Predicting the Top 12 NFL WR-QB Combinations for 2015

In the year 2015, what will the landscape of the NFL be like? Will passing still rule the day? Will there be football in Los Angels? How many playoff games will be played outside of North America?

Well, we aren't going to worry about all of the other crazy questions, but we will instead be focusing on trying to predict what the top quarterback to wide receiver tandems will be in the NFL four years from now.

Forward thinking is always welcome and is something that people can do with some degree of conviction for that same season. But to forecast things out to two years in advance, then three years or four years ahead, well that is where things get a little wild and unpredictable—to say the least.

Certain NFL players that are regarded as institutions will have hung up the spikes by then, while current high school seniors will be forgoing their senior year in college to become a first-round draft pick in the 2015 NFL draft.

So, with all of that information to process, we will now proceed to our top 12 QB to WR tandems for the year 2015.

Andy Dalton to A.J. Green

Fast forward to 2015 and with four more years under his belt, Cam Newton is now the top rated QB in the NFL. With his advanced passing skills, cannon for an arm and the threat to break off a 50-yard run whenever the defense is sleeping, Newton has raised his game to become the top QB in the country.

Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb and Tony Romo have all retired over the past two years. The graybeards of the league now are people like Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning and Drew Brees.

For the first tandem we are going to select we will go with one that actually already is clicking together, but four years from now they will be playing that much better together.

The tandem in question is quarterback Andy Dalton to wide receiver A.J. Green. Hopefully Mike Brown uses the top two draft picks he got from the Raiders wisely to build the team around these two star players.

Matt Ryan and Julio Jones

Four years from now, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan will be 30 and wide receiver Julio Jones will be 26. Both should still be productive then, and it wouldn't surprise me if they began clicking to the degree that they become one of the best duos in the league.

Ryan's game has gone down this year compared to 2010. The Falcons will figure out what went wrong and will get Ryan turned around in 2012. The duo should continue to get better, and by the time we hit 2014, Jones will have elevated the level of his game as well.

Jake Locker and Kenny Britt

Jake Locker will continue to develop and grow his game, but by 2015 he will be the undisputed leader of the Tennessee Titans offense. For now, he is getting valuable experience by observing Matt Hasselbeck play and learning from him at practice.

Kenny Britt saw a very quick end to his 2011 season due to his ACL surgery, but he will be back next year and will continue to be a top-tier receiver in the NFL. His yardage per game has continued to rise in the last three years, from 43.8 to 64.6 to 96.3 yards per game this year.

By the time this duo has had two or three years of working together, they will form a strong tandem that will rank up there with other top pairs.

Ryan Fitzpatrick to Steve Johnson

They won't be exactly spring chickens in 2015, but Ryan Fitzpatrick will be 32 years old and Steve Johnson will only be 29. They should still be in prime-year territory to be one of the better tandems in the NFL. 

Both players are going to have their contracts extended by the Bills this season, so that bodes well that they will be playing together for the next four years, barring something unforseen.

Based on the way that they have taken off since the 2010 season, there is no reason to believe that they will not be even better together with four more years to work on their communication and game.

Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson

When 2015 rolls around, Calvin Johnson will only be 30 years old, while Matthew Stafford will be just 27. That sounds like prime-time years for both players, as they will have more experience, and the work they do together between now and then will only make them that much better.

While Johnson may have lost a step or two possibly by then, his sheer physical presence and skills will more than make up for any loss of speed. He will know how to use his body even better as a shield. Stafford seems to be learning how to stay healthy for the most part this year, so he will continue to evolve as well.

This looks to be one very promising tandem, and one that Lions fans can be proud of cheering for.

DeSean Jackson and Mike Kafka

This is one slide I tried to debate who to plug in with DeSean Jackson. Was it going to be Michael Vick or Mike Kafka? Anybody for Vince Young? I ultimately chose Kafka because in 2015 Vick will be 35 years old. Based on the pounding he has been taking, the concussions, the various injuries, I just frankly don't see him lasting at the current pace for four more years.

Young will have moved on to another team by then, so that leaves Kafka as the guy that rises up and takes over the offense in 2015. Jackson will still be a top-tier wide receiver in the league—he just needs somebody that can pass him the ball.

While I expect Vick can last a few years longer, I just am not convinced he can do it for four more years. How well can Kafka throw to be part of a top notch tandem? Time will tell, but I liked what I saw from him earlier.

Sam Bradford and Justin Blackman

The St. Louis Rams have a number of issues right now, but by the time 2015 rolls around, they will have most of them addressed. One thing that they would look back and be happy about was the decision to draft Justin Blackman.

The Rams draft Blackman out of Oklahoma State to be the main go-to-guy for Sam Bradford. They develop some strong chemistry and wind up being one of the best wide receiver-quarterback tandems in the league.

Blackman will no doubt be a first-round draft pick, but the Rams know that they need to upgrade the position.

Christian Ponder to Percy Harvin

Christian Ponder showed last Sunday that he is ready for the big leagues, and he is only going to improve as he starts getting years of experience under his belt.

Percy Harvin is just 23 years old, just like Ponder, so in 2015, they will both be just 27 years old and entering the prime of their career. Assuming that both of them show reasonable amounts of progress from now to then, they both will be ready to form a dynamic duo in four years.

Colin Kaepernick to Michael Crabtree

Michael Crabtree has not had the smoothest transition into the NFL so far, but we are talking about somebody that is only 24 years old.

Colin Kaepernick is just 23, so he will eventually get his chance to shine in the San Francisco 49ers offense when Alex Smith has moved on.

The Kaepernick to Crabtree duo is not a given, In fact, it is a little bit of a leap of faith at this point in time, but I think it can come to fruition.

Aaron Rogers to Jordy Nelson

In 2015, Aaron Rogers will be 31 and Jordy Nelson will be 30 years old. That makes them the oldest duo for our presentation, but that doesn't mean that they still can't be good.

Rogers will have taken four more years of hits and may not be the same efficient quarterback at 31 that he is now, but with all of that added experience, he will be that much smarter at the throws he makes and how he finds his receivers.

The way that Jordy Nelson continues to emerge and come up with big catches, he will become the favorite target of Rogers.

Cam Newton to Alshon Jeffrey

We have already assigned Justin Blackman to the St. Louis Rams in the 2012 draft, so we will go ahead and assign Alshon Jeffrey to the Carolina Panthers so that Cam Newton has another weapon to throw to.

For now, Newton is content to make Steve Smith his favorite target, but at 32 years old, I don't see Smith lasting as the top guy in 2015.

Jeffrey has the kind of receiving skills that will make Newton want to throw to him often. Look for the two of them to be a good working tandem for many years to come.

Ryan Mallett to Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez

For the first eleven slides, we presented a potential QB to WR tandem that could be clicking in 2015. This slide we are going to venture a little off the beaten path and acknowledge the pair of young tight ends who play for the New England Patriots in Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski.

I don't think that Brady is still there running the show in 2015, and the Patriots will have decided to turn the offense over to 6'6" Ryan Mallett to sling the ball all over the field. Mallett will be able to develop reasonable chemistry with the tight ends while waiting for his turn.

Once Brady steps aside, Mallett will seize the job and run with it. With his size and the talented book ends at tight ends, the Patriots will continue to have a dynamic passing attack.

In the DFL in 2015, Brett Favre and Sterling Sharpe Are the Top Tandem

BONUS SLIDE: (Comedy)

In the year 2015, the NFL is challenged by the upstart DFL league. The DFL (stands for Do Not Touch League) is headed up by commissioner Roger Goodell, who was unceremoniously dumped last year by the NFL owners in a unanimous vote. Goodell expects that many people will take kindly to this league, because it is more reminiscent of flag football or two-hand touch, like we used to play in the backyard when we were kids.

The top QB to WR tandem is Brett Favre to Sterling Sharpe, who both came out of retirement when the new league was formed. Favre especially was excited about joining the new league, as he has already set 15 passing records that may never be broken, since the league may not be around in 2016. The duo are the heart and soul of the Southern Miss Haps and have proven to be unstoppable all year. All-DFL corners Deion Sanders and Charles Woodsen couldn't figure out how to slow the duo down.

Sanders is upset that Commissioner Goodell fined him for a non-approved bandanna, as the bandanna colors didn't match the team uniform colors. "It's not like we play in regular uniforms," said Sanders. "Everybody runs around playing in T-shirts, jeans and sneakers. What kind of football is that, anyway?"

The other player upset with Goodell is James Harrison, who was fined half of his annual salary for a late hit on Favre last week. Goodell reminded Harrison of the rules again: Once the QB puts on the flashing blinker light on their Segue, all players have to stop and wait for 10 seconds for the quarterback to throw the ball before they start to rush again. Favre pushed his blinker, and the instant replay showed that Harrison only waited for eight seconds before he began his rush.

Sanders and Harrison want their appeals to be heard next Monday, one week before the owners annual meeting, at which point the league is expected to announce that they are claiming Chapter 17.