The Replacement Superstars

Injuries suck. This isn’t news to anyone, and football fans have long since become accustomed to the heavy toll the season can take on players. No sport in the world is more physically devastating than football, and at this point everyone understands and accepts that there is going to be attrition throughout the season.

Football fans have learned to deal with injuries, but it does seem like we’re off to a particularly brutal start to the season. Six weeks in we’ve seen major injuries suffered by several of the biggest stars in the league, and it has definitely put a damper on the rest of the season. We have eleven more weeks to go with no JJ Watt, no Odell Beckham, and likely no Aaron Rodgers. And though I still love football and will watch every minute that is televised, it’s hard not to be a little subdued at the thought of missing all of these stars.

Fortunately, the NFL is in the business of making stars. With 53 players on 32 teams, there are nearly 1700 active players in the NFL, more than any reasonable person (or me) could conceivably keep track of. There are stars waiting to break out, and the absence of these established players could give them the opportunity to step into the limelight.

Injured Star: David Johnson

Next in Line: Alvin Kamara

Johnson was one of the first big stars to go down, suffering a wrist injury in Arizona’s opening game. And while he may be back sometime towards the end of the season, it may be too little and too late for one of the league’s most dynamic running backs to help.

Fortunately, Johnson is just the forefront of the league’s incoming wave of young, versatile running backs. And it isn’t a coincidence that the player who will bump Adrian Peterson out of the starting lineup when he comes back is so similar to the player that sent Peterson to the Cardinals in the first place. A third round pick out of Tennessee, Kamara quickly impressed the coaches in New Orleans and earned his place in one of the most dynamic offenses in the NFL, and his role is only going to grow as he gets more comfortable with the Saints offense.

Johnson has developed into one of the best running backs in the league with a combination of two major strengths: breakaway speed at the second level and natural skill as a receiver. Kamara possesses both these skills as well, even if he goes about things in a slightly different way than Johnson.

Three inches shorter and ten pounds lighter, Kamara doesn’t look like a wide receiver in the way Johnson does, but he has all the skills needed to play the position. He regularly lines up wide for the Saints, and through five games his rushing and receiving numbers are eerily close to each other (25 carries for 158 yards and 1 TD, 24 receptions for 159 yards and 1 TD). And while he hasn’t busted off any 50 plus yard plays yet, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before he breaks one loose and adds an extra dimension to what is already one of the best offenses in the NFL.

Injured Star: Julian Edelman

Next in Line: Christian McCaffrey

This is a bit tongue in cheek to select McCaffrey as the heir apparent to Edelman, but there are similarities beyond just their grittiness and work ethic. For years now Edelman has been one of the premier slot receivers in the league. His combination of quickness and effortless chemistry with Tom Brady has made him nearly impossible to defend, and the Patriots offense has clearly suffered from his absence. They have been forced to throw the ball down the field significantly more, leaving Brady exposed to the sort of hits and dangerous passes he has avoided in the past.

The Panthers are a team trying to work in the opposite direction. They have placed an incredible load on Cam Newton since the moment he entered the league, and after their offense fell to pieces a year ago they decided to make a change. Officially McCaffrey is a running back, but in the early stages of his career he has been much more effective as a receiver. His 37 receptions have gone for 293 yards and two touchdowns, while his 38 carries have accounted for only 104 yards and no scores.

McCaffrey hasn’t been able to get going on the ground, but his skills as a receiver have revitalized Carolina’s offense. Newton now has an easy target he can hit on any play, forcing defenses to give more respect to the quick pass and opening options up down the field. After a shaky start to the season, Carolina is sitting near the top of the NFC playoff race, and Newton’s life will only get easier as he develops more chemistry with his shifty do-everything weapon.

Injured Star: Aaron Rodgers

Next in Line: Dak Prescott

It isn’t actually possible to find an under the radar quarterback, so excuse me if I decide to highlight one of the highest profile players in the league. Prescott is coming off of a stellar rookie season, one that even earned him some MVP buzz, but he wasn’t without his detractors coming into the year. A season ago Prescott was dropped into the best possible situation for a rookie quarterback, surrounded by dangerous weapons and behind an excellent offensive line. He responded by putting up remarkable numbers in the most conservative fashion possible, and many questioned how he would perform when everything around him wasn’t working perfectly.

Just looking at the numbers you would say he’s taken a step back in 2017. He’s already thrown as many interceptions as he did his entire rookie season, and both his completion percentage and yards per attempt have suffered major drops. Through five games the Cowboys have more losses than wins, and they are 2.5 games back of division rival Philadelphia and fellow second year quarterback Carson Wentz, who is now one of the favorites to take home MVP.

But beneath all of this, Prescott has quietly been better than he was a year ago. The offensive line has struggled, and the defense has put him in a lot of tough situations, and more often than not he has stepped up. He has been much more aggressive than he was a year ago, and he is now making plays with his arm where he would have happily thrown the ball away last season. The biggest questions about Prescott have been answered with an emphatic “Yes he can”, and it is only a matter of time before the results follow his performance.

When Rodgers is on, there is no one else in the league like him. He has an ability to escape pressure and make big plays out of nothing that nobody in the league can match. Prescott’s improvisational skills still need a lot of work to get to that point, but a year after posting the statistically greatest rookie season in history by an NFL quarterback, he has only gotten more dynamic. And in a league filled with boring checkdown artists like Brady, Alex Smith, and Derek Carr, we need more players like Rodgers and Prescott taking regular shots down the field.

Injured Star: JJ Watt

Next in Line: Calais Campbell

 

Unlike most of the other names on this list, Campbell isn’t an up and coming young player. He’s 31 years old, and he’s been in the league since 2008. He made two Pro Bowls and was twice selected second team All-Pro. Campbell is good, and everyone has known about it for years.

But in his first year away from Arizona, Campbell has finally gotten the opportunity to put up numbers to match his talents. Over the course of nine years with the Cardinals Campbell was asked to dominate in a grim, unspectacular role, eating blockers on the inside while his defense overwhelmed the opponent with creative and unpredictable blitzes. He put up good numbers, but he never reached double digit sacks, and his talent wasn’t appreciated by those who followed games only through the box scores.

Through six games with the Jaguars, Campbell is only one sack away from matching his career high. He has become as unstoppable as a pass rusher as we all assumed he could be, on a defense that has freed him to make the most of his opportunities. The Jaguars have so much talent on that side of the ball that they can unleash anyone on any given play, and it’s almost impossible for opposing offenses to hone in on Campbell.

Campbell certainly won’t be able to replicate the dominance of Watt (because Watt is arguably the best defensive player of all time), and it remains to be seen if he can even keep up what he’s done so far. Jacksonville has brutalized every passer they’ve faced, but they haven’t been able to stop the run, and they may have to adjust their style to get more balance as the year goes along. But whatever comes of this, these first six weeks have been a refreshing reminder of just how great Campbell has been throughout his career.

Injured Star: Odell Beckham Jr

Next in Line: Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen

Is it a cheat to select two players for this? Maybe it is, but Beckham possesses a combination of talent, personality, and media market that really comes around only once in a generation, and it’s impossible to see any single player filling his role. So let’s pick a pair of teammates who have emerged from relative obscurity to become arguably the most dynamic receiving duo in the NFL.

Both these players have had very interesting but very different paths to the NFL. Diggs was one of the top recruits in the nation who turned down several major programs to stay near home at Maryland, a decision he likely came to regret after three years of injuries and wretched quarterback play dropped him to the fifth round of the draft. He broke onto the scene as a rookie and has continued to impress, held back only by injury issues that have hampered him throughout his first three seasons, including keeping him out of last week’s game.

Diggs’s path to the NFL was straightforward compared to Thielen’s. He was barely even wanted by Division II program Minnesota State, and even after a stellar college career he went undrafted and had to spend a year on the practice squad before getting his chance to join the team. He broke out late last year and hasn’t really stopped, now sitting fourth in the league with 488 yards receiving through six weeks.

Diggs and Thielen are putting up numbers like Beckham, and they also sometimes look like him on the field as well. They are dangerous down the field threats, both ranking in the top six in 20+ yard gains. They have excellent hands in contested catch situations, and they are both capable of making some spectacular receptions. Minnesota’s quarterback situation is still shaky, but when either Teddy Bridgewater or Sam Bradford makes it back, the Vikings have the potential to put together one of the most exciting and dynamic passing games in the league.