Best Offensive Players In The NFL- AFC South and West

In this series of articles, I will be looking at who I believe to be the best Offensive players for each team in the NFL. This time it’s a look at the AFC South which just lost one of the biggest names in the NFL and the AFC West which gained it.

AFC South
Houston Texans- Andre Johnson, WR
Although injuries seem to be starting to have more of an impact on Johnson he is still a key cog in the Texans offense. Johnson has led the league twice in receiving yards and been voted to 5 Pro Bowls and has been All-Pro 4 times. He has broken the 1,000 yard mark in 5 of his 9 seasons, falling just 24 yards short in his rookie year, and 149 yards short in 2007 despite only playing 9 games, I would say 2003 is his only sub-par year as he started 13 games but only recorded 688 yards. The Texans have arguably failed to capitalise on Johnson’s best years by not adding another receiving threat meaning opponents can double cover Johnson regularly but he has still consistently been one of the best Wide Receivers in the NFL.

Spoiler:

Indianapolis Colts- Reggie Wayne, WR
In his career so far Wayne has broken the 1,000 yards receiving mark 7 times, and in total has 862 receptions, 11,708 yards and 73 touchdowns, he has also managed to make the Pro Bowl 5 years in a row from 2006 to 2010. Some may say that these stats are inflated due to playing with one of the best Quarterbacks to ever grace the league, but the important thing is that even when Manning was down in 2011 Wayne was still able to contribute with 960 yards and 4 touchdowns. Although he may not be revisiting the Super Bowl anytime soon Wayne will still be important to Indianapolis as a reliable target for Luck as the franchise attempts to rebuild without Manning.

Spoiler:

Jacksonville Jaguars- Maurice Jones-Drew, RB
Jones-Drew is a Running Back dangerous when being handed the ball or receiving out of the backfield. In 2011 despite being the only offensive threat on the Jacksonville team Jones-Drew still put in a league leading and Franchise record 1,606 rushing yards and another 374 yards receiving, meaning he accounted for over 47% of their yards. Having been voted to the Pro Bowl and All-Pro for the last 3 years in a row Jones-Drew has proven himself to be one of the best backs in the league, meaning that those teams who selected a Running Back in the first 59 picks of the 2006 draft must regret passing on him.

Spoiler:

Tennessee Titans- Chris Johnson, RB
Although Johnson is coming off of his worst season so far he still made it to over 1,000 yards rushing and added another 418 yards receiving, with his worst season totalling over 1,450 yards it shows how dangerous Johnson is. When in open space Johnson has the ability to outrun anybody as was shown when he posted a 4.24 in the 40 yard dash at the combine. As one of the 6 players to have made it over 2,000 rushing yards in a season where he also added 500 yards receiving Johnson will go down in history for one of the best season’s ever and if he can continue at his usual level he may go down as one of the best backs ever.

Spoiler:

AFC West
Can be found here: http://www.v2journal.com/best-offensive-players-in-the-nfl--afc-south-and-west.html

I guess you all just really agree with my selections?

No... lol
Arian Foster, nowadays, is more crucial to the Texans and whilst Andre is theoretically better - he is hurt too much.

Can't complain about the others in the AFC south really. Wayne is getting toward being "past it", but for now he is still the star on the offence... I couldn't come up with a better alternative really as none of their linemen are really standouts.

As for the West... I partially disagree with Peyton Manning... he will be there best player when he plays, but he hasn't done so yet... Then again who else can you put. Ryan Clady has dropped off a bit - two years ago he showed signs of getting dominant, but that hasn't happened.

I'd also disagree (and this is the first one I will really insist on because the Andre vs Arian thing could be argued either way) with San Diego. I feel that Phillip Rivers is better than Antonio Gates right now. Gates has fallen off the last two years and just isn't the same player. Without Rivers, the team is nothing and whilst he threw a bunch of picks last year I truly rate the guy.

Chris Johnson is one of my favourite players but he didn't have 4.24 speed last year, I sort of hoped that was because he skipped training camp last year but the fact he is bulking up this year seems to suggest he is compensating for it. He probably only has 4.31 speed now haha

crazy_dave23 wrote:No... lol
Arian Foster, nowadays, is more crucial to the Texans and whilst Andre is theoretically better - he is hurt too much.

Can't complain about the others in the AFC south really. Wayne is getting toward being "past it", but for now he is still the star on the offence... I couldn't come up with a better alternative really as none of their linemen are really standouts.

As for the West... I partially disagree with Peyton Manning... he will be there best player when he plays, but he hasn't done so yet... Then again who else can you put. Ryan Clady has dropped off a bit - two years ago he showed signs of getting dominant, but that hasn't happened.

I'd also disagree (and this is the first one I will really insist on because the Andre vs Arian thing could be argued either way) with San Diego. I feel that Phillip Rivers is better than Antonio Gates right now. Gates has fallen off the last two years and just isn't the same player. Without Rivers, the team is nothing and whilst he threw a bunch of picks last year I truly rate the guy.

I'm glad.

Well the way I saw it was that while Foster was starting the back up Tate almost matched his production and I believe that if he had been starting all the games he would have exceed Fosters numbers for the year. Where as had Johnson managed to be healthy for the season he would far exceed Houston's other receivers.

With Manning it was a sort of "who else can I really put?" plus it's likely he will be back to being the normal Peyton Manning so he is going to be their best offensive player.

I'll agree I probably should have put Rivers over Gates, and thinking about it I can't put up a solid reason as to why I didn't apart from last season worrying me. Maybe a subconscious part of me couldn't be bothered with the "He isn't elite he doesn't have a ring" argument.

niner wrote:Chris Johnson is one of my favourite players but he didn't have 4.24 speed last year, I sort of hoped that was because he skipped training camp last year but the fact he is bulking up this year seems to suggest he is compensating for it. He probably only has 4.31 speed now haha

I think the point that he can pretty much outrun anyone in open space still stands.

Was talking about it to you already if VJax hadn't left San Diego he would be the guy but it is between Gates and Rivers really. I would go Gates.

wasn't the case last year but I'm sure he will be fitter this year and so will be the fastest player in the league again

Thomond wrote:Was talking about it to you already if VJax hadn't left San Diego he would be the guy but it is between Gates and Rivers really. I would go Gates.

I think if VJax was still in San Diego it may have made Rivers be named over Gates due to the familiarity, plus he's a proven #1 receiver which is a hole now left on the Chargers roster. Then maybe that shows that VJax would have been worthy of the spot on my list.

niner wrote:wasn't the case last year but I'm sure he will be fitter this year and so will be the fastest player in the league again

Hopefully a full offseason and the lack of contract distractions will help him, as I think the Titans will need the best from CJ2K if they're wanting to throw Locker some proper game time, though obviously he would be helped by having Britt return healthy and Wright.

Jacksonville should be Blaine Gabbert surely