Over the course of Matthew Stafford’s career, he’s played with some talented wide receivers. Two of them stand way above the rest, however.
Cooper Kupp and Calvin Johnson.
Johnson is a Hall of Famer and holds the record for the most receiving yards in a single season. He’s one of the most physically gifted and dominant receivers in league history, and it’s unfortunate that he didn’t play longer than nine seasons.
Kupp hasn’t yet established himself as a future Hall of Famer, but he put together one of the best years ever by a wide receiver in 2021: 145 catches, 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns, leading the NFL in all three categories.
So who would Stafford pick as the best wideout he’s ever played with? Jalen Ramsey asked him that very tough question, essentially asking him to choose his favorite kid.
“That’s a really tough question,” Stafford said. “I would say, out of the box, you open up a toy out of the box, CJ is what you’re looking for. 6-foot-5, 240, 4.3, jump out the gym. All of that. Unbelievable player, Hall of Famer, all that. Cooper, not the same out-of-the-box player, but I have unbelievable chemistry with him and I spend so much time with him, we work so hard together on trying to get this thing going in the right direction. As far as best I’ve ever played with, they’re too different to me. They’re too different. I can’t say either way. I know that both are wildly different players, but I don’t know man, I love playing with both of them. Cooper, won a Super Bowl with that dude, had some unbelievable moments in the playoffs with that guy. Just an unbelievable teammate of mine and a great player.”
Ramsey: “We’re gonna go with Cooper then.”
Stafford: “Yeah, we’ll go with Cooper. We’ll go with Cooper.”
Johnson is unquestionably the more gifted receiver and a tougher receiver to defend one-on-one because of his size-speed combination, but like Stafford said, his connection with Kupp make them arguably the league’s best tandem.
He’ll probably never be able to actually pick the better receiver, but he can’t go wrong with either one.
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