All-Time Wide Receivers Discussion

[J.Kim]

You guys are probably going to rip my list to bits... but here it is:

(Post-script: I forgot that Lance Alworth played in San Diego, with the Vertical West Coast... I would probably bump him down to #6 on the list, and move everyone up 1 spot)

1. Jerry Rice: There is no doubt about it. Just far too dominant over a tremendous stretch of years

2. Lance Alworth: It's absolutely disgusting how good he was for a 7-year stretch, considering that this was the Pre-Modern-Offense era. Not to mention, He had 6 consecutive years of 19+ Yards per Reception years, which is unheard of even in this era.

3. Marvin Harrison: 8 Consecutive years of excellence, continually top-3 in his position for the past 8 seasons

4. Don Hutson: I can't really compare what he did versus his contemporaries (mostly becuase I don't have the tools to research this type of information), but considering that Pre-Superbowl Era football composed of highly run-oriented offenses (And more so if you go into the pre-50s) it's pretty amazing the type of numbers he put up

5. Steve Largent: Often left out in top WR discussions, he was quite possibly the best WR of his era, but often left out because his early career was marred by the fact that it was the pre-Mel Blount rule era, and the fact that offenses were still run-oriented. Late in to his career, Jerry Rice came in, and he was largely overshadowed by him for a good 4-5 seasons or so, and hence his prime is largely forgotten

6. Paul Warfield: Amazing what he did in the Deadball era. Discounting his injured season, 7 straight seasons of 700+ Yards, 11 straight seasons of 500+ Yards, Higher peak and Same stretch of longevity beats out Raymond Berry

7. Torry Holt: Yes. Torry Holt. Even at this stage of his career (Still relatively in his prime), I would say his numbers and what he has done in the league far surpasses what a lot of other receivers have done. 6 straight seasons of 1300+ yards. Playing along side Isaac Bruce certainly helped, but he has come into his own the past couple of seasons, and could very well climb to #2 in All-Time Receiving Yards ranking in 3 seasons, when he'll be 34 (And still have a season to maybe around 3, depending on what shape he keeps himself in)

8. Raymond Berry: IMO, had a long enough career, and comparatively a very long stretch of high performance. 11 Straight seasons of 600+ Receiving yards in the Deadball era is absolutely remarkable

9. Isaac Bruce: If it weren't for the injuries, he could very well be sitting with 12 Consecutive seasons with 1000+ Yards, and #2 all time on the WR Receiving Yards list, with 15000+ Yards

10. Cris Carter: Nothing to special to start out his career, As he entered his prime, he was able to post 8 consecutive seasons of 1000+ Yards Receptions, And was a huge instrument in the high powered offenses of Minnesota, in the late 90/early 00s. Also helped very much by his longevity

11. James Lofton: Similar to Cris Carter, but instead helped very much by the start of his career, as opposed to Cris Carter's end of career run. Probably should be ranked a bit higher, but I'm not entirely "wowed" by his stats.

12. Charlie Hennigan: You know what. I don't care what anyone says. I'm putting him in my top 15. A 4-year Peak that's unmatched by anyone, pre-Mel Blount rule, and even then no one matched it until Jerry Rice did. As well, he had 2 other seasons of 500+ Yards Receiving, which in those standards, are considered great. After 1964, however, he decided he wanted a pay raise, and to Bud Adams, that was a big no. IIRC from reading a bunch of pre-NFL history, just like Bud Adams did with Billy Cannon, he replaced Charlie Hennigan with Charley Frzier (Although not even close to living up the kind of peak that Hennigan had) slowly from the 1965 season until his retirement after the 1966 season. Had he continued playing (the same amount of time as he did from 1960-1964), I'd reckon more people would be talking about him.

13 a. Michael Irvin: Few receivers had a great team like he did. However, he put up pretty gaudy statistics in a 8 season span from 1991 to 1998. I never liked him, however.

13 b. Jimmy Smith: A key example of giving up on a player way too early, because of something unrelated to his game. In this case, an emergency appendectomy, and a near-fatal infection. To think, if Dallas had kept him, we could have possibly seen two top-15 WRs of ALL-TIME, on the same team, and both would have elevated Dallas' Passing game to another level, IMO. Regardless, as soon as he started getting touches, from 1996, he showed that he could dominate, and ranked probably as one of the most consistent guys in the 1990s. You could always count on him for 1100 yards and 6 TDs. If he had those 3 seasons back in the early 90s, we could very well be looking at the #2 Greatest receiver of all time based on the receiving yards list.

15. Paul Warfield: Had a really hard time finishing off the list, but decided to go with Warfield in the end. His Y/R are absolutely phenomenal, and his yardage totals are pretty impressive as well, considering this is the deadball era. Probably should be higher, but I would not know where to put him.

[Next Coming]

-= original quote snipped =-


You gonna give it to him?

:gaybrows:

[MHZ]

I don't think you can put Moss in the top 2-3 WR even if we're just basing it on ability as a WR. Yes, he was great when he was in Minnesota, but now with Oakland he's nothing. It's a classic case of a great player looking like an elite player because of the system, sort of like how the Broncos have a great running back every year and the Colts always seem to have a receiver step up. If he proves he can be great in Oakland than MAYBE I'd put him top-15, but there's too many guys better than him to think of putting him in the top 5.

With this logic, Torry Holt, who people are putting top 10 or even 5, should get a little more critical of a look. He's played in the Rams offense during the Greatest Show on Turf era, which I think skewed his stats a little bit. I'm not taking anything away from him, but I'd say system was a massive part of his success, more so than Moss in Minnesota.

[NO-KG-AI]

Maybe Holt was a huge part of the success of the Greatest Show on Turf?

FWIW I put him at 15, and thought I was being generous

[Basketball Jesus]

BBJ

[bigboy1234]

1. Jerry Rice
2. Don Huston
3. Lance Alworth
4. Marvin Harrison
5. Torry Holt
6. Steve Largent
7. Paul Warfield
8. Raymond Berry
9. James Lofton
10. Michael Irvin
11. Henry Ellard
12. Randy Moss
13. Tim Brown
14. Charley Taylor
15. Chris Carter

[Doctor MJ]

Voting complete, results here:

http://www.realgm.com/boards/football/v ... .php?t=616