Best route runners in the NFL

Thepeelsessions

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I read an article on the top 5 route runners in the game, and it got me thinking of who I consider to be the top 5. I came away with only two of the five from the list. Oh well, here's my list.

1. Keenan Allen
2. Doug Baldwin
3. Amari Cooper
4. Adam Thielen
5. Mike Evans

I'm interested in hearing your lists, so come on!
 

chris98251

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Some guy in a red uniform that has a goofy looking woodpecker on it should be on that list also.
 

adeltaY

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Dougie at #1 or #2 for sure. Chris is right about Fitz, he should be there over Evans. Allen is insane.
 

Sports Hernia

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adeltaY":cpt6wjp9 said:
Dougie at #1 or #2 for sure. Chris is right about Fitz, he should be there over Evans. Allen is insane.
Agree 100% with this. Glad Angry Doug is getting some credit, and love Fitz (it’s a crime Larry never got a ring).
 

kobebryant

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Are we talking who most consistently runs textbook perfect routes or the ability win the route and get from point A and arrive and point B with a ton of separation?

If the latter, I'm going with Antonio Brown. He's absolutely unique with his knack for winning every possible route with subtleties and speed variations.
 

adeltaY

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Shoot, how did I forget about AB? Dude is incredible. I'd swap him out for Cooper in OP's list.
 

SoulfishHawk

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That's a list that actually makes sense. Doug is unreal as a route runner, let alone getting open when someone is trying to Jam him at the line. Kennan Allan is a beast for sure.
 

WilsonMVP

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SoulfishHawk":37tbeuam said:
That's a list that actually makes sense. Doug is unreal as a route runner, let alone getting open when someone is trying to Jam him at the line. Kennan Allan is a beast for sure.


Unlike Doug, Thielen is just average when going against press coverage. He usually plays in the slot and moves around and Stefon Diggs plays the outside. Diggs might also be just as good as a route runner TBH he just seems to be dinged up alot

Having said that Thielen has amazing ability to create seperation and his route running is on par with the best in the game along with having some of the best hands in the game.

Thielen is going to be turning 28 at the begining of the season entering his 5th NFL season and Doug will be 30 entering his 8th season.

The last 2 years Thielen has come out of nowhere. He goes from 12 catches 100 something yards in his 2nd season to 69 catches 967 yards in 3rd season to 91 catches 1276 yards last season. Having Cousins at QB is going to be even more a boon for Thielen as he is easily better than both Keenum, Bradford or Bridgewater. Keenum was off target so much last year

I think both Doug and Thielen are both really good WR and idk if you can really say one is better than the other at this point. Either one you would love to have on your team. They are both underated WRs in the NFL
 

ludakrishna

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1.) Antonio Brown....I am shocked no one has a even mentioned him so far. The Best WR in the league today
2.) Keenan Allen
3.) Michael Thomas
4.) Doug Baldwin
5.) Larry Fitzgerald....the dude is up in age but still produces due to his routes.
 

SeaChat

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Doug Baldwin for sure deserves to be at the top of the list in anyone's analysis of top current and all time, route runners coupled with the most reliable WR hands in the NFL.

Any DB, who has ever been interviewed, and asked about Doug, will tell you that he is the most evasive and difficult WR they have ever covered, Richard Sherman, will echo that sentiment after trying to cover him this season, if he hasn't already from practicing with him.

You can't shut Doug Baldwin down, he makes it look so easy. He is so natural and fluid in his route running. He can stop on a dime and change directions without missing a step. He reminds me of a whitetail deer on the fly, the way he runs, sometimes, and it's crazy the way he holds on to some of the passesI can't even begin to count how many times, I've watched DB's fall on their asses trying to cut and run with Doug.

Tyler is damn good too and if he is able to play at a 100% again this season, I say look for him to move way up the lists in top WR in the game. Training, practicing and playing side by side with Doug, will show up in his game going forward as well. In reflection, prior to the crash and burn that cost Tyler a double broken leg, I would say that he was every bit as good as Doug, if not better.

Tyler struggled last years to overcome not only the physical challenges of his recovery, but more importantly, the mental challenges as well. It's hard to put an experience like that, out of your mind and let yourself go full out again, but he seems to have managed to do just exaclty that. The last few games of 2017-2018 showed all of us that Lockett the Rocket Man was back in full form and ready to stake his claim to fame in the NFL history books.

Look for big things from Tyler this year, putting aside another crash and burn, I think he will be remembered as a one of the biggest game changers in this upcoming season. This is not intended to hijack this post to honor Tyler or to detract any attention from or in any way diminish Doug's extraordinary contributions to the Seahawks or to the NFL in general,

I think, barring any injuries that would take him off the field of play that our expectations of Doug, in 2018-2019, will only exceed what he has accomplished in previous seasons and set him apart from the rest of the WR pack. Doug has demonsrated that he is almost bullet proof, over the years, endouring physical punishment that would sideline most all of his competitors, only to pick himself up, walk it off and take the field for the next play.

I also think it's realistic to say that Doug Baldwin is very much in his prime right now at the age of 29. I would not be at all suprised to see Doug play at the top of his game for another 3 to 5 years. I also look to see him retire his Jersey in Seattle and join others in the NFL Hall of Fame one day. He is a going to break many more NFL WR records before he hangs up his helmet.

Doug is a great person on so many levels. He is a very thoughtful and elequint speaker, who I suspect will continue to be a voice for many of the players in the NFL and many of their fans as well.

I look for crazy good things from the Seahawks, offense and defense in 2018-2019, I'm one of the many growing number of 12's that still believe, and trust that we may very well find ourselves in the 2019 Super Bowl. I think the whole NFL community are in for one hell of a shock, when this team takes the field this season.

Go Seahawks!
 

Lords of Scythia

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Largent would absolutely be 1 on that list. He didn't just get separation -- when he made his break, he would go one direction and the defender would go THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. There's a reason his nickname was Yoda -- the brother was playing Jedi mind-tricks out there. He was this slow, unathletic little white guy being defended by the best db on the other team. There was a reason that dude cold-cocked him. I don't remember watching that, but I sure as hell remember watching the pay-back play.

GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

chris98251

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He never trashed talked, all those Blue Balls like Sac's Avatar, they are what fell out of all the jocks that tried to defend Largent.


He made All Pro's look like they had cement shoes every game.
 

IndyHawk

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Lords of Scythia":3l6zfq1j said:
Largent would absolutely be 1 on that list. He didn't just get separation -- when he made his break, he would go one direction and the defender would go THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. There's a reason his nickname was Yoda -- the brother was playing Jedi mind-tricks out there. He was this slow, unathletic little white guy being defended by the best db on the other team. There was a reason that dude cold-cocked him. I don't remember watching that, but I sure as hell remember watching the pay-back play.

GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Largent to me was athletic as he could be when
you saw him lay himself out to catch overthrown balls
from Jim Zorn to keeping his toes inbounds to make the
impossible sideline catches or side of the endzone..
He would also go up with perfect timing but that is who
he was- the perfect WR just without height and speed
but he was taller than Doug and Tyler..
BTW he has taught Angry how to run routes..
Imagine that..Largent still helps the Hawks in other
ways besides playing.
 

Hasselbeck

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Antonio Brown
Larry Fitzgerald
Doug Baldwin
Odell Beckham Jr.
Julian Edelman
Stefon Diggs
Julio Jones
Keenan Allen
Jarvis Landry

Pick any 5 of those and you're on the right path.
 
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