Top Slot Receivers Of All Time
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*Top Slot Receivers Of All Time Zone
*Top Wide Receivers All Time
A good quarterback can make or break an NFL team, but in many instances, a good wide receiver can make or break a quarterback.
The prototypical wide receiver is tall enough that a 5’10” or 5’11” cornerback can’t cover him, he’s fast enough to get open, even in double coverage, and he needs sure hands to be able to secure a catch in traffic. The ability to block isn’t always a requirement, but it’s a bonus that can prolong the career of an otherwise mediocre talent.
Considered one of the best tight ends of all time, Gonzalez isn’t higher because his best seasons were from 1999-2003. But from 2010-13, he was a Pro Bowler every season with the Falcons, posting.
What I Looked At to Compile My Rankings:
The ten best Crimson Tide wide receivers of all-time are measured by their college careers. Divining the best former Crimson Tide, NFL receivers would be a completely different exercise. Gronk is unquestionably one of the greatest red-zone threats in NFL history and in my mind is the greatest tight end in NFL history. He’s the all-time leading receiver for the.
Wide receivers are primarily judged by the main receiving statistics – catches, yards, yards per catch, and touchdowns. What a wide receiver can do when he’s not paired up with an elite quarterback is sometimes the ultimate test; nearly any wide receiver can look good with Peyton Manning throwing to him, but what if his quarterback is an average talent? Can that receiver still get open and still make plays?
Individual accolades like Pro Bowl selections and First-Team All-Pro honors go a long way, as do AP Offensive Player of the Year awards (no wide receiver in the modern era has won league MVP). I also focused on what a receiver did in the postseason, when up against the stiffest competition. Did he disappear or did he make the best catches when the stage was the biggest?
Statistics don’t tell the whole story; I want to know what receivers would help a new team – with a completely random quarterback, in a new offense, and in a new system. Is the receiver physically powerful enough to make plays, or did he succeed largely because of his quarterback/head coach?
I ranked 100 receivers on this list, so I broke the article into three parts for easier reading. This part will focus on the receivers ranked 20 through 1; Part II included wide receivers 50 through 21; and Part I was wide receivers ranked 100 through 51.
Click here to read Part I (#100-51).
Click here to read Part II (#50-21).
20. Pete Pihos (1947-1955)
At a time when passing still reigned secondary to a running game, Pete Pihos was a special player, and he seemed to get better as time went on. Pihos led the NFL in receptions each of his final three seasons, abruptly retiring after he posted a 62/864/7 receiving line and earned an All-Pro selection. Pihos played both ways, serving as a defensive end on the other side of the ball, and finishing with six Pro Bowls and five AP All-Pro selections. He also played a key role for the Philadelphia Eagles teams that repeated as champions from 1948 to 1949
19. Isaac Bruce (1994-2009)
Isaac Bruce put up extraordinary numbers during his playing career, finishing with the fourth-most receiving yards at his position (15,208) in NFL history. Bruce topped 1,000 eight times, putting up a ridiculous 1,781 in his second season, a total that would have set a league record had it not occurred the same season that Jerry Rice totaled 1,848. Bruce was never a First-Team All-Pro and made ‘just’ four Pro Bowls, which may be why he isn’t in the Hall of Fame yet, but he will get in sooner than later. Bruce is one of just three receivers with 1,000 catches and 15,000 receiving yards, and he caught a 73-yard touchdown reception from Kurt Warner in the 1999 Super Bowl (which remarkably, wasn’t even his longest touchdown catch that postseason).
18. Tommy McDonald (1957-1968)
It’s a wonder that Tommy McDonald was able to have an NFL career at just 5’9”, 178 pounds, let alone be one of the greatest wide receivers the league has ever seen. McDonald – who was the last non-special teams player to play without a facemask – missed just three games in his first 11 seasons.
He made six Pro Bowls in his career, topping 1,000 yards three times and leading the NFL in touchdown catches twice. McDonald retired sixth all-time in receptions, fourth in receiving yards, and second to just Don Hutson in touchdown catches. McDonald played a big role for the Philadelphia Eagles in their 1960 championship title, securing the game’s first touchdown on a 35-yard grab from Norm Van Brocklin.
17. Calvin Johnson (2007-2015)
In terms of positional dominance, Calvin Johnson should be ranked higher than 18th on an all-time greatest wide receivers list. He’s a physical freak like the NFL may never see again; he’s 6’5”, 239 pounds, and can run a 4.35 40-yard dash. It’s no wonder he can do this to opposing defensive backs. Johnson’s career 86.07 receiving yards-per-game average is the highest ever by a retired wide receiver. Johnson’s accolades are overwhelming – he made six Pro Bowls and three First-Team All-Pro selections in nine seasons. He was the fastest player to top 10,000 receiving yards. He broke Jerry Rice’s single-season record for receiving yards (1,964) and averaged 1,467 over a five-year span. And in the playoffs, no one could stop Johnson – in two postseason contests, he’s averaged a 8.5/148/1 statline.
Sure, Johnson benefited from a pass-happy offense in which quarterback Matthew Stafford has been allowed to throw the ball over 40 times per game regularly. But that’s not what keeps him from ranking higher. Simply put, what keeps him from ranking in the top 10 or 15 – or even five, which may have been the case if he had kept playing – is his shortened career. Johnson is 36th at his position in receptions, 26th in yards, and 20th in touchdown catches. If he had kept playing, he would shoot up those all-time lists, but as of now, his career – especially in the pass-inflated era – doesn’t quite hold up to others who were nearly as good and played substantially longer.
16. Sterling Sharpe (1988-1994)
If he hadn’t gotten injured and been forced to retire prematurely, Sterling Sharpe would assuredly be in the top 10 at his position. As it stands, he should still be in the Hall of Fame, even though he played just seven seasons.
Sharpe was listed at 5’11”, 207 pounds, but played as if he was the biggest man on the field. In his autobiography (Reggie White in the Trenches), Reggie White talked about how Sharpe used to practice with every positional group on the field, and how Sharpe probably could have been a star at all of them.
It’s ironic that a neck injury forced Sharpe to retire after just seven seasons because he never missed a game during his playing days. Sharpe soaked up targets as Brett Favre’s primary receiver in Green Bay, leading the NFL in receptions three times and twice setting the single-season mark for catches (he broke his own record the second year). There are two receivers since the NFL-AFL merger to lead the league in catches at least three times; Sharpe is the only one who wasn’t a slot receiver (Wes Welker did it).
Sharpe’s retirement came after an 18-touchdown season in which he made his fifth Pro Bowl, and right before a string of three consecutive MVP awards by Brett Favre; imagine what Sharpe would have done in that offense. Sharpe caught 13 touchdowns in his final six NFL games. His career postseason numbers are insane – two games, 11 catches, 229 yards, and a ridiculous four touchdown grabs. Sharpe should be an easy Hall of Famer, even in his abbreviated career.
15. Marvin Harrison (1996-2008)
It’s amazing that Marvin Harrison was able to carve out a career as one of the most productive statistical wide receivers in NFL history, considering he was barely six feet tall and just 175 pounds. Harrison had the benefit of playing with Peyton Manning, but he was also a highly-talented wideout who excelled as a route runner.
Harrison’s pure receiving numbers hold their own against almost everyone who ever played. Over an eight-year span (1999-2006), Harrison averaged 103 catches, 1,402 yards, and 13 receiving touchdowns per season. Twice he led the league in receiving yards. He set the single-season record in receptions (143), absolutely shattering the previous mark held by Herman Moore (123 in 1995). Harrison made the Pro Bowl every year, earned three First-Team All-Pro selections, and missed just two total games due to injury.
Here’s what keeps Harrison from moving higher on this list. He was clearly helped from playing with Manning. In the two seasons prior to Manning joining the Indianapolis Colts, Harrison averaged just a 68/851/7 statline. Harrison was completely underwhelming in the postseason, finishing with just two touchdowns in 16 games – and both occurred in the same contest. Take away the 2003 postseason, and Harrison never topped five catches or 63 yards in 13 career playoff games.
14. Torry Holt (1999-2009)
Torry Holt had a pretty similar career to Marvin Harrison. They were of similar build, played in the same era, and both did almost all their work in an eight-year stretch. Each also played with a borderline Hall of Fame receiver across him (Isaac Bruce with Holt and Reggie Wayne with Harrison). Holt averaged a 94/1,384/8 line from 2000-’07, earning seven Pro Bowl selections, and leading the NFL in receptions twice.
Holt ranks one spot higher because he played with quarterbacks that weren’t quite as good as Harrison’s – Kurt Warner was league MVP in 2001, but he faded and Marc Bulger was just average. Holt had better postseason numbers, catching touchdowns in four of his 10 career playoff games, including one in the 1999 Super Bowl win over Tennessee (when Holt was just a rookie). Holt was ridiculously durable for an undersized receiver, missing just three total games in 11 seasons.
13. James Lofton (1978-1993)
James Lofton isn’t always remembered among the finest wide receivers to ever play, but he’s been a legitimate downfield threat for two decades. Lofton was the first player ever to top 14,000 receiving yards, and his 18.3 yards-per-reception average is by far the highest of the nine receivers with as many yards.
Lofton topped 1,000 yards six times, including 1,072 yards at age 35 for the AFC champion Buffalo Bills. He twice topped the league in yards per catch, and he was durable enough to play every regular-season game for the first nine seasons of his career. Lofton finished with eight Pro Bowls and eight postseason touchdowns in just 13 games.
12. Larry Fitzgerald (2004-Active)
Larry Fitzgerald is a special player. He’s been the face of the Arizona Cardinals franchise since he was drafted, and he’s coming off a 109/1,215/9 season at the age of 32. Fitzgerald’s best attribute is his ability to make contested catches and score in the red zone; he’s led the league in touchdowns twice and next season, he’ll become the seventh receiver ever with 100 career TD catches. Fitzgerald has an outside chance to eventually move past Cris Carter, Marvin Harrison, and Tim Brown into third place all-time.
Fitzgerald is one of the best postseason performers in history. He’s scored 10 touchdowns in nine playoff games. In 2008, he went over 100 yards with a touchdown in all four games. There was the should-be game-winner against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl. There was the three-touchdown performance in the first half of the NFC Championship Game against the Eagles. Remember the famous Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary game against Arizona this past year? All Fitzgerald did was catch eight passes for 176 yards and a touchdown. He’ll one day be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and hopefully he’ll have a Super Bowl ring to go with it.
11. Andre Johnson (2003-Active)
There’s probably a consensus that Larry Fitzgerald has had a better career than Andre Johnson, but that’s doing an injustice to Johnson. Look at the list of quarterbacks Johnson has played with: aside from Matt Schaub, it’s a who’s-who of mediocre quarterbacks: David Carr, Sage Rosenfels, Case Keenum, Tony Banks, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Matt Hasselbeck, and Ryan Lindley. None of those quarterbacks has sniffed the Pro Bowl.
That makes Johnson’s career numbers even more astounding. Johnson has had injury issues throughout his career, but he’s still compiled Hall of Fame numbers. He’s one of seven receivers in history with at least 1,000 receptions and 14,000 yards, and he’s done it in fewer games (185) than any of the others. Johnson hauls in targets, having caught 100 passes five times, twice leading the league. There are just three receivers since the merger to have led the league in receptions and yards multiple times – Johnson, Marvin Harrison, and Jerry Rice. That’s elite company.
Even in the postseason – a place where Johnson hasn’t been too often – he’s been a strong performer. He’s averaged six catches and 89 yards in his four playoff contests.
10. Michael Irvin (1988-1999)
There are few wide receivers who could compete with Michael Irvin on a pound-for-pound basis; The Playmaker was the heart and soul of a Dallas Cowboys dynasty that won three Super Bowls in the ‘90s. As Irvin went, the Cowboys went. There’s no denying Irvin had a boatload of off-the-field issues that would get him in serious hot water with Roger Goodell in today’s era, but Irvin also had a work ethic that was difficult to top.
Irvin was a first-round draft pick in 1988, but he struggled his first three seasons, and the Cowboys won a total of just 11 games. Once Irvin became a Pro Bowler in 1991, Dallas won its first playoff game under Jimmy Johnson, and the next year began a string of three championships in four years. Then in early ’96, Irvin was infamously arrested for cocaine possession, and the Cowboys won just one playoff game for the rest of his career.
When he was on top of his game, Irvin was nearly unstoppable. He averaged 83 receptions and 1,286 yards over an eight-year period from 1991 to 1998, and the only time he missed was due to a five-game suspension. Irvin earned ‘just’ one First-Team All-Pro selection during that span due to an influx of wide receiver talent around the league in Jerry Rice, Cris Carter, Sterling Sharpe, and Herman Moore.
But Irvin was at his best in big games. His 1,315 postseason receiving yards are more than any other player in history but Rice. Irvin hauled in eight touchdowns, including two in a span of 18 seconds in the Super Bowl. His career abruptly ended with his infamous spinal injury, but he was an easy Hall of Famer come election time.
9. Raymond Berry (1955-1967)
Raymond Berry was a one-year starter in high school and just a 20th round draft pick by the Baltimore Colts in 1954, so he was pretty fortunate that the Colts grabbed a quarterback in Johnny Unitas who would turn into one of the greatest to every play.
Berry caught just two total touchdowns in his first two seasons, then became a legitimate star. He made seven Pro Bowls and three First-Team All-Pro teams in an eight-year span. He led the league in receptions three consecutive years and yards three times in four seasons. In fact, here’s a complete list of all the receivers to lead the NFL in receptions, yards, and touchdowns at least twice each: Jerry Rice, Don Hutson, Lance Alworth, and Berry.
Berry was a big-time playoff performer. In the Colts’ overtime win over the New York Giants in the 1958 NFL championship (The Greatest Game Ever Played), Berry set a championship game record with 12 catches (for 178 yards and a touchdown!). In the final drive of regulation and the overtime session, he came up with five big catches.
8. Tim Brown (1988-2004)
All Tim Brown did for his entire NFL career was just produce, year after year, despite rarely having great quarterback play. He caught passes from Rich Gannon, who had a great late-career run and won an MVP award, but aside from that, it was mediocre passers like Jay Schroeder, Jeff Hostetler, Billy Joe Hobert, Jeff George, Wade Wilson, Todd Marinovich, and Steve Beuerlein.
Brown was a Heisman Trophy winner in college and went sixth overall in the draft, and while it took him a little to get started – just 11 starts and 1,552 receiving yards in his first four seasons – he eventually became a perennial Pro Bowler and 1,000-yard receiver.
Rom 1993-2002, Brown started 160 of a possible 160 games. He topped 80 receptions every season but one. He averaged nearly 1,200 receiving yards per year, putting up nine 1,000-yard campaigns. Brown finished his career with nine Pro Bowls (eight as a receiver, one as a returner), and while he was never an AP First-Team All-Pro selection, he finished with numbers that hold up pretty well against other wide receivers.
Brown’s 1,094 receptions are fourth best ever among receivers, he’s fifth in receiving yards at 14,934, and he’s tied for sixth in touchdown catches at 100. Because he was a dynamic returner early on – over 4,500 career return yards and four scores – Brown is fifth in total all-purpose yards (19,682), trailing just Jerry Rice, Brian Mitchell, Walter Payton, and Emmitt Smith.
7. Cris Carter (1987-2002)
Buddy Ryan got it right when he said that all Cris Carter does is catch touchdowns. Carter caught 130 of them in his career, more than all but three wide receivers in the history of the league. He led the NFL on three separate occasions and posted a ridiculous 65 over a five-year span in the prime of his career.
Carter had the prototypical size for a wide receiver (6’3”, 208 pounds), and once he moved on from his early-career drug issues, he was a dynamic playmaker for the Minnesota Vikings. What made Carter so special was his ability to score in the red zone. He holds the NFL record with nine touchdown grabs from a yard away, along with records for scores from inside two yards (16), four yards (28), five yards (36), six yards (44), and seven yards (48).
Carter also put up a ton of catches and yards, finishing with 1,101 receptions (the third-most ever for his position), along with 13,899 yards (11th). At one point, he even held the single-season record for receptions in a season (122), and he was a deserving Hall of Famer who should have been elected in his first year of eligibility.
6. Steve Largent (1976-1989)
When he retired in 1989, a legitimate case could be made for Steve Largent as the NFL’s greatest receiver since the merger. Largent held many major receiving records – career receptions (819), yards (13,089), and touchdowns (100), plus a streak of 177 consecutive games with a catch. Not bad for a player who was so ineffective as a rookie that the Houston Oilers traded him to Seattle before he played a down.
Largent made seven Pro Bowls and three First-Team All-Pro squads, and twice he led the league in receiving yards. If you ignore the strike-shortened 1982 campaign, Largent topped 1,000 receiving yards in eight cons
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*Top Slot Receivers Of All Time Zone
*Top Wide Receivers All Time
A good quarterback can make or break an NFL team, but in many instances, a good wide receiver can make or break a quarterback.
The prototypical wide receiver is tall enough that a 5’10” or 5’11” cornerback can’t cover him, he’s fast enough to get open, even in double coverage, and he needs sure hands to be able to secure a catch in traffic. The ability to block isn’t always a requirement, but it’s a bonus that can prolong the career of an otherwise mediocre talent.
Considered one of the best tight ends of all time, Gonzalez isn’t higher because his best seasons were from 1999-2003. But from 2010-13, he was a Pro Bowler every season with the Falcons, posting.
What I Looked At to Compile My Rankings:
The ten best Crimson Tide wide receivers of all-time are measured by their college careers. Divining the best former Crimson Tide, NFL receivers would be a completely different exercise. Gronk is unquestionably one of the greatest red-zone threats in NFL history and in my mind is the greatest tight end in NFL history. He’s the all-time leading receiver for the.
Wide receivers are primarily judged by the main receiving statistics – catches, yards, yards per catch, and touchdowns. What a wide receiver can do when he’s not paired up with an elite quarterback is sometimes the ultimate test; nearly any wide receiver can look good with Peyton Manning throwing to him, but what if his quarterback is an average talent? Can that receiver still get open and still make plays?
Individual accolades like Pro Bowl selections and First-Team All-Pro honors go a long way, as do AP Offensive Player of the Year awards (no wide receiver in the modern era has won league MVP). I also focused on what a receiver did in the postseason, when up against the stiffest competition. Did he disappear or did he make the best catches when the stage was the biggest?
Statistics don’t tell the whole story; I want to know what receivers would help a new team – with a completely random quarterback, in a new offense, and in a new system. Is the receiver physically powerful enough to make plays, or did he succeed largely because of his quarterback/head coach?
I ranked 100 receivers on this list, so I broke the article into three parts for easier reading. This part will focus on the receivers ranked 20 through 1; Part II included wide receivers 50 through 21; and Part I was wide receivers ranked 100 through 51.
Click here to read Part I (#100-51).
Click here to read Part II (#50-21).
20. Pete Pihos (1947-1955)
At a time when passing still reigned secondary to a running game, Pete Pihos was a special player, and he seemed to get better as time went on. Pihos led the NFL in receptions each of his final three seasons, abruptly retiring after he posted a 62/864/7 receiving line and earned an All-Pro selection. Pihos played both ways, serving as a defensive end on the other side of the ball, and finishing with six Pro Bowls and five AP All-Pro selections. He also played a key role for the Philadelphia Eagles teams that repeated as champions from 1948 to 1949
19. Isaac Bruce (1994-2009)
Isaac Bruce put up extraordinary numbers during his playing career, finishing with the fourth-most receiving yards at his position (15,208) in NFL history. Bruce topped 1,000 eight times, putting up a ridiculous 1,781 in his second season, a total that would have set a league record had it not occurred the same season that Jerry Rice totaled 1,848. Bruce was never a First-Team All-Pro and made ‘just’ four Pro Bowls, which may be why he isn’t in the Hall of Fame yet, but he will get in sooner than later. Bruce is one of just three receivers with 1,000 catches and 15,000 receiving yards, and he caught a 73-yard touchdown reception from Kurt Warner in the 1999 Super Bowl (which remarkably, wasn’t even his longest touchdown catch that postseason).
18. Tommy McDonald (1957-1968)
It’s a wonder that Tommy McDonald was able to have an NFL career at just 5’9”, 178 pounds, let alone be one of the greatest wide receivers the league has ever seen. McDonald – who was the last non-special teams player to play without a facemask – missed just three games in his first 11 seasons.
He made six Pro Bowls in his career, topping 1,000 yards three times and leading the NFL in touchdown catches twice. McDonald retired sixth all-time in receptions, fourth in receiving yards, and second to just Don Hutson in touchdown catches. McDonald played a big role for the Philadelphia Eagles in their 1960 championship title, securing the game’s first touchdown on a 35-yard grab from Norm Van Brocklin.
17. Calvin Johnson (2007-2015)
In terms of positional dominance, Calvin Johnson should be ranked higher than 18th on an all-time greatest wide receivers list. He’s a physical freak like the NFL may never see again; he’s 6’5”, 239 pounds, and can run a 4.35 40-yard dash. It’s no wonder he can do this to opposing defensive backs. Johnson’s career 86.07 receiving yards-per-game average is the highest ever by a retired wide receiver. Johnson’s accolades are overwhelming – he made six Pro Bowls and three First-Team All-Pro selections in nine seasons. He was the fastest player to top 10,000 receiving yards. He broke Jerry Rice’s single-season record for receiving yards (1,964) and averaged 1,467 over a five-year span. And in the playoffs, no one could stop Johnson – in two postseason contests, he’s averaged a 8.5/148/1 statline.
Sure, Johnson benefited from a pass-happy offense in which quarterback Matthew Stafford has been allowed to throw the ball over 40 times per game regularly. But that’s not what keeps him from ranking higher. Simply put, what keeps him from ranking in the top 10 or 15 – or even five, which may have been the case if he had kept playing – is his shortened career. Johnson is 36th at his position in receptions, 26th in yards, and 20th in touchdown catches. If he had kept playing, he would shoot up those all-time lists, but as of now, his career – especially in the pass-inflated era – doesn’t quite hold up to others who were nearly as good and played substantially longer.
16. Sterling Sharpe (1988-1994)
If he hadn’t gotten injured and been forced to retire prematurely, Sterling Sharpe would assuredly be in the top 10 at his position. As it stands, he should still be in the Hall of Fame, even though he played just seven seasons.
Sharpe was listed at 5’11”, 207 pounds, but played as if he was the biggest man on the field. In his autobiography (Reggie White in the Trenches), Reggie White talked about how Sharpe used to practice with every positional group on the field, and how Sharpe probably could have been a star at all of them.
It’s ironic that a neck injury forced Sharpe to retire after just seven seasons because he never missed a game during his playing days. Sharpe soaked up targets as Brett Favre’s primary receiver in Green Bay, leading the NFL in receptions three times and twice setting the single-season mark for catches (he broke his own record the second year). There are two receivers since the NFL-AFL merger to lead the league in catches at least three times; Sharpe is the only one who wasn’t a slot receiver (Wes Welker did it).
Sharpe’s retirement came after an 18-touchdown season in which he made his fifth Pro Bowl, and right before a string of three consecutive MVP awards by Brett Favre; imagine what Sharpe would have done in that offense. Sharpe caught 13 touchdowns in his final six NFL games. His career postseason numbers are insane – two games, 11 catches, 229 yards, and a ridiculous four touchdown grabs. Sharpe should be an easy Hall of Famer, even in his abbreviated career.
15. Marvin Harrison (1996-2008)
It’s amazing that Marvin Harrison was able to carve out a career as one of the most productive statistical wide receivers in NFL history, considering he was barely six feet tall and just 175 pounds. Harrison had the benefit of playing with Peyton Manning, but he was also a highly-talented wideout who excelled as a route runner.
Harrison’s pure receiving numbers hold their own against almost everyone who ever played. Over an eight-year span (1999-2006), Harrison averaged 103 catches, 1,402 yards, and 13 receiving touchdowns per season. Twice he led the league in receiving yards. He set the single-season record in receptions (143), absolutely shattering the previous mark held by Herman Moore (123 in 1995). Harrison made the Pro Bowl every year, earned three First-Team All-Pro selections, and missed just two total games due to injury.
Here’s what keeps Harrison from moving higher on this list. He was clearly helped from playing with Manning. In the two seasons prior to Manning joining the Indianapolis Colts, Harrison averaged just a 68/851/7 statline. Harrison was completely underwhelming in the postseason, finishing with just two touchdowns in 16 games – and both occurred in the same contest. Take away the 2003 postseason, and Harrison never topped five catches or 63 yards in 13 career playoff games.
14. Torry Holt (1999-2009)
Torry Holt had a pretty similar career to Marvin Harrison. They were of similar build, played in the same era, and both did almost all their work in an eight-year stretch. Each also played with a borderline Hall of Fame receiver across him (Isaac Bruce with Holt and Reggie Wayne with Harrison). Holt averaged a 94/1,384/8 line from 2000-’07, earning seven Pro Bowl selections, and leading the NFL in receptions twice.
Holt ranks one spot higher because he played with quarterbacks that weren’t quite as good as Harrison’s – Kurt Warner was league MVP in 2001, but he faded and Marc Bulger was just average. Holt had better postseason numbers, catching touchdowns in four of his 10 career playoff games, including one in the 1999 Super Bowl win over Tennessee (when Holt was just a rookie). Holt was ridiculously durable for an undersized receiver, missing just three total games in 11 seasons.
13. James Lofton (1978-1993)
James Lofton isn’t always remembered among the finest wide receivers to ever play, but he’s been a legitimate downfield threat for two decades. Lofton was the first player ever to top 14,000 receiving yards, and his 18.3 yards-per-reception average is by far the highest of the nine receivers with as many yards.
Lofton topped 1,000 yards six times, including 1,072 yards at age 35 for the AFC champion Buffalo Bills. He twice topped the league in yards per catch, and he was durable enough to play every regular-season game for the first nine seasons of his career. Lofton finished with eight Pro Bowls and eight postseason touchdowns in just 13 games.
12. Larry Fitzgerald (2004-Active)
Larry Fitzgerald is a special player. He’s been the face of the Arizona Cardinals franchise since he was drafted, and he’s coming off a 109/1,215/9 season at the age of 32. Fitzgerald’s best attribute is his ability to make contested catches and score in the red zone; he’s led the league in touchdowns twice and next season, he’ll become the seventh receiver ever with 100 career TD catches. Fitzgerald has an outside chance to eventually move past Cris Carter, Marvin Harrison, and Tim Brown into third place all-time.
Fitzgerald is one of the best postseason performers in history. He’s scored 10 touchdowns in nine playoff games. In 2008, he went over 100 yards with a touchdown in all four games. There was the should-be game-winner against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl. There was the three-touchdown performance in the first half of the NFC Championship Game against the Eagles. Remember the famous Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary game against Arizona this past year? All Fitzgerald did was catch eight passes for 176 yards and a touchdown. He’ll one day be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and hopefully he’ll have a Super Bowl ring to go with it.
11. Andre Johnson (2003-Active)
There’s probably a consensus that Larry Fitzgerald has had a better career than Andre Johnson, but that’s doing an injustice to Johnson. Look at the list of quarterbacks Johnson has played with: aside from Matt Schaub, it’s a who’s-who of mediocre quarterbacks: David Carr, Sage Rosenfels, Case Keenum, Tony Banks, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Matt Hasselbeck, and Ryan Lindley. None of those quarterbacks has sniffed the Pro Bowl.
That makes Johnson’s career numbers even more astounding. Johnson has had injury issues throughout his career, but he’s still compiled Hall of Fame numbers. He’s one of seven receivers in history with at least 1,000 receptions and 14,000 yards, and he’s done it in fewer games (185) than any of the others. Johnson hauls in targets, having caught 100 passes five times, twice leading the league. There are just three receivers since the merger to have led the league in receptions and yards multiple times – Johnson, Marvin Harrison, and Jerry Rice. That’s elite company.
Even in the postseason – a place where Johnson hasn’t been too often – he’s been a strong performer. He’s averaged six catches and 89 yards in his four playoff contests.
10. Michael Irvin (1988-1999)
There are few wide receivers who could compete with Michael Irvin on a pound-for-pound basis; The Playmaker was the heart and soul of a Dallas Cowboys dynasty that won three Super Bowls in the ‘90s. As Irvin went, the Cowboys went. There’s no denying Irvin had a boatload of off-the-field issues that would get him in serious hot water with Roger Goodell in today’s era, but Irvin also had a work ethic that was difficult to top.
Irvin was a first-round draft pick in 1988, but he struggled his first three seasons, and the Cowboys won a total of just 11 games. Once Irvin became a Pro Bowler in 1991, Dallas won its first playoff game under Jimmy Johnson, and the next year began a string of three championships in four years. Then in early ’96, Irvin was infamously arrested for cocaine possession, and the Cowboys won just one playoff game for the rest of his career.
When he was on top of his game, Irvin was nearly unstoppable. He averaged 83 receptions and 1,286 yards over an eight-year period from 1991 to 1998, and the only time he missed was due to a five-game suspension. Irvin earned ‘just’ one First-Team All-Pro selection during that span due to an influx of wide receiver talent around the league in Jerry Rice, Cris Carter, Sterling Sharpe, and Herman Moore.
But Irvin was at his best in big games. His 1,315 postseason receiving yards are more than any other player in history but Rice. Irvin hauled in eight touchdowns, including two in a span of 18 seconds in the Super Bowl. His career abruptly ended with his infamous spinal injury, but he was an easy Hall of Famer come election time.
9. Raymond Berry (1955-1967)
Raymond Berry was a one-year starter in high school and just a 20th round draft pick by the Baltimore Colts in 1954, so he was pretty fortunate that the Colts grabbed a quarterback in Johnny Unitas who would turn into one of the greatest to every play.
Berry caught just two total touchdowns in his first two seasons, then became a legitimate star. He made seven Pro Bowls and three First-Team All-Pro teams in an eight-year span. He led the league in receptions three consecutive years and yards three times in four seasons. In fact, here’s a complete list of all the receivers to lead the NFL in receptions, yards, and touchdowns at least twice each: Jerry Rice, Don Hutson, Lance Alworth, and Berry.
Berry was a big-time playoff performer. In the Colts’ overtime win over the New York Giants in the 1958 NFL championship (The Greatest Game Ever Played), Berry set a championship game record with 12 catches (for 178 yards and a touchdown!). In the final drive of regulation and the overtime session, he came up with five big catches.
8. Tim Brown (1988-2004)
All Tim Brown did for his entire NFL career was just produce, year after year, despite rarely having great quarterback play. He caught passes from Rich Gannon, who had a great late-career run and won an MVP award, but aside from that, it was mediocre passers like Jay Schroeder, Jeff Hostetler, Billy Joe Hobert, Jeff George, Wade Wilson, Todd Marinovich, and Steve Beuerlein.
Brown was a Heisman Trophy winner in college and went sixth overall in the draft, and while it took him a little to get started – just 11 starts and 1,552 receiving yards in his first four seasons – he eventually became a perennial Pro Bowler and 1,000-yard receiver.
Rom 1993-2002, Brown started 160 of a possible 160 games. He topped 80 receptions every season but one. He averaged nearly 1,200 receiving yards per year, putting up nine 1,000-yard campaigns. Brown finished his career with nine Pro Bowls (eight as a receiver, one as a returner), and while he was never an AP First-Team All-Pro selection, he finished with numbers that hold up pretty well against other wide receivers.
Brown’s 1,094 receptions are fourth best ever among receivers, he’s fifth in receiving yards at 14,934, and he’s tied for sixth in touchdown catches at 100. Because he was a dynamic returner early on – over 4,500 career return yards and four scores – Brown is fifth in total all-purpose yards (19,682), trailing just Jerry Rice, Brian Mitchell, Walter Payton, and Emmitt Smith.
7. Cris Carter (1987-2002)
Buddy Ryan got it right when he said that all Cris Carter does is catch touchdowns. Carter caught 130 of them in his career, more than all but three wide receivers in the history of the league. He led the NFL on three separate occasions and posted a ridiculous 65 over a five-year span in the prime of his career.
Carter had the prototypical size for a wide receiver (6’3”, 208 pounds), and once he moved on from his early-career drug issues, he was a dynamic playmaker for the Minnesota Vikings. What made Carter so special was his ability to score in the red zone. He holds the NFL record with nine touchdown grabs from a yard away, along with records for scores from inside two yards (16), four yards (28), five yards (36), six yards (44), and seven yards (48).
Carter also put up a ton of catches and yards, finishing with 1,101 receptions (the third-most ever for his position), along with 13,899 yards (11th). At one point, he even held the single-season record for receptions in a season (122), and he was a deserving Hall of Famer who should have been elected in his first year of eligibility.
6. Steve Largent (1976-1989)
When he retired in 1989, a legitimate case could be made for Steve Largent as the NFL’s greatest receiver since the merger. Largent held many major receiving records – career receptions (819), yards (13,089), and touchdowns (100), plus a streak of 177 consecutive games with a catch. Not bad for a player who was so ineffective as a rookie that the Houston Oilers traded him to Seattle before he played a down.
Largent made seven Pro Bowls and three First-Team All-Pro squads, and twice he led the league in receiving yards. If you ignore the strike-shortened 1982 campaign, Largent topped 1,000 receiving yards in eight cons
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