Cardinals Bengals Steelers boast ideal pass-catching diversity

If you want to make money, investors say, buy into those things that surround and support the top busine ses. In the quarterback-driven NFL, one of the top investments you can make is pouring resources into your receiving corps.And at a time when offenses are increasingly reliant on spreading out defenses to open up the pa sing game, it is not enough to have only one top-flight receiver -- or even to have only one type of top-flight receiver. You need an arsenal of weapons in the modern game.When I was putting together a receiving corps in my coaching days, I had a mindset that I wanted to a semble a group that could go out onto a basketball court and beat any other five guys in the NFL. That meant ball skills and athleticism, of course, but almost equally important was diversity in talent, with each receiver providing a different distinct skill and filling a particular role. No team is going to win an NBA title with five starting guards, or just five big men. By the same token, teams in the NFL that have too many pa s catchers with the same set of skills (see: Tampa Bay, with , and ) make it easier on opposing defenses.Diversity in a receiving corps has long been a critical component. When Bill Walsh took Dwight Clark -- a slow-footed guy from Clemson -- in the 10th round back in 1979 (the days of the 12-round draft), he did so with a very specific role in mind. Walsh said, "Clark is a guy people don't even Malik Taylor Jersey know they need."When it comes to this criteria of diversity and defined roles, three teams boast receiving corps that jump out to me as units I'd love to take onto a basketball court: Arizona, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. All of those teams have both depth and diversity in their receiving corps, and it makes their quarterbacks -- , and , respectively -- more potent, because they have more ways to hurt you.One other team that comes to mind is New England. While the overall talent can't quite compare to that of the trio mentioned above, the ' group deserves some ink here. New England is one of just four teams with four receivers in the top 80 in the league in receptions, so the Pats obviously are spreading it out. Yes, they have the All-Pro bell cow in , but the rest of the group that fills out is built from role-playing castoffs like former third-round draft pick , seventh-round pick and , who went undrafted in 2008. All of which proves what we already know: is really good.But back to the big three of the , and . Let's take a closer look at what makes these teams' receiving corps so good, and how it relates to another sport that's in season right now: Like any good basketball team, you have to begin with a star, a stud, a go-to guy who can be the anchor and catalyst of your starting five. The LeBron James, if you will. , and certainly fit that role. Each is , while Brown ranks second in yards after catch among wideouts and third in explosive plays (20-plus yards). Fitzgerald is sixth in explosive plays and eighth in touchdowns. No matter how good of a stud you have, defenses can stop any aspect or player they want, depending on what price they're willing to pay for doing so. Thus, your receiving corps has to have Marquez Valdes-Scantling Jersey a guy (or guys) to make that defense pay when it rolls coverages to account for the alpha dog. To extend the basketball comparison, the Kevin Love to LeBron James or Ru sell Westbrook to Kevin Durant. In Pittsburgh, and are those guys (both rank in the top five in the NFL in yards per catch). In Cincinnati, is having a fine year opposite Green with 42 caches and 520 yards, while and feasts on single coverage when teams sell out to stop Green. In Arizona, -- when healthy -- can be the complement to Fitzgerald's menacingly precise routes with his rare combination of size, speed and athleticism. But that's not enough. You also want a legitimate burner in your arsenal, a player whose top-end speed will prevent defenses from squatting in underneath zones to take away the five- and seven-yard curls that have become the bread-and-butter of many modern offenses. In the basketball analogy, these are your 3-point shooters, the guys who stretch the floor. The reigning champion Golden State Warriors obviously have a plethora of these types, guys who open up space in the paint and lanes to the hoop. in Arizona, Jones in Cincinnati and (along with Bryant) in Pittsburgh can all take the top off any zone defense by stretching the 11 defenders vertically, decongesting underneath traffic in the proce s. Or better yet? Cleaning out the box for the running game. The , and all , averaging better than 115 yards per game on the ground. If you have seen the Los Angeles Clippers play, you know that they truly live up to their "Lob City" moniker. Often times, Chris Paul will drive the lane and draw in the defense before throwing the ball anywhere Kingsley Keke Jersey near the rim for Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan to dunk home. Having an "above the rim" player in the NFL can have a similar impact. You have to have a big man who you can to s a fade to with the confidence that he probably will come down with it, a player who's going to win most of those 50-50 balls. While Green certainly can do that for the , it's Eifert who really has become that guy for Cincy in 2015 (particularly in the red zone). Meanwhile, Floyd averages a healthy 15.9 yards per catch for Arizona and routinely wins jump balls thrown his way. The were looking for this type of player to support Roethlisberger for quite some time -- remember when they drafted Limas Sweed in the second round back in 2008? -- and finally found one in Bryant. In 16 NFL games (and just five starts), the second-year pro has averaged 20 yards per catch and scored 13 touchdowns. If you need muscle in the middle to grind out the tough shot or just eat up space in the paint -- like Serge Ibaka does for the Oklahoma City Thunder -- enter in Pittsburgh or the sneaky-good combo of and in Arizona. And in those third-and-short situations, where teams are playing pre s coverage and stacking the box, you need a receiver who can, like a rebounder, establish position and box out the defender. Eifert does this quite well in Cincy. You need your guy off the bench, the sixth man in the NBA. The guy people aren't particularly focused on but can suddenly change the tenor of the game. The change-of-pace guy, like J.R. Smith for the Cleveland Cavaliers or Jon Leuer for the Phoenix Suns, can be instant offense for a team that needs a quick jump-start. In the NFL, WR has 25 receptions (at 13.1 ypc), including six of 20 yards or more. Wheaton might be the ultimate change-of Henry Black Jersey -pace guy; after totaling 273 yards in the first 10 games of the season, the Pittsburgh wideout just exploded for 201 . Meanwhile, Fells -- Arizona's backup tight end who, by the way, is also a former pro basketball player -- averages 14.2 yards per reception and has three TDs. None of these guys are going to keep defensive coordinators awake at night, but each has the ability to make a major impact. Finally, these three teams have running backs who can come out of Jack Heflin Jersey the backfield and significantly enhance the pa sing game. These guys are the ultimate swingmen, if you will. With his 36 receptions for 377 yards, is the prototypical situational back. was supposed to play this role for the , but injuries limited his impact early and left the door open for rookie . Combined, Ellington's and Johnson's impact is nearly identical to Bernard's: 32 catches for 377 yards. For the , was the most talented pa s-catching running back in the NFL before his season-ending injury, but that hasn't stopped Pittsburgh. In his stead, has 20 catches for 255 yards despite logging just five starts so far this season.*****While investing in pa s-catching talent can be expensive -- as is evidenced by the first-round selections of , , , and -- there is a great deal of value in filling out your "starting five" with lower-round guys. Among receivers, is the of low-round gold mines, having been drafted in the sixth round in 2010. , and were third-round selections. was an absolute steal in the fourth round, as was in the fifth.But the thing to remember is that teams that have this kind of diversity in their receiving corps have more resources at the quarterback's disposal, more ways to pierce a defense. And in the modern game, that kind of flexibility can be particularly hard to handle.Follow Brian Billick on Twitter .