21 Major takeaways from the 2020 NFL season so far
By Zach Cohen
12. T.J. Watt is giving Aaron Donald a run for his money
And I mean that in a literal sense. Watt is in line to get paid this offseason. It would help if he wins Defensive Player of the Year, too. Considering Watt leads the NFL in sacks, tackles for loss and quarterback hits, it’s certainly possible that he secures the award this year. Donald will always deserve consideration for this and he really isn’t close behind in those metrics, either.
But how could you not give it to Watt this year? He’s the leader of the NFL’s No. 1 defense on the NFL’s No. 1 team (according to record). While there are tons of good defensive players this season, no player is shredding defenses like Watt is in 2020. If the season ended today, he would get my vote for DPOY.
11. Travis Kelce is the NFL’s best tight end
I applaud you if you recognized this sooner, as many probably have. No one has ever doubted Kelce’s impact in Kansas City‘s offense. Since 2016, only one tight end has been first or second in receiving yards of the position. That was Kelce and he was the leader twice. He’s also on track to be first again this year and he has the third-most receiving yards among all players.
As good as Kelce is, he admittedly doesn’t have much competition from other tight ends. George Kittle is probably the second-best and maybe he would give Kelce a tougher time at the top if he could stay healthy. I don’t really see Darren Waller or Mark Andrews taking that big of a leap anytime soon, so for now, Kelce is easily the crown jewel of the tight end position.
10. The next crop of wide receivers is loaded
Some names for you: Chris Godwin, DK Metcalf, Terry McLaurin, Calvin Ridley, Tyler Lockett and D.J. Moore. And in the AFC: A.J. Brown. I wouldn’t be too surprised if each of those players were undisputed top-10 receivers within the next year or two. You could probably make the case now that Godwin and maybe Metcalf already are there.
I had a fascinating discussion about this on Twitter a couple of weeks ago. In short, it depends on who else you rank above them. For now, I think I’d have at least 9-10 receivers above each of those players, maybe excluding Godwin. But that doesn’t take away from the talent the group clearly has.
Even rookies like Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb and Chase Claypool have looked really good at times. It only makes sense that if we’re entering a golden age of quarterbacks, we’ll be in a golden age of wide receivers soon. Clearly, the value of the position has never been higher.