Top 20 Receivers ; 1, (1), Jerry Rice ; 2, (2), Cris Carter ; 3, (3), Tim Brown ; 4, (4), Andre Reed top 20 wr all time 5, (5), Art Monk. All things considered, Green Bay Packers legend Don Hutson may be the godfather of all-time great wide receivers. Between andthe. Receiving Leaders. RK, PLAYER, REC. 1, Jerry Rice, 1, 2, Larry Fitzgerald, 1, 3, Tony Gonzalez, 1, 4, Jason Witten, 1, The Best Wide Receivers of All‑Time ; Jerry Rice, WR ; Marvin Harrison, WR ; Tyreek Hill, WR, Active ; Del Shofner, WR, Eligible
What is the best WR game of all time? Flipper Anderson has the most yards on receptions in a game, with 336 yards against the Saints on November 26, 1989.
Is Randy Moss faster than tyreek Hill? Neither of the speedsters have an official 40-yard dash time at the NFL combine. Moss recorded a hand-timed 4.25 in 1998, a year before the league started using laser timers. During his Pro Day at West Alabama, Hill was clocked at a 4.29 by multiple scouts.
Who is the number 1 WR in NFL history? Players with the most receiving yards in NFL history as of March 2024
Characteristic | Number of yards |
---|---|
Jerry Rice (1985-2004) | 22,895 |
Larry Fitzgerald (2004-2020) | 17,492 |
Terrell Owens (1996-2010) | 15,934 |
Randy Moss (1998-2012) | 15,292 |
Is Randy Moss the best receiver ever? Rice has earned the title of greatest wide receiver of the modern era.” GEORGE BOZEKA, president, Pro Football Researchers Association. "Randy Moss is definitely one of the greatest wide receivers to play the game. But he is not the best ever.
Who is the best Jerry Rice or Randy Moss? Jerry Rice has Randy Moss beat out in terms of longevity in the NFL, which helped him to accumulate some monstrous stats. Rice played in 20 seasons, with the San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, and Seattle Seahawks. He had 1,549 receptions for 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns.
Who is oldest football player? Ranking Oldest NFL Players in 2023
Who is the oldest WR right now? Jones is the oldest wide receiver in the league at 33.5 years old. Technically, Matthew Slater is older, but he is a special teams player listed as a receiver.
Has a receiver ever had 300 yards in a game? Only six players in the 99-year history of the National Football League have amassed 300 or more receiving yards in a game.
Who are the best WR of all time? Top 10 NFL wide receivers of all-time from Randy Moss to Jerry Rice ranked after Super Bowl
Who is the #1 WR in the NFL? 1. Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins. Hill leads all wide receivers in PFF receiving grade at 93.5, but what's most impressive is how much more productive he has been than anyone else at the position. His 4.02 yards per route run average is more than half a yard better than the next-closest player.
Who is KC #1 WR? Offense
Position | First | Second |
---|---|---|
WR | Justin Watson | |
QB | Patrick Mahomes | |
RB | Isiah Pacheco | Clyde Edwards-Helaire |
WR | Kadarius Toney |
Who was the best WR in 2000?
Receiving | ||
---|---|---|
Player Sort First: Last: | Team | Yard |
1. Randy Moss | MIN | 1,437 |
2. Marvin Harrison | IND | 1,413 |
3. Terrell Owens | SF | 1,451 |
Has any WR ever gone number 1 overall? Yes, a wide receiver has been drafted first overall before. It's happened three times, actually, but not in almost 30 years. The last wideout to be the No. 1 pick was Keyshawn Johnson, who was taken by the New York Jets out of USC in 1996.
He was the spark plug behind the incredible Steeler offense of the s. He also authored one of the greatest five-season stretches any wide receiver has ever had. From he had over receptions and receiving yards in each season, before eventually going to Tampa Bay in large part due to those off-field issues and winning a Super Bowl with Tom Brady.
He's certainly one of the greatest wide receivers ever. Andre Reed was the best wide receiver for the best offense in the league as he and quarterback Jim Kelly helped power the Buffalo Bills to four straight Super Bowl appearances. The Hall of Famer made his money in some of the biggest games in Bills history though.
Reed was unreal in the playoffs, helping lead the Bills to the largest postseason comeback in league history against the Houston Oilers in the first round. Reed had eight catches for yards and three touchdowns despite backup Frank Reich playing. A Minnesota Viking legend, Cris Carter had a bit of an unorthodox journey to greatness.
He struggled at first, as a good player with bad off-field habits. Carter would go on to reach incredible heights in Minnesota, becoming one of the best of all time and earning his Viking jersey retirement. Art Monk won't be a name many younger fans know, but he was one of the league's best across the s and s. The Washington Commanders would win three Super Bowls in ten years, with three different quarterbacks.
But Art Monk was the consistency across all of them. He was fortunate to get drafted into a good situation and was given the time to grow and transform into a dominant pass catcher. Monk would lead the league in receptions, receiving yards, and yards per touch at different times in his career on his way to the s All-Decade team a spot in Canton.
Julio Jones came into the league with massive expectations as the sixth overall pick of the Atlanta Falcons, and he met them. Along with Brown, Jones was one of the dominant offensive forces of his generation. Bigger, faster, and stronger than anyone who tried to guard him, Jones helped create one of the best eras of Atlanta football.
In their window of contention, Jones was selected first-team All-Pro in back-to-back seasons. During their Super Bowl run, Jones willed them through the playoffs highlighted by a 9-reception, yard, two-touchdown performance against the Green Bay Packers. Top 20 wr all time You know you're an all-time great when an award is named after you. While Fred Biletnikoff is honored with an award in his name in college football, he did plenty in the NFL too.
Drafted into the AFL to the Raiders in , Biletnikoff operated in one of the hardest environments for wideouts in league history. Despite that, he was a standout on one of the best teams of his era, helping lead the Raiders to an AFL title and then a Super Bowl after the merger. In Super Bowl XI, to cap a season, Biletnikoff led all players with 79 receiving yards, accounting for nearly half of quarterback Ken Stabler's passing yards on the day.
The Dallas Cowboys of the s were known for their big personalities, exciting football, and winning. And it's possible no one embodied that quite like Michael Irvin did. Big, fast, great hands and feet, loud, confident, and most importantly: backing it all up on the field.
He deserves a spot on the list of greatest wide receivers. To say Elroy Hirsch played the game in a different era would be a huge understatement. And despite playing in what was essentially the Dark Ages of football for wide receivers, Hirsch authored perhaps the single greatest receiving season in NFL history.
In in a game season, Hirsch had 66 receptions for 1, yards and 17 touchdowns. Across a game schedule, Hirsch would be the current leader for single-season and touchdowns. Even in a game season that extrapolates to over yards, a feat no one has ever accomplished in just the regular season.
Any wide receiver who played during the s and s will have to feel a little overshadowed by a certain player further down this list, but Tim Brown wasn't by much. All Brown did was play the position better than almost anyone else ever had for a very long time. Brown had nine seasons in a row with over 1, yards receiving. Not to mention he did that with guys like Jay Schroeder and Jeff Hostetler throwing him the ball.
Although his son his getting all the headlines now, it'll be hard for anyone to top the career of Marvin Harrison no matter how much genetic material they share. Peyton Manning's favorite target for many years, Harrison got in the league at the same time as a great quarterback and passing revolution and never looked back. When you make the NFL team though, you would've been great regardless.
Harrison twice led the league in receptions and yards and was a fixture on the league's best and most consistent offense during his time playing. Harrison bucked the diva trend for receivers letting his play talk for him, and it sure did talk a lot. There's a story from Gil Brandt that Raymond Berry was so cerebral in his approach to the game, and understood it so well, that decades after retiring and while coaching the Cowboys, based on instinct alone he could tell the practice field wasn't big enough.
No one believed him, but when they measured, sure enough, it was six inches short. He was a pioneer for the route trees that are foundational to today's game. And while people love to talk about Tom Brady getting drafted in the sixth round , Berry went in the 20th. So maybe there's someone else we should consider for greatest draft steal of all time, considering Berry was an innovator and fixture at the top of the receptions and yardage leaderboard as a player.
Terrell Owens was as polarizing as he was talented, and he was a generational talent who is one of the greatest wide receivers to ever step on a field. Embodying and cementing the stereotype of the loudmouthed brash diva for wide receivers, when it was good in the locker room with Owens it was amazing. When it wasn't…well, we all have our own flaws don't we. Blessed with immaculate footwork and hand-eye coordination, Owens lived in the end zone as much as he liked to live in his opponents' heads.
Although towards the end of his career, he bounced around with plenty of drama, he still spent a long time in the league as one of the best. To say these quarterbacks needed a Hall of Fame caliber receiver to be productive players may be a stretch, but without having that elite weapon, they may never have reached their full potential.
The same can be said about many of the quarterbacks today. Or the fact that Jalen Hurts took leaps as a passer once he got A. Brown as a target. There is an innate quality in star receivers to be the center of attention. Ranking these players involves separating the art from the artists, also known as separating their behavior from their performance.
Some were questionable teammates, others questionable people, but on this list, on-field performance trumps everything. How a player stacked up against others from their era tells more about an individual's performance rather than cumulative numbers. Additionally, the objective of this list is to rank the best receivers in NFL history based on their careers.
This means that longevity and career body of work are heavily weighted. Prime performance is still emphasized, but steady players with sustained success will find themselves higher on the list. Pure talent certainly helps, but the talent needs to translate into historically great performance to meet the criteria for this list.
The recent Hall of Fame inductee snags the final spot on this list. Firstly, Johnson had one of the highest peaks of the s, recording consecutive 1, receiving-yard seasons, leading the league both years. Secondly, Johnson had an all-encompassing skillset that allowed him to win in several ways. Johnson was a thicker receiver who used his mass to come down with catches in traffic.
He had a lot more than just a big frame, though. Johnson possessed 4. Nevertheless, his peak was special. Jmu football odds He had the size and toughness to run a breaking route into the teeth of the defense while still having the athleticism to win vertically and after the catch. Johnson proved to be just that and was the franchise's first superstar.
Tim Brown first made his name as a return man. He led the league in kickoff return yardage and was named to the Pro Bowl as a rookie. Over time, Brown expanded his game and solidified himself as an elite wide receiver. Once he was promoted to full-time starter, Brown never looked back. He made five consecutive Pro Bowls and topped 1, receiving yards in each of those seasons.
He recorded nine consecutive 1,yard seasons, caught 75 or more passes in 10, and at least five touchdowns in Brown was a model of dependability and a steady force on the then Oakland Raiders offense. Outside of , when he led the NFL in receptions, Brown never led the league in any of the three major statistical categories, nor was he a first-team All-Pro.
One of the hardest challenges to overcome in constructing this list is to avoid recency bias. Receiving records seem to fall every year, but is this a reflection of the quality of wide receivers or how the game is played today. The true answer probably lies between the two.
The average wide receiver is asked to do more than he was 25 years ago, forcing them to have a more complete skillset. On the other hand, the game has become more pass-centric, and many of the rules implemented to protect players directly favor the offense. Julio Jones is the only active player on this list.
Even in a league where numbers have become inflated, Jones's greatness is indisputable. From to , he registered 9, receiving yards, giving him a per-season average of 1, In that time, he led the league in receiving yards twice and receiving yards per game three times. Jones is a player whose physical gifts led to the rest of his game going overlooked. Everything he did was so powerful and explosive that it was easy to fixate on that piece of his game.
In addition to his athleticism, Jones had superb body control and was an expert at high-pointing the ball and adjusting his body in midair. This made his already massive catch radius even larger. It would take a terrible misfire for Jones not to at least have a chance at reeling the ball in.
Had it not been for injuries hampering the tail end of his career, he would certainly be higher on this list. Isaac Bruce will forever be known for his role on the legendary St. What is less known is how productive he was before the arrival of his Hall of Fame teammates. In , Bruce caught passes from Tony Banks en route to a league-high 1, receiving yards.
Bruce was a surgical route runner with a superb burst and change of direction. In the years following the Greatest Show on Turf, Bruce did just as he did before: produce. Top 20 wr all time He still had enough shake in his 30s to get open and was a productive receiver as late as his age season. He may not be held in the same regard as the top four, but leaving him out of the conversation entirely would be indefensible.
Cris Carter needing six years before his Hall of Fame induction was nothing short of an abomination. Carter is fourth all-time in receiving touchdowns, sixth in receptions, and 13th in receiving yards. All concerns were quickly dashed as both players topped 1, yards and formed one of the greatest receiver tandems of all time.
From , Carter made eight consecutive Pro Bowls and logged at least 1, receiving yards each year. During this time, he also led the league in touchdowns on three separate occasions. For eight years, he was an elite performer and produced in multiple roles.
Brown won with precision. He ran crisp routes with little wasted movement and could change speed and direction at will. Covering Brown was a daunting task, as he could create separation with the slightest move. Brown also had an innate gift for spatial awareness, mastering the toe drag and regularly contorting his body to make impossible catches on the sideline.
Brown seemed to know exactly where he was on the field at all times, even in the scramble drill. He also had a great feel for where defenders were and found openings against every coverage. Generally, quarterbacks want big-body receivers with massive catch radiuses. Brown was an exception to this. While small, he could bail out quarterbacks with his knack for getting open and body control.
He was still a highly capable receiver and, at times, looked like the best pass-catcher on a team that featured Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. His antics reached a point where teams felt he was uncontrollable and a liability in the media. At 35, Brown has likely played his final snap in the NFL. His talent on the field was incredible, but his actions on and off the field make his legacy a highly complicated one.
In the case of Calvin Johnson, though, this description almost sells him short. The man nicknamed Megatron reached a level of physical dominance that few could match and instilled fear into defensive backs across the league. He was a behemoth of a receiver, weighing pounds and was far too physical for cornerbacks to handle.
Johnson led the league in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns for at least one season and currently holds the single-season receiving yards mark with 1, He currently sits second in career receiving yards per game with Much like Barry Sanders, Johnson walked away from football early.