San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel isn’t happy with the number of touches he’s getting, writing in a now-deleted message

“I mean, you read what you read,” Samuel said Tuesday, via Matt Barrows of The Athletic. “(I’m) definitely a little frustrated.”

Samuel is far from the first wideout to complain about not getting the ball, and he certainly won’t be the last. The desire to make plays and be in the middle of the field is almost a requirement for a pass catcher. And life has been going really well for these explosive talents in recent years as the NFL has adopted a pass-happy philosophy.

However, when Colin Cowherd looked around and noticed that he had a renewed desire to hit the rock – with some of the elite teams riding a strong ground game to the top of the standings, he suspects times have changed.

“Here we go again,” he said on his show on Wednesday. “Another high-maintenance wide receiver for the quarterback to make sure he’s happy, like AJ Brown in Philly, and Deebo and Malik Nabers earlier in the year with the Giants, and Davante Adams with cryptic messages, as he was a raider. Ceedee Lamb is constantly unhappy.” and George Pickens and Diontae Johnson, even Ja’Marr Chase – who I love – have made waves this year. Oh, by the way, the top five rushing teams in the NFL: Philly, Baltimore, Washington, Detroit and the Packers are 48-17.

“Hey receiver,” Cowherd continued. “We gave you a few years to be stars and you wasted it complaining. The world is changing quickly. Nine months ago all we heard was the media complaining about the future of running backs, nobody wants to pay a running back. Running backs say, “Nobody.” loves us. Today, power running football is back.”

“Wide receivers have once again become flashy sports cars,” Cowherd concluded. “Very expensive, maintenance. You buy one and find out it’s not that great in the winter months.”

There’s no one on air who can execute a phrase better than Cowherd. And it’s hard to argue that NFL teams don’t need a great on-field game to be successful. But it is dangerous to make such a statement with such a small sample size. It’s also important to note that the five teams he mentioned have some pretty impactful wideouts.

There’s Amon-Ra St. Brown in Detroit, Zay Flowers in Baltimore, Terry McLaurin in Washington and AJ Brown in Philadelphia. All four of these guys rank 17th or better in yardage this year. Other top 20 players in this statistic include: Ladd McConkey, Nico Collins, Courtland Sutton, George Pickens, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Justin Jefferson. All of their respective teams are currently in possession of a playoff spot or very much alive. Looking at yards per game, Collins, Jefferson, Puka Nacua, AJ Brown, Chris Godwin, DK Metcalf and Cooper Kupp in the top 10 have high playoff hopes.

Football, like all sports, is constantly evolving. The resurgence of the running backs has been interesting and eye-opening in some ways, but the defense will soon adjust and the wide receivers, who may actually be suffering from a slight decline, will start to rise again.

This is a problem for a future segment.