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.
What I Looked At to Compile My Rankings:
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 AP 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 100 through 51; Part II will include wide receivers 50 through 21; and Part III will be for the game’s 20 greatest wide receivers of all-time.
Click here to read Part I (#100-51).
50. Mike Quick (1982-1990)
Former Philadelphia Eagles great Mike Quick (#50) really only had five years as a great receiver (retiring early due to patellar tendinitis), but he did make five consecutive Pro Bowls, earn two All-Pro selections, and catch a 99-yard touchdown (in overtime!).
49. Antonio Brown (2010-2015)
There’s 40-yard dash speed and then there’s game speed. Antonio Brown has the latter. He entered the league as just a sixth-round pick and now he’s playing at a level that few wide receivers in league history have reached. Brown’s past three seasons alone: 375 receptions, 5,031 yards, and 31 touchdowns, plus three Pro Bowl selections and two All-Pros. He hasn’t missed a game due to injury. And his game-to-game consistency is nearly flawless: Brown’s five-catch, 50-yard streak ended at 35 games when he was forced to play with Michael Vick.
Perhaps Brown’s finest game as a pro was the absolute domination of a performance he put up against Denver’s Pro Bowl corner Chris Harris in Week 15: 16 catches (on 18 targets) for 189 yards and two touchdowns. Brown’s precise route-running and sure hands are what every wide receiver should strive to emulate.
48. Anquan Boldin (2003-2015)
Only nine wide receivers in history have more receptions than Anquan Boldin, who just joined the 1,000-catch club. Boldin is still going strong at age 35; if he puts up one more 50-catch season (which he’s done every season of his career), he will have more 50-catch seasons than any wide receiver ever but Jerry Rice. Will that – along with some fine playoff performances for the 2008 Arizona Cardinals, 2011-2012 Baltimore Ravens, and 2013 San Francisco 49ers – be enough to get Boldin into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
47. Elroy Hirsch (1946-1957)
Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch’s 1951 season still stands as one of the finest by a WR of all-time. He led the league in receptions (66), yards (1,495), yards per catch (22.7), receiving touchdowns (17), yards per game (124.6), and total yards from scrimmage (1,498). Hirsch was one of the first receivers to make the Hall of Fame.
46. Fred Biletnikoff (1965-1978)
45. Cliff Branch (1972-1985)
Fred Biletnikoff and Cliff Branch were two Oakland Raiders wide receivers whose careers overlapped in the 1970s; Biletnikoff is in the Hall of Fame but Branch is not, although their lifetime numbers were fairly similar.
| Name | Years | Games | Rec | Yards | Avg | TD | Pro Bowls | All-Pro | Playoff Stats | Rings |
| Fred Biletnikoff | 1965-1978 | 190 | 589 | 8974 | 15.2 | 76 | 6 | 2 | 70-1167-10 | 1 |
| Cliff Branch | 1972-1985 | 183 | 501 | 8685 | 17.3 | 67 | 4 | 3 | 73-1289-5 | 3 |
Branch is the only player to be on all three Oakland/LA Raiders Super Bowl championship teams, and he was a fine postseason performer – only Jerry Rice and Michael Irvin have more career playoff receiving yards than Branch (1,289). In fact, there are only three wide receivers in history with at least three First-Team All-Pro selections and three championship rings: Rice, Don Hutson, and Branch. It’s peculiar that Branch – a 2010 Hall of Fame finalist – has never been enshrined in Canton, Ohio; what do voters see in Biletnikoff that they didn’t see in Branch?
44. Bob Hayes (1965-1975)
Bullet Bob Hayes was quite literally the fastest man in the world when he played, which may explain why he averaged a ridiculous 20.0 yards per catch for his NFL career. Hayes led the league in yards per catch twice but also scored a high number of touchdowns for a 187-pound receiver; five times, he reached double-digit scores in a season. Hayes was also a talented return man, running back three punts for touchdowns and averaging over 25 yards per kick return.
43. Harold Jackson (1968-1983)
Harold Jackson once put up 238 receiving yards and four touchdowns in a single game; to this day, that’s been done by just two other wide receivers in league history. Jackson was remarkably durable for a 175-pound wide receiver, playing every game during the 1970s, a feat that no other wideout accomplished. Jackson was the first player to surpass the 10,000-yard mark having achieved his entire output in the modern National Football League.
42. Del Shofner (1957-1967)
There are just two wide receivers ever to make five First-Team All-Pro squads and not make the Hall of Fame; Del Shofner is one, and the other, Terrell Owens, will assuredly make it soon. Shofner’s 6’3” frame would hold up well in today’s modern game, which made him an elite specimen in the 1950s and 1960s.
41. Hines Ward (1998-2011)
One of the best blocking wide receivers of this generation, Hines Ward’s game translates to more of a traditional tight end than a downfield wideout. Ward finished with exactly 1,000 receptions, totaling 12,083 yards and 85 touchdowns, and he was such an effective blocker that a rule was enacted called The Hines Ward Rule. Ward peaked in the mid-2000s, making four straight Pro Bowls and earning Super Bowl MVP in ’05, when he caught five passes for 123 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown thrown by wide receiver Antwaan Randle El.
40. Art Monk (1980-1995)
At 6’3”, 210 pounds, Art Monk’s specialty was hauling in receptions, and he finished his NFL career with a then-record 940 of them. That total has fallen to 18th now, but that’s more a product of today’s pass-inflated offenses. Monk caught one pass in 180 consecutive games (a record), 35 passes in 15 straight seasons (a record), and 106 in 1984, a league record for eight seasons. He was a three-time Pro Bowler, three-time Super Bowl champion, and finally a Hall of Famer after seven seasons as a finalist.
39. Charlie Joiner (1969-1986)
Charlie Joiner started his career as a fourth-round defensive back out of Grambling State and he retired as the NFL’s all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards. That’s a pretty good turn of events, especially considering he never even had a 1,000-yard season until age 29.
Joiner did his best work at what is considered old for a wide receiver; he recorded nearly twice as many receiving yards after the age of 30 than he did before. Joiner averaged a 71/1,109/5 statline from age 32-34, and he didn’t miss a single game from 1974 to 1985.
38. Andre Rison (1989-2000)
Before there was Terrell Owens, there was Andre Rison, a similarly talented receiver who constantly got into trouble with his teammates and coaches. As a result, Rison played on seven different teams in a 12-year career, which gives him the NFL record for scoring a touchdown for seven different franchises.
Bad Moon Rison, as Chris Berman called him, averaged a 79/1,076/10 statline for his first six seasons; the only other players in history with as many yards and touchdowns in their first six years are Randy Moss, Jerry Rice, Marvin Harrison, and Lance Alworth. Rison was a key factor for the 1996 Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, despite the fact that he was on the roster for just half the year. Interestingly enough, Rison made a brief comeback four years after he retired, winning a Grey Cup championship in the CFL.
37. Stanley Morgan (1977-1990)
Stanley Morgan holds the distinction of having the most career receiving yards for a wide receiver (10,716) who never played with a Pro Bowl quarterback. Morgan had rabbit quickness, and his speed was what made him an elite downfield weapon. He topped 20 yards per catch in each of his first six seasons, and he’s the only player ever to the league three straight times. His career 19.2 yards-per-catch average is also the highest ever for a 10,000-yard receiver.
36. Irving Fryar (1984-2000)
It’s surprising that Irving Fryar isn’t in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His peak wasn’t what it could have been – despite being a former No. 1 overall draft pick, Fryar was never a First-Team All-Pro and never led the league in a single statistic. But he played forever, accumulating a 88/1,195/11 statline at 34, 86/1,316/6 at 35, and he’s one of three receivers with over 500 yards at age 38 or older.
Fryar took too long to get started; he didn’t exceed 856 yards in his first seven seasons, although he was playing with subpar quarterbacks in Steve Grogan, Tony Eason, and the immortal Hugh Millen. A change of scenery to Miami – with Dan Marino – resulted in consecutive Pro Bowl campaigns, and he was still producing in the mid-‘90s for Philadelphia with Rodney Peete and Ty Detmer as his quarterbacks. Fryar is 18th on the all-time receiving yards list (12,785), but he’s seventh in yards by a receiver after the age of 30 (7,850) and he did so while maintaining a solid 15.0 career yards-per-catch average.
35. Charley Hennigan (1960-1966)
The football world has largely forgotten Charley Hennigan, who was arguably the most dominant wide receiver in AFL history. Hennigan didn’t join the Houston Oilers until age 25, but by 26, he had already set a single-season record with 1,746 receiving yards – a mark that stood until Jerry Rice broke it 34 years later. Hennigan was the first player ever to top 1,500 receiving yards in two separate seasons, and he scored 44 touchdowns in his initial 67 NFL games. Realistically, if Bob Hayes or Tom Fears is in the Hall of Fame, there’s no reason Hennigan shouldn’t be in.
34. Henry Ellard (1983-1998)
Henry Ellard wasn’t particularly big (just 5’11”, 180 pounds) and he took some time before his career took off, but once he became a star, he kept on producing well into his thirties. Ellard put up three consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns at ages 34, 35, and 36, and he retired third on the NFL’s all-time receiving yards list (13,777). Ellard still ranks 13th on the all-time list, and only one receiver (James Lofton) in the top 25 in yards has a higher yards-per-catch average than Ellard’s 16.9.
33. Brandon Marshall (2006-2015)
There’s evidence to suggest that Brandon Marshall hasn’t always been the best teammate – he’s been on four different organizations and never been in the postseason, despite being arguably a top-five receiver for the duration of his career. Marshall is physically gifted at 6’4”, 229 pounds, and he’s a highly efficient blocker as well as pass-catcher. Marshall has always caught a ton of passes; this past season, he became the first player in league history with six 100-catch seasons. Marshall holds the single-game record with 21 receptions, although the achievement flew under the radar when it occurred. Marshall is also a touchdown machine – he has 77 scores since becoming a full-time starter in 2007, more than any other wide receiver during that span except Calvin Johnson.
32. Art Powell (1959-1968)
I didn’t know very much at all about Art Powell before beginning this article; I learned just how dominant of an AFL wide receiver he was back in the day. After a 12-game stint with the 1959 Philadelphia Eagles in which he didn’t catch a pass, Powell joined the New York Titans, coached by Sammy Baugh, and became a bonafide star.
From 1960-1966, Powell made five Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams. He led the league in receiving yards and touchdown catches twice each. During that seven-year span, Powell was first in pro football in both receiving yards (7,669) and receiving touchdowns (77), and trailed just Lionel Taylor in receptions. Powell’s best attribute was his ability to score in the red zone; the only player in league history with more career TD catches than Powell on fewer catches is Paul Warfield.
31. Jimmy Smith (1992-2005)
Most people know Jimmy Smith as one of the Jacksonville Jaguars ‘triplets’ – Mark Brunell, Fred Taylor, and Smith – but few remember that Smith debuted with the 1992 Dallas Cowboys, right in the heat of their dynasty. Smith never caught a pass in two injury-plagued seasons with Dallas, spent a month with the 1994 Philadelphia Eagles, and then latched on with Jacksonville, where he would put up over 12,000 receiving yards and 67 touchdowns over the next decade.
Smith made five straight Pro Bowls, led the NFL in receptions once, and topped 1,000 yards nine different times. He missed four games in 2003 due to a substance abuse violation, but aside from that, missed just one game in 11 seasons in Jacksonville. Smith retired after a 1,023-yard season in 2005, which makes him one of four receivers in history to put up 1,000 yards in his final campaign.
30. Reggie Wayne (2001-2014)
Just six wide receivers have more career receiving yards than Reggie Wayne and only five have more catches. So why is he ranked so low? Well, there’s always the Peyton Manning (and Marvin Harrison) factor, and it’s difficult to distinguish just how much Manning contributed to Wayne’s success and how good Wayne would have been on his own. Wayne was a first-round pick, and he continued producing as a Pro Bowl player even after Harrison retired. Still, Wayne was blessed to play with 12 seasons worth of Pro Bowl quarterbacks (Manning for nine and Andrew Luck for three) and four MVP years. Wayne never played a snap without a quarterback drafted first overall, except for the 2011 season when Manning was injured and Wayne’s numbers dipped to 75/960/4. I think his talent level is about comparable with Jimmy Smith, which is why I have them ranked back-to-back.
29. Chad Johnson (2001-2011)
Chad Johnson/Ochocinco was one of the more colorful characters in the NFL during his playing days, yet he spent nearly his entire career with just one organization (Cincinnati), despite constant trade rumors. Johnson made six Pro Bowls and two First-Team All-Pro squads in the 2000s, and he was one of the game’s elite receivers during his peak. From 2003 through 2007, Johnson averaged 1,374 receiving yards per season; only seven receivers in history have averaged more yards during their best five-year peak. Johnson probably won’t make the Hall of Fame until Terrell Owens and Marvin Harrison get in, but he has the numbers to warrant serious consideration.
28. Lionel Taylor (1959-1968)
Lionel Taylor absolutely dominated the old AFL; he’s the only man aside from Don Hutson to lead his league in receptions at least five times, and he was the first player ever with 100 catches in a single season. Taylor made three Pro Bowls and was voted First-Team AP All-Pro four times, and then went on to be a wide receivers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers during their ‘70s dynasty teams, helping to mold Lynn Swann and John Stallworth into Hall of Famers.
27. Andre Reed (1985-2000)
Andre Reed was blessed to play with a Hall of Fame quarterback (Jim Kelly) and Hall of Fame running back (Thurman Thomas), but there’s no denying Reed was a great talent himself. He’s one of six wide receivers to make the Pro Bowl in seven consecutive seasons. Reed helped the Buffalo Bills to four straight Super Bowls in the 1990s, and while they (famously) didn’t come away with a win, Reed put up strong numbers in those games. He’s second to Jerry Rice in career Super Bowl receptions (27) and third in receiving yards (323). Reed also played a big role in the Bills’ record-setting 35-point comeback in the 1992 playoffs, catching three touchdowns from backup quarterback, Frank Reich. Reed’s durability was impressive, as he suited up for 234 games, tied for the 15th-most in history by a skill position player.
26. Charley Taylor (1964-1977)
Charley Taylor began his career as a running back, averaging just 3.4 yards per carry his first two seasons but proving to be a highly effective pass-catcher out of the backfield. Taylor then transitioned to a full-time wide receiver and became one of the greatest of his generation. Taylor made eight Pro Bowls, led the league in receptions twice, and finished as the NFL’s all-time career leader in catches and a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee.
25. Bobby Mitchell (1958-1968)
Like Charley Taylor, Bobby Mitchell started his career as a running back before switching to wide receiver; unlike Taylor, Mitchell was a pretty effective running back. Mitchel averaged 5.4 yards per carry in his first four seasons, serving primarily as Jim Brown’s backup/change-of-pace runner. After moving to receiver, Mitchell led the NFL in receiving yards for two straight seasons and then touchdown catches in his third.
He’s the only player in history with at least 2,500 rushing yards and 7,500 receiving yards. Wherever Mitchell played, he managed to gain yards – his 5.3 yards-per-carry average as a runner is fourth in history among non-quarterbacks (min. 500 carries) and his 15.27 yards-per-catch average is 27th best among players with 500-plus receptions.
24. Herman Moore (1991-2002)
Herman Moore tends to get overlooked upon the great wide receivers of the 1990s (Jerry Rice, Cris Carter, Sterling Sharpe, Tim Brown, and Michael Irvin), but he was every bit as dominant in his prime as all of them (well, except for Rice, but he’s his own case). Moore made four straight Pro Bowls and three First-Team All-Pro selections, doing so with Scott Mitchell as his quarterback. During his peak three-year span, Moore averaged 111 receptions, 1,425 yards, and 10 touchdowns per season; he set an NFL record with 123 catches in 1995 (although it was broken seven years later by Marvin Harrison). Moore’s peak was brief, but it’s still a surprise that he hasn’t garnered more Hall of Fame interest; perhaps reaching the 10,000-yard receiving club (he finished with 9,174) would have helped, but then again, there are plenty of receivers in the HOF without 10,000 yards.
23. Don Maynard (1958-1973)
Don Maynard is the greatest wide receiver in AFL history, finishing his career as the only player to exceed 10,000 yards in the old American Football League. Maynard was a four-time Pro Bowler and retired as pro football’s all-time leader in career receptions (633), narrowly edging out Raymond Berry (631). Maynard was highly proficient at gaining yards after the catch, and he finished his career with a 18.7 yards-per-catch average, the highest mark ever by a player with 600 receptions.
22. Paul Warfield (1964-1977)
Paul Warfield wasn’t a high-volume wide receiver, but he was a deep threat who racked up a ton of yards per reception. In fact, the only two Hall of Fame receivers to average at least 20 yards per catch are Warfield and Bob Hayes. Warfield played on teams that primarily ran the ball (Cleveland with Leroy Kelly and then Miami with the three-headed backfield), but Warfield still caught a ton of touchdowns. He led the league twice and finished with 85 on just 427 receptions. One year, Warfield caught 11 touchdowns on just 29 catches. Warfield and Jerry Rice are the only players in league history to make at least eight Pro Bowls and win three championships.
21. Steve Smith (2001-2015)
Steve Smith is truly one of a kind as a wide receiver; he’s just 5’9” and as thick as a running back, yet he’s been a legitimate No. 1 receiver for most of his career. Smith made the Pro Bowl as a rookie largely because of his return skills, but he’s made it four other times since. Smith posted a receiving triple crown with Jake Delhomme in 2005 (103/1,563/12), then revived his career with Cam Newton in 2011, posting consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns after he seemed to be past his prime. Smith continued excelling with Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens in 2014, and he plans to return and play in 2016 after this past season’s brutal Achilles tendon tear.
Smith has been at his best in the postseason, notching a 59/1,001/9 career statline in just 11 playoff games. His finest moment was his double overtime touchdown to beat the St. Louis Rams in 2003. Smith’s career 13,932 receiving yards (10th best ever for his position) may be enough to one day get him into the Hall of Fame.
Stay tuned for Part III, which will cover wide receivers ranked #20-1.
Follow Cody Swartz on Twitter (@cbswartz5).
