Week 4 of the NFL season has wrapped up and with each new week, there is a new set of Pack Pro performances to analyze and discuss.
Joe Thuney, Kansas City Chiefs
Four-time Super Bowl Champion Joe Thuney has had success with every team he’s been a part of. Thuney has been instrumental in his team’s success, winning two rings with the New England Patriots and two more with the Kansas City Chiefs back-to-back.
Through four games this season, Thuney has yet to miss a snap for the reigning Super Bowl champions, and in those four starts, he has yet to give up a sack or take a penalty.
Since coming into the league in 2016, Thuney has racked up numerous awards other than championships including a First-Team All-Pro selection last season. Joined by Creed Humphrey at center and Trey Smith at right guard, Thuney rounds out one of the best interior linemen groups in the NFL.
If Thuney’s job wasn’t already hard enough protecting the face of the NFL in quarterback Patrick Mahomes, it will get a lot more difficult in the trenches for the rest of 2024. The Chiefs are down starting running back Isiah Pacheco and their No. 1 wide receiver Rashee Rice, so Mahomes will depend on Thuney to give him a few extra seconds in the pocket as he looks to find chemistry with some new faces.
AJ Cole, Las Vegas Raiders
For the third time in the first four weeks, Raiders punter AJ Cole eclipsed 200 punting yards. A good thing for him, but not so much if you’re a Raiders fan. On four attempts, Cole punted for 232 yards, an average of 58 yards per punt, his best for a game thus far in 2024.
On 17 punts so far, Cole has pinned the opposing offense inside the 20-yard line 10 times, tied for fourth in the NFL. After going up 20-16 to start the fourth quarter, Cole punted three times, all three landing inside the 20. At the 12-minute mark, Cole launched a 54-yard punt to the Cleveland five and celebrated like no other.
Maybe celebrating too early because two drives later Cole punted the ball 67 yards, setting a new season long. His punt pinned the Browns far enough back that in an eight-play drive, Cleveland couldn’t reach the endzone and the Raiders took home their second win of the season.
Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders
A teammate of Cole’s who would probably like to see him punt less is wide receiver Jakobi Meyers. In his second season with the Raiders, Meyers is on pace to match his impressive 2023 season totals.
On pace for now, Meyers may have the ability to drastically improve with an increase in the target share he has seen in the past two weeks. In Weeks 3 and 4, Meyers has seen nine and 10 targets, respectively while through the first two weeks combined, the sixth-year wideout saw a mere eight.
Meyers sits as the clear wide receiver No. 2 on the team behind three-time First-Team All-Pro Davante Adams. In the past few days, rumors have swirled that Adams is unhappy with his situation in Las Vegas and wants out, leaving Meyers to take an expanded role. Here’s what he had to say per ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.
“I’ve played in big moments,” Meyers said. “I’ve played and had to pull a lot of weight before. So, until we can kind of figure out what’s going on, I’m going to just keep my head down and, hopefully, we can do this together.”
It would be a big loss for the Raiders to lose a guy who was targeted in a game 20 plus times on multiple occasions last season but Meyers should relish the opportunity to be the No. 1 guy if the team calls on him to do so.
Alim McNeill, Detroit Lions
Since the beginning of his second season, defensive lineman Alim McNeill has started every game he has played for the Detroit Lions. Coming off a year setting career-highs in both sacks and QB hits, McNeill is developing into one of the NFL’s best interior linemen.
Following his Week 4 performance against the Seahawks, McNeill has a PFF Grade of 75.4 which ranks ninth among interior defenders. On Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks, McNeill had a primetime performance with 0.5 sacks, six QB pressures and this pass breakup in the red zone.
McNeill’s six QB pressures were second among all interior defensive linemen in the NFL last week and three more than he had in Weeks 1-3 combined. McNeill makes up a very important piece of a well-rounded Lions team who have their eyes on the Super Bowl this year after just barely losing in the NFC Championship in 2023.
