herbert, Austin Ekeler and Keenan Allen.
The Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers rounded out the top five.
There’s a strong argument for Chase already being the superior receiver over Allen, while the Burrow – Herbert debate could easily go either way. Mixon and Ekeler are both good for about 1,500 all-purpose yards a season when healthy (both missed a combined 16 games in 2020 but only two in 2021), so you really can’t fault someone for going with either trio at No. 1.
Here is what CBS has to say on picking the Chargers over the Bengals for the top spot.
The Burrow-Chase connection figures to be one of the NFL’s best for a long time, and was nearly enough to nab Cincy the top spot in our rankings.
As you can see from the average rankings and the fact that both teams only received votes between first and fourth, our panel considered these two teams the clear cream of the crop, a step above Buffalo.
Herbert’s remarkable first two seasons, Ekeler’s breakout as maybe the league’s best pass-catching running back, and Allen’s year-to-year consistency are likely what earned Los Angeles just a single more first-place vote than Cincinnati, and made the Chargers the No. 1 team in this year’s Triplets Rankings.
