2012 Speed Bump 22 Jordy Nelson vs Demaryius Thomas

2012 Speed Bump 22 Jordy Nelson vs Demaryius Thomas

Today's poll will kick-off a string of three man-on-man polls. The statistical odds of getting all polls correct exactly double-ups of course, now at approximately 1 in 1.3 trillion!

Last year, Jordy Nelson was included in our "Ten Wide" poll and didn't garner a single vote (most of the votes went to Danny Amendola and Lance Moore). Nelson of course destroyed the field finishing last year with 68 receptions, 1,263 receiving yards and a blistering 15 TDs. This season, Nelson still seems to lack some respect. Nelson plays in one of the most legendary pass offenses of our generation (or any generation) and is off a 15-TD season yet garners a 4th-round grade on average. Nelson averaged a truly lethal 18.8 YPC last year. Greg Jennings has never cracked 18 yards per catch in a season, nor has Calvin Johnson. Nelson also has a catch percentage (the ratio of receptions to targets) above 70% for three straight seasons. Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Andre Johnson have not even come close to sniffing that (even once). The one caution is while Green Bay throws a lot, it’s to a lot of different receivers. In fact, 41 players had at least 100 passes thrown in their direction last year and not a single one of them was a Packer, and this was despite Green Bay averaging 323 passing yards per game (the 5th most in a season in the history of the NFL).

Demaryius Thomas was an absolute monster down the stretch last season. Who can forget his big catch in the playoffs, the first play from scrimmage in overtime against the Steelers, taking a pass over the middle and galloping 80 yards to the house, thereby sustaining the Tim Tebow magic one more week in Denver. Thomas left that game with just 4 receptions, but totaled 204 yards. Thomas averaged over 100 yards per game over the team’s final seven games – and that was with Tim Tebow at QB (who had multiple games where he completed single digit passes in a game). This season, Thomas welcomes Peyton Manning, quite the upgrade from catching Tim Tebow passes to say the least. Thomas had a somewhat miserable 45.7% catch-rate last year, although a large part of that certainly could be a result of Tim Tebow on the other end. While Jordy Nelson trumps Thomas in ADP they are relatively close, although in magazine rankings, Thomas is trumped by Nelson without fail. One magazine says "imagine what Thomas might do with a future Hall of Famer chucking him the ball" while another warns "Thomas will likely be over-drafted by those blinded by visions of Marvin Harrison".

You can only have one – who are you taking: Jordy Nelson or Demaryius Thomas?

Note: to be officially counted select your answer on My Speed Bumps under Tools from the homepage.

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