Where will Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk rank among all-time Jaguars WR duos?

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ duo of Calvin Ridley and Christian Kirk have high expectations, but how will they rank against former Jaguars receiving pairs?

Ahead of the 2022 NFL season, the Jacksonville Jaguars invested in the Trevor Lawrence era in a big way. The Jaguars gave former Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Christian Kirk a four-year, $72 million contract to give Lawrence his biggest target to date.

The move was met with criticism, but Kirk was crucial to Lawrence’s development into a projected 2023 Most Valuable Player candidate. The Jaguars then made a move for the future ahead of the 2022 trade deadline.

Jacksonville sent a 2023 fifth-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick that could become a second-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for wide receiver Calvin Ridley.

The former Falcons receiver became the featured target in Atlanta due to Julio Jones’ decline and departure. However, he dealt with injury during the 2021 and only played five games because of a fractured foot and time off to address his mental health.

Ridley was then suspended for the entire 2022 season for violating the league’s gambling policy. If he can return to form following his nearly two-year-long break from football, Ridley and Kirk will likely form one of the best duos in Jaguars history.

Based on production in a single season, Jacksonville hasn’t seen many dominant receiver pairings in its short history. Ridley and Kirk will automatically be one of the most talented duos Jacksonville has seen, but how do they stack up compared to past Jaguars pairs?

5) 2012: Justin Blackmon and Cecil Shorts III

Heading into the second year of Blaine Gabbert’s tenure in Jacksonville, the Jaguars decided to give him the top receiver in the 2012 NFL Draft. They selected wide receiver Justin Blackmon with the fifth overall pick.

Blackmon didn’t have a great career, but he looked the part of the fifth overall pick in his one full season. The former Oklahoma State Cowboys star earned 132 targets and tallied 64 catches for 865 yards and five touchdowns in his rookie year.

Blackmon quickly became Gabbert’s favorite target, but Cecil Shorts III — who was in his second season in Jacksonville — was the second half of a solid receiving duo. The reliable Shorts had the best season of his career in 2012.

Shorts garnered 105 targets and capitalized on them for 55 receptions, 979 yards and seven touchdowns.

The duo of Blackmon and Shorts didn’t last long in Jacksonville, but their production in the 2012 season ranks among the best single-season receiving duos in Jaguars history.

Blackmon and Shorts combined for 119 catches, 1,844 yards and 12 touchdowns.

4) 2010: Marcedes Lewis and Mike Thomas

In a season in which the Jaguars went 8-8 and missed the playoffs, the 2010 pairing of Marcedes Lewis and Mike Thomas made the season somewhat memorable. Lewis is now a Jaguars legend, but in 2010, he was in only his fifth of 12 seasons in Jacksonville.

He is most known as a blocking tight end, but Lewis had his most productive receiving season in 2010. The former Jaguar pulled in 58 passes for 700 yards and 10 touchdowns to earn his first and only career Pro Bowl appearance.

Outside of the Jags legend’s best season, 2010 also featured the heroics of Mike Thomas. The receiver made the Jaguars’ play of the year when he caught a deflected hail mary to beat the rival Houston Texans on Nov. 14.

Thomas contributed 66 catches for 820 yards and four touchdowns in total during the best season of his career.

Lewis and Thomas combined for 124 catches, 1,520 yards and 14 touchdowns in the season.

3) 2022: Christian Kirk and Zay Jones

Few expected Kirk and Zay Jones to form one of the most productive wide receiver duos in Jaguars history when they first joined the team in 2022. However, by the end of the season, it was hard to deny their impact.

Kirk’s contract distracted NFL fans from the player Jacksonville was adding to their roster. He was a consistent contributor for the Cardinals throughout his four seasons with the team.

The former Cardinals receiver spent the first three seasons of his NFL career in the shadows of Larry Fitzgerald and then DeAndre Hopkins. However, Hopkins was suspended to start the 2021 season, and Kirk produced his best season to date, tallying 77 catches for 982 yards and five touchdowns.

In one season in Jacksonville, Kirk quickly proved his worth. He registered 84 catches for 1,108 yards and eight touchdowns as Lawrence’s featured receiver.

However, he had plenty of help from another misunderstood route runner. Former Buffalo Bills and Las Vegas Raiders receiver Zay Jones had been in the league for five years. His best season came in his sophomore year when he produced 56 catches, 652 yards and seven touchdowns.

Despite his career slowing down, the Jaguars brought Jones into Jacksonville, and he quickly became the No. 2 option. Jones caught 82 passes for 823 yards and five touchdowns.

Jones and Kirk helped Lawrence transform into one of the league’s top young quarterbacks. The pair combined for 166 receptions, 1,931 yards and 13 touchdowns.

2) 2015: Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns

The 2015 season was former Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles’ second year in the league, and his surrounding cast lifted him to the best season of his career. Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns formed a highly productive duo to help Bortles achieve 4,428 yards and 35 touchdowns.

Robinson looked the part of a true No. 1 option and is still trying to replicate the numbers he produced in 2015. He reeled in 80 passes for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns in his second season in the NFL.

His yards were the second best single-season total in franchise history, and his 14 touchdowns stand as the most in a single season in Jaguars history.

Hurns played the perfect partner alongside Robinson. He was a dynamic second option that turned 64 catches into 1,031 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Robinson and Hurns combined for 144 receptions, 2,431 yards and 24 touchdowns. They are one of two pairs in Jaguars history to each have 1,000 receiving yards in a season.

1) 1996-2001: Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell

And if there was ever any doubt, Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell are the best receiving pair in Jaguars history. It was impossible to pick just one season for them, as their six seasons together would all rank in the top 10 receiving seasons in Jaguars history.

They are the only other duo in Jacksonville’s history to each contribute 1,000 receiving yards in the same season; they did it four times in six seasons.

Smith and McCardell are also the only duo to have sustained success for more than just one or two seasons.

Smith is easily the best receiver in Jaguars history. He leads the franchise in career targets, receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns and was a Jaguar from 1995 to 2005.

McCardell checks in as the second best receiver in franchise history. He is second in franchise history in targets, catches and receiving yards and is third in receiving touchdowns.

Smith and McCardell played together from 1996 to 2001 and consistently got open for former Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell. Smith never had less than 1,200 receiving yards during the stretch, and McCardell never had less than 800.

The Jaguars legends combined for 1,061 catches, 14,365 and 71 touchdowns during their six years together.

Where will Ridley and Kirk rank?

Assuming Ridley and Kirk are healthy for the entire season, they will likely become at least a top-three receiving duo. Ridley’s past suggests he’s a clear upgrade from Jones. If Kirk plays the same as he did in 2022 and Ridley returns to form, they will surpass Kirk and Jones’s production in 2022.

Ridley’s 2020 season showed his ability to excel in the No. 1 receiver role. He produced 90 receptions, 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns in 2020, so he could give Robinson’s 2015 season a run for its money.

If Kirk reproduces his 2022 numbers, he and Ridley would pass Robinson and Hurns for the second-best receiving duo in Jaguars history. While it isn’t impossible for them to put up numbers similar to Smith and McCardell, they likely won’t catch them unless they stick together for a long time in Jacksonville.

It’s entirely possible for Ridley and Kirk to become the second-best duo in Jaguars history, but they have much to prove in their first season together.

Chris Grier sets the table for Mike McDaniel and the Miami Dolphins

He’s changed a lot of opinions in the last month.

Following a “March Madness” flurry of signings, trades and transactions, the Miami Dolphins had a relatively quiet weekend. There had been several moves last week with acquisitions such as Tyreek Hill and Terron Armstead, most notably. It was those mega moves that have propelled Miami into the playoff-contending conversation and not the fringe of the possibility.

The Dolphins also started the outgoing process last week, as offensive lineman Jesse Davis was released, and wide receiver Allen Hurns was let go with a failed physical designation.

Miami’s general manager Chris Grier has been using a slow-play, long-haul strategy that seems to be working. While at his own pace, he’s managed to create a loaded roster with capable veterans to help mold a young nucleus of developing talent.

As it stands now, and as much as people joke about the validity of the salary cap, it’s very real, yet manipulatable by the best in creative ways. This is where Miami’s cap guru, Brandon Shore, needs to be given credit.

What this combination of executives has done is simply set the Dolphins up for sustained success while having outs, meaning there’s insurance behind quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. That insurance rests in multiple first-round picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, thanks to a trade with the San Francisco 49ers last offseason.

In what many hope to be an unneeded policy, Tagovailoa can turn heads in 2022, in this offense, and if he does there’s a bright future ahead for this franchise and a massive payday soon thereafter for him.

Grier and Shore mastered this cap with some savvy contracts over the last few years, setting Miami up well for a looming choice two years from now or, perhaps, even sooner. Before you know it, Tagovailoa’s rookie contract will have to be either picked up for a fifth season or not. While a bit of time remains for that decision, knowing how likely that can be will be dependent on how he plays this season.

Having veteran Teddy Bridgewater as a newly signed backup is another form of Miami’s multi-layered insurance policy for Tagovailoa. Although as recently as Monday morning, Miami’s new head coach Mike McDaniel made it very clear who has what job for the Dolphins.

McDaniel also called the Tom Brady to Miami rumors “fake news,” during the AFC coaches meeting in Palm Beach. As the coaches had breakfast at The Breakers, it seems the table is set in Miami for a main course that’s been unseen consistently in several years.

While trying not to skip any meals and go straight to dessert, should Tagovailoa progress as many hope, it could be the icing on the cake of a remarkable offseason.

[listicle id=448514]

Dolphins to release Jesse Davis and Allen Hurns

These moves were expected.

The Miami Dolphins have made a number of moves in recent days, including trading for wide receiver Tyreek Hill and signing left tackle Terron Armstead, which have eaten up a significant amount of their cap space.

In response, the Dolphins announced Thursday that they’ve released offensive lineman Jesse Davis and wide receiver Allen Hurns. Hurns was released with a failed physical designation.

While these are names everyone’s familiar with, the moves were expected.

Miami Dolphins announce roster cuts to drop to new roster limit

The Miami Dolphins were charged with their first difficult set of decisions regarding their 2021 roster on Tuesday — the NFL had a cut deadline in place to get rosters to the new threshold of 85 players per team. For the Dolphins, the true roster limit is 86 thanks to the presence of international player Durval Quieroz Neto. But that still means five cuts were necessary, plus an additional roster subtraction thanks to the addition of OT Greg Little yesterday via trade.

Miami’s announced transactions have put the roster in line with the expected cutoff of talent and leave the Dolphins one step closer to a final active roster for the start of the season.

Here’s how Miami achieved the roster cutoff:

Miami traded for OT Greg Little, pushing the team to 92 and one over their 91-man limit
Wide receiver Allen Hurns was placed on Injured Reserve due to a reported wrist injury that is expected to cost him approximately 3 months
The Dolphins then went to work on cuts, waiving cornerback Jaytlin Askew, waived tackle Jonathan Hubbard, defensive tackle Jerome Johnson, guard Tyler Marz and tackle Timon Parris

The decisions are enough to keep Miami compliant with the roster limits for another week before the next round of incremental cuts. And, should the Dolphins find any players available from the early cuts of the other 31 teams across the league, the team may need to drop another player in order to add any tempting waiver claims into the mix.

Knowing how persistent the Dolphins have been in the past with testing the waiver wire, we’d suggest keeping an eye on the transaction wire. Roster trimming isn’t a straightforward event and the Dolphins’ track record of overturning rocks to try to find bargain talent may cause some unexpected turns along the way over the next few weeks.

Dolphins’ Allen Hurns has wrist injury, expected to miss 3 months

The Allen Hurns era in South Florida has been a tough one. The Dolphins wide receiver has seen his fair share of challenges throughout the course of his two years (and counting) with the team; including rebounding from a nasty concussion suffered in 2019, an opt-out of the 2020 season due to concerns around COVID-19 and now wrist surgery before his return to the team could even really get started.

The news broke this afternoon courtesy of ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Hurns has a wrist injury that requires him to go under the knife. And with a three-month recovery window, Hurns may end up being a casualty of the numbers game in Miami’s crowded wide receiver room.

Dolphins’ WR Allen Hurns has a wrist injury that will require surgery and he is expected to miss three months, per source.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 16, 2021

With the lingering injuries to other pass catchers in the room, there may be some twinge of panic among the Dolphins’ faithful — but a handful of the other receivers being held out feel like precautionary steps at this point in time and Hurns was no lock to make the Dolphins’ roster even if he was fully heathy.

We now know that he is not.

And so Hurns is going to have to try to navigate his way onto the Dolphins’ roster some other way, a route most likely coming via one of the injury stash features that NFL teams have at their disposal. But would the Dolphins keep Hurns on the 53-man roster through active cuts and then designate him? Even that feels like a tough sell with how many other options there are in the wide receiver room.

Time will tell Hurns’ fate with Miami — but this blow is just the latest in what has been a tough stretch in the veteran’s six (technically seven) year career.

12 AFC East stories from last week for Bills fans to know

AFC East news roundup for Buffalo Bills fans.

You’re probably all on top of the latest news surrounding the Buffalo Bills and we hope Bills Wire helped you get there. But let us keep you up to date with the Bills news, just outside the Bills’ realm.

The upcoming 2020 NFL season has many thinking the Bills are the favorite in the AFC East. But Buffalo isn’t just going to stroll into that title. The Dolphins, Jets, and of course the Patriots, will all have something to say about that.

So let’s stay on top of some of the latest headlines surrounding the Bills’ divisional foes now. Here are 12 news stories from the other three AFC East teams from the last week right here:

Division

Patriots outside linebacker Dont’a Hightower. Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Opt outs

The biggest news from across the NFL last week were opt outs. Those came to a fever pitch on Thursday as the deadline for players deciding to do so came and went. Prior to that 4 p.m. mark, we already knew the Patriots had a lot of players deciding not to suit up. But eventually, we saw at least one player from every team in the AFC East decide not to play.

So let’s get right to it, the full list of opt outs from the AFC East:

Bills

CB EJ Gaines
DT Star Lotulelei

Dolphins

WR Allen Hurns
WR Albert Wilson II

Jets

WR Josh Doctson
OL Leo Holoamatangi
LB CJ Mosley

Patriots

RB Brandon Bolden
OT Marcus Cannon
S Patrick Chung
LB Dont’a Hightower
TE Matt LaCosse
WR Marquise Lee
OL Najee Toran
FB Danny Vitale

Pages: 123456789101112

Where does Miami Dolphins’ 2020 salary cap stand after opt outs?

The Miami Dolphins entered the 2020 offseason with one of the highest salary cap spending amounts in all of football. And now, as we leave the 2020 offseason behind and transition into another year of football, the Miami Dolphins will still have one of the highest salary cap spending amounts in all of football.

The NFL and NFLPA ironed out the finer details of how exactly player opt-outs would impact the salary cap both in the here and now but also projecting them forward — and the byproduct is that salaries will be deferred to the future with only a small portion of each player’s hit remaining for 2020. For the Dolphins, the team didn’t necessarily lose any big name players, but seeing WRs Allen Hurns and Albert Wilson elect not to play did help to boost Miami’s spending power.

The Dolphins gave out a slew of big money contracts this offseason, including a mega-deal to CB Byron Jones and several deals that gave out $10M+ annually to the likes of Ereck Flowers, Shaq Lawson and Kyle Van Noy. And yet with the final numbers crunched after COVID-19 opt-outs, the Dolphins currently rank seventh in the NFL in salary cap space with $24,650,560 in room.

The teams ahead of the Dolphins at this point in time?

Cleveland
New England
Washington
Denver
New York Jets
Tennessee

What does this mean for the Dolphins? It probably won’t change much, as the Dolphins will have the opportunity to rollover salary cap space from 2020 to 2021 and help mitigate the impact of a reduced salary cap in the face of revenue sharing losses from a lack of ticket sales this season for the NFL. The 2021 salary cap floor sits at $175M, which would give the Dolphins just under $10.5M in cap space at their disposal. But if the Dolphins are able to roll over some $20M in cap space as surplus from this year’s cap, suddenly Miami has a much more comfortable buffer of around $30M to work with, which can help the team accommodate the incoming rookie class, add a few starters via free agency and potentially sign any outgoing players that the team wants to prioritize, such as LB Raekwon McMillan or DL Davon Godchaux.

Three Dolphins Who Can Step Up Without Allen Hurns In 2020

[jwplayer PjPc0mCn-ThvAeFxT]

The Miami Dolphins made the decision this offseason to avoid adding any fresh faces to their wide receiver room. Yes, Miami brought in two undrafted free agents but the team was more focused on building up the defense and the trenches with their prized assets in team-building. That decision not to address wide receiver will be tested this year — Miami’s starting duo of DeVante Parker and Preston Williams remains but veteran pass catcher Allen Hurns recently announced his decision to opt out of the 2020 NFL season, citing concern for the health of his family.

Miami will now have to see their younger receivers step up. Which young pass catcher is most likely to see the biggest advance in reps this season as a result of the absence of Hurns? Here are the three best options.

WR Jakeem Grant

Grant felt as though he was already on schedule to see a boost in targets — he’s been vocal this offseason about wanting to prove that he is a wide receiver first and foremost and his route running clips this summer jump off the screen. But Grant will need to stay healthy if he’s going to see the kind of production boom that he’s hoping for. And with 12 missed games over the last two seasons (and two stints on injured reserve), Grant is going to have his work cut out for him to simply stay healthy and play 16 games. That should be a concern for the Dolphins as much as anything — if you put too much on his plate, will Grant’s body break down from the wear and tear?

WR Isaiah Ford

Ford has been with the Dolphins for several seasons now and bounced back and forth between the practice squad and the active roster. The patience he’s held that his shot will come may have just paid off — especially when you consider that Ford looked strong at the end of the 2019 season as he was pressed into action. Ford has a similar skill set to Hurns as well, he might be the easiest “one for one” plug in option for the Dolphins’ wide receiver room. What is his ceiling? He’s likely reserved for routes coming from the slot and he’s not likely to be a big play receiver. But he’ll be reliable with his hands and, best of all, he’s hungry to prove he deserves a spot.

WR Gary Jennings Jr.

Jennings is a former 4th-round pick from the 2019 NFL Draft. Miami took advantage of their low post on the waiver wire last fall when they were able to pluck him off of Seattle, who had cut him from their active roster. Jennings didn’t get much run in Miami but the catalyst of those issues was his health — he ended up playing just a handful of snaps before missing the end of the year. Something important to keep in mind for Jennings? He’s got explosive speed. He tested in the 4.3s in the 40-yard dash and has plenty of experience winning from the slot at the college level, where he played at West Virginia. Jennings is the sleeper to reap the benefits of Hurns’ departure for 2020 — but he’s well equipped to make a splash and create some chunk explosive plays that this team will desperately need.

Dolphins WR Allen Hurns opts out of 2020 NFL season

[jwplayer PjPc0mCn-ThvAeFxT]

The Miami Dolphins have endured their first loss in player personnel to the final wave of player opt-outs for the 2020 NFL season. While some teams have gotten turned upside down by player decisions, the Dolphins have been a team that has avoided chaos — until now. Dolphins wide receiver Allen Hurns announced yesterday that he was opting out for the 2020 NFL season, citing concerns about the health of his family with a young baby boy at home.

Hurns’ decision should be considered a selfless one — he himself referred to it as one of the hardest decisions he’s ever had to make.

✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/OeYQmHwRGL

— Allen Hurns (@A1hurns) August 4, 2020

From the Dolphins’ perspective on the field, Hurns’ loss hurts — he was one of the more consistent contributors on the field on a week to week basis. Is Hurns a mismatch player and a high volume receiver? No. But his experience allowed him to find success last season by being a chain mover. The good news for Miami is that this is a young team and there are no shortage of younger talents who will be ready and looking to step up and claim Hurns’ reps in the receiving room. Youngster Isaiah Ford looked like a more smooth version of Hurns when he was pressed into action towards the end of the year and a healthy Gary Jennings Jr. will look to make his first real impact on the Dolphins this season and may now be afforded the opportunity to do so.

The deadline for COVID-19 opt outs is tomorrow at 4PM EST, so we may not be done with Dolphins unscheduled departures. But if we are, the Dolphins will still be, relatively speaking, lightly hit relative to some other teams. In the AFC East alone, star linebackers CJ Mosley and Dont’a Hightower have opted out and the Patriots have lost nearly enough starters to count on one hand. It hasn’t come to that for the Dolphins yet and we’re likely to run out of time before it gets half that chaotic for Miami.

What is ideal role with Dolphins for newly extended WR Allen Hurns?

What does the ideal role look like for newly extended Miami Dolphins wide receiver Allen Hurns?

The Miami Dolphins made a bit of a surprise decision when it was announced that the team had agreed upon a contract extension with wide receiver Allen Hurns. Hurns hasn’t really been the most impactful receiver on the team, nor is he the most dynamic or promising athlete. And while the contract extension Hurns signed with Miami wasn’t for any insane dollar amount, seeing Miami lock in a receiver with 17 receptions for 223 yards in 9 games this season was still something of a surprise.

The details of Hurns’ contract extension are now known, he’s signed a 2-year, $8M extension with $3.27M in fully guaranteed money.

A modest deal — but a contract extension none the less. Which begs the question: what vision do the Dolphins see for Allen Hurns that would prompt them to prioritize an in-season contract extension?

Hurns isn’t going to be a volume receiver for the Dolphins, nor should he be. Hurns runs nice routes and is experienced enough to make himself available as needed vs. zone coverage or against the blitz. The role for Hurns that makes the most sense is to be “the vet”. Granted, Hurns is barely a year older than DeVante Parker, but Hurns is the savvy player who makes the most of his reps without elite physical tools. That experience and mental sharpness has ingratiated Hurns with the coaching staff and as a result, he’s been rewarded.

Look for Hurns to serve as the stand in for Preston Williams while the rookie recovers from a torn ACL. And in 2020, Hurns will cede the role back to Williams and serve as a reliable depth presence who can step in at a moment’s notice or serve as the 3rd or 4th wide receiver. There’s value to experience and mentorship — and it seems that’s what the Dolphins prioritized in paying up for Hurns just a few days ago.

[vertical-gallery id=419827]