BY ADAM GREENE<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a pass-catcher heavy list of potential breakout stars in the NFC West. I don\u2019t feel the least bit concerned about making such predictions as three of the best offensive minds in the sport coach in the division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We now turn our attention to the two playoff teams from last season, with one making it all the way to the Super Bowl, only to be just another part of the Patrick Mahomes\/Kansas City Chiefs coronation process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SAN<\/strong> FRANCISCO<\/strong> 49ERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Rookie)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a toss up here between second-year receiver Deebo Samuel and Aiyuk, the rookie out of Arizona State. The reason I went with Aiyuk is that Samuel, in spite of some promising news on the injury front, still isn\u2019t a guarantee to suit up Week 1 or even after. A foot fracture is not an easy recovery for a wide receiver, and, even if Samuel makes it back on the field this season, it could hamper his performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I\u2019m going with Aiyuk, the guy who landed on the NFC Champions with their first round pick after a breakout season with the Sun Devils. The 6-0, 200-pound wideout caught 65 passes for 1,192 yards and eight touchdowns in just his second year on the NCAA field and, more importantly, fits Kyle Shanahan\u2019s offense. The coach knows what he\u2019s looking for and has gotten a lot out of guys far less talented than Aiyuk in his three seasons as the 49ers head coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SEATTLE<\/strong> SEAHAWKS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wide receiver D.K. Metcalf<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (2019: 58 receptions, 900 yards, seven touchdowns)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The irony of the receivers drafted early in 2019 is that the second round guys far outplayed their first round counterparts. And, even crazier still, the two best guys (A.J. Brown and D.K. Metcalf) both came from the same college, Ole Miss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a rookie, Metcalf slid right into the lineup, suiting up in all 16 games and getting the starting nod in 15 of them. He finished second on the team behind veteran Tyler Lockett by just 157 receiving yards and did in spite of catching 24 fewer balls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But that doesn\u2019t mean quarterback Russell Wilson wasn\u2019t looking for him. Metcalf was targeted 100 times in Seattle\u2019s run-first offense, especially when that run didn\u2019t work and the team turned to Wilson, himself likely a future Hall of Famer, to drag them across the finish line in the final moments of games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While plenty has been written about the deficiencies of the Seahawks\u2019 offensive strategy (to which I have made my fair contribution), perhaps after hearing it from everyone on the planet offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer might open up the offense a bit in the early quarters, letting his quarterback and talented receivers do their work before, say, the game\u2019s final eight minutes or so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if it happens, Metcalf will probably go to the Pro Bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow our BetOnline Twitter accoun<\/a>t for the latest sports news and betting odds, and stay tuned on the Instagram feed<\/a> for more good information too.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BY ADAM GREENE It\u2019s a pass-catcher heavy list of potential breakout stars in the NFC West. I don\u2019t feel the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":13072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13073,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067\/revisions\/13073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}