• Tua to Tyreek remains elite: Virtually anybody throwing the ball to Tyreek Hill would form arguably the best duo in the league, but the timing-based connection between these two is still impressive.
• Aaron Rodgers to Garrett Wilson is a connection to watch: The duo makes the cut here despite not yet combining for any production. Rodgers and Wilson seem to have been able to develop an instant rapport in training camp and preseason, though.
• Get a head start on fantasy football: Use PFF’s fantasy football mock draft simulator to create real live mock draft simulations to get ready for your live draft!
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
The connection between a quarterback and their wide receivers can make or break a team’s success in the NFL. In this article, we delve into the top quarterback-wide receiver duos in the league, ranking the dynamic partnerships that make the passing game work.
Only one connection per offense will be considered. Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith and Puka Nacua each have a fantastic rapport with their respective quarterbacks, but likely the second-best one on their team.
Virtually anybody throwing the ball to Tyreek Hill would form arguably the best duo in the league, and a couple of years ago it would certainly have been Patrick Mahomes to Hill atop this list.
What makes the combination so interesting is how different Tagovailoa is from Mahomes stylistically. Mahomes to Hill was built on the back of deep passing and improvisation, whereas Tua to Hill is far more timing-based. Before injury, Hill was on pace to shatter the single-season yards per route run record in 2023. He still finished at an absurd 3.72 for the season.
Burrow is an elite quarterback throwing to anybody, but Burrow to Chase has been a phenomenal combination dating back to their days at LSU in one of the most explosive offenses in NCAA history.
When Chase arrived in the NFL a year after Burrow, it revived Burrow’s deep ball, which had been curiously misfiring in his rookie season. Each player has now dealt with injuries over the past three seasons, but when they are both healthy, this is one of the most potent combinations in football, capable of attacking all levels of the defense and scoring from anywhere.
Another combination afflicted by injuries, we have nevertheless seen Stafford and Kupp cook to record-breaking levels when both are healthy. Those injuries have now given the connection competition within the same offense, with Stafford to Puka Nacua another devastating duo last season. But Kupp remains his favorite target.
In his first game back, Kupp saw 13 targets against Philadelphia to Nacua’s 11. And with a fully healthy season in 2024, he will likely be Stafford’s top guy again. Kupp does the majority of his damage from the slot (63.3% of his career snaps) and is just two years removed from totaling 2,425 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns, including the playoffs.
Tyreek Hill was on a record-setting pace for much of last season before injury caused him to fall short late in the year, but CeeDee Lamb ran him very close in production in a career year for the Dallas star. Including the postseason, Lamb saw 197 targets, the most in the league, catching 73.1% of them for more than 1,800 yards. He can win from the slot or out wide and is one of the best receivers in football after the catch.
Few players could have been more ecstatic over the arrival of a new teammate than Nico Collins after last season. A player already on the rise, Collins broke out in spectacular fashion last season with C.J. Stroud’s debut in Houston. Collins finished the year with 3.11 yards per route run, second only to Tyreek Hill, and tied for the fourth-best PFF receiving grade (91.2). He also hauled in 47% of his contested targets and dropped only four passes all season.
With the arrival of Stefon Diggs and the return of a healthy Tank Dell, there are a lot of mouths to feed in Houston, but also a lot of options and no way of double-teaming Collins in the near future.
Even with Jalen Hurts battling through injury all last season, his combination with A.J. Brown still connected 106 times for almost 1,500 yards and seven touchdowns. Brown averaged 2.52 yards per route run and is one of the most difficult covers in all of football. At 226 pounds, Brown is a massive receiver, and the Eagles use that to good effect by keeping him on the outside, where he faces the most aggressive coverage.
Brown is outstanding in almost every area, catching more than 45% of his contested targets over the past two seasons in Philadelphia and dropping only four balls in 2023.
The Detroit Lions just paid Jared Goff big money after seeing what he could do within their offense with Ben Johnson calling plays and the likes of Amon-Ra St. Brown catching passes from him. Only CeeDee Lamb saw more targets or caught more passes than St. Brown did last season, including the playoff run, and Goff threw just three interceptions when targeting his favorite receiver.
St. Brown spent 43.6% of his snaps out wide in 2023, a new career high for a player who has been primarily a slot weapon in the NFL. Overall, passes targeting him generated a 115.9 passer rating last season.
He may not get the volume that some of the other receivers on this list do, but Aiyuk is one of the most efficient and devastating wideouts in the game. Passes targeting him last season generated a 124.0 passer rating, and only Tyreek Hill finished the season with a higher PFF receiving grade.
Aiyuk has outstanding route running, athleticism and after-the-catch ability, and he is one of the finest blockers in the game, as well, only endearing himself more to his young quarterback. Brock Purdy has no shortage of weapons in San Francisco, but Aiyuk is still the guy he looks to most often.
Mike Evans is seemingly quarterback-proof, and yet he may have a particularly strong connection with Baker Mayfield after just one season of playing together. Mayfield’s first season in Tampa Bay led to Evans matching his career high for targets (146) over the season, and 1,450 yards was his best total since 2018. His 2.33 yards per route run was also his best mark since that 2018 season. Even with eight drops to Evans’ name, the targets sent his way resulted in a 115.4 passer rating.
This connection is still very much theoretical, with Aaron Rodgers lasting just four snaps last season before his Achilles tendon ruptured and ended any hopes we had of seeing what the duo could produce. Despite that, Rodgers and Wilson seem to have been able to develop an instant rapport in training camp and preseason in a way Rodgers hasn’t always been able to, even with elite receivers.
Wilson is a complete player who is not only a great route runner or outstanding after the catch, but he also understands leverage and coverages and so can be on the same page as Rodgers to earn his trust. We could construct a similar theoretical case for several new teammates, but this one we at least have glimpses of training camp and preseason to work from.
