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Colin Cowherd Delivers Strong Message to NFL Wide Receivers

Cowherd has noticed a change in the NFL this year.

Kyle Koster

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. (1) walks on the field before the start of the game against the Chicago Bears at Levi's Stadium.
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. (1) walks on the field before the start of the game against the Chicago Bears at Levi's Stadium. / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel is not happy with the amount of touches he's getting, writing "not struggling at all just not getting the ball! in a since-deleted message on X, then doubling down on his frustration.

“I mean, you read what you read," Samuel said Tuesday via Matt Barrows of The Athletic. "[I’m] a little frustrated for sure.”

Samuel is far from the first wideout to lament not getting the ball and he certainly won't be the last. A desire to make plays and be in the center in the frame is almost a prerequisite for a pass catcher. And life has been really good for these explosive talents over the past several years as the NFL has embraced a pass-happy philosophy.

But looking around and noticing refound desire to pound the rock—with several of the elite teams riding a strong ground game to the top of the standings, Colin Cowherd suggests times have changed.

"Here we go again," he said on his show Wednesday. "Another high maintenance wide receiver that the quarterback has to make sure he's happy like A.J. Brown in Philly, and Deebo and Malik Nabers earlier in the year with the Giants and Davante Adams with cryptic messages when he was a Raider. Ceedee Lamb is perpetually unhappy and George Pickens and Diontae Johnson, even Ja'Marr Chase,—who I love—made noise this year. Oh by the way, the top-five rushing teams in the NFL: Philly, Baltimore, Washington, Detroit and the Packers are 48-17."

"Hey receivers," Cowherd continued. "We gave you a couple of years to be stars and you wasted it complaining. The world changes quickly. Nine months ago all we heard was the media lament the future of running backs, nobody wants to pay a running back. Running backs saying nobody loves us. Today, power running football is back."

"Wide receivers have become, once again, flashy sports cars," Cowherd concluded. "Really expensive, maintenance. You buy one and you find out they're not great in winter months."

There's no one on air better at turning a phrase than Cowherd. And it's tough to argue that NFL teams don't need a great ground game to succeed. But it's dangerous to make a declaration like this with such a small sample size. Plus, it has to be pointed out that those five teams he mentioned have some pretty impactful wideouts.

There's Amon-Ra St. Brown in Detroit, Zay Flowers in Baltimore, Terry McLaurin in Washington and A.J. Brown in Philadelphia. All four of those guys rank 17th or better in terms of receiving yardage this year. Others in the top-20 of that stat include: Ladd McConkey, Nico Collins, Courtland Sutton, George Pickens, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Justin Jefferson. All of their respective teams are currently in possession of a playoff spot or very much alive. If you look at yards per game, Collins, Jefferson, Puka Nacua, A.J. Brown, Chris Godwin, D.K. Metcalf and Cooper Kupp sit in the top-10 have serious playoff hopes.

Football, like all sports is constantly evolving. The running back resurgence has been interesting and in some ways eye-opening, but defenses will soon adjust and wide receivers, who may actually be suffering a bit of a dip, will see their stock rise again.

That's a problem for a future segment.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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