Favorite Wide Receivers

Nate’s 9: Favorite Wide Receivers

Well, I thought I had this all wrapped up about a week ago, before I got into some intense and valuable debates about who really belongs in a top 9 of all-time receivers.  If Dez Bryant just maintains possession through that ‘catch’ of his, it’s probably enough to push out my 9th guy, and get him into this small group of superstars.  I’m just kidding, I feel awful for the guy and I believe that the rule has to be changed.  That said, while Dez is a favorite and I make it a fantasy football goal of mine to have him as often as possible, this group is just a little too strong and a little too established for the young gun to knock them out. Yet.

Note:  I would like to have a quick shout out to Keyshawn Johnson, Al Toon, Julio Jones, Dez Bryant, Henry Ellard, Mark Duper and Sammy Watkins who are all guys that I like as much or more then the people on this list, but probably don’t have the productivity that would allow for their placement in this hallowed group of players.  My apologies gentlemen.

#9 – Calvin Johnson.  I’ve been obsessed since his watching the scouting combine back in 2007.  At the time, my only concern was that he wouldn’t get drafted by the Oakland Raiders or Detroit Lions because both those teams were making a mess of their draft picks in recent times, and it’s nothing to say that they could have ruined Calvin as well.  My opinion started to change when I heard a scout say that he had only given 2 perfect scores in all his years of scouting and one of those players was the great Calvin Johnson.  It was good enough for me and more than enough for Detroit as he’s been miles better than the Williams’ and Carlos Rogers of Detroit’s past.  Wish he was elsewhere, but any deep ball is a threat for six with this guy on the field.

#8 – Lynn Swann.  The only receiver on this list that I wasn’t at least able to see once since I’ve been watching football.  I think the aura around him was always more than what his statistics have shown, and he might have been declared by the Twitterverse or Facebook land as “overrated”.  But watching NFL films on all the Super Bowls that the Pittsburgh Steelers had played in convinced me otherwise.  He definitely had a bit of chic in his game and he may have pushed some the wrong way.  But some of his catches... man.  I see why he is so revered in the land of steel. He was probably the Dez before the Dez.

#7 – Torry Holt.  Part of the fear factor that was the St. Louis Rams for a couple of years.  Torry always scared me the most, because you knew that Marshall Faulk was going to get his, and Isaac Bruce was always good for a number of catches as well.  Yet, Holt could beat you so many ways. He had deceptive speed, and was capable of getting behind the defender in a hurry. He could run the fade route in the end zone and get up to make a play.  But he was also the Rams guy that could get out of a jam off the line and run that quick slant that would get the Rams ten quick, simple yards.  That pass has almost gone out of the game today in favor of the WR screen and the slot receiver, but I think Holt could have played in almost any era.

#6 – Art Monk.  The master of the catch.  I still think he probably had the greatest hands in NFL history, at least from the eras that I’ve seen.  He caught 106 passes in the early 1980’s, which is one of the true great statistics in football.  That’s like a RB going for 2,000 yards in today’s passing league.  (Yes, I know how good he is, that’s the point I’m trying to make.  It makes me mad that people don’t think I like AP, when I liked AP long, long before anyone else did.  Just saying.)  Monk was almost the perfect receiver.  He ran good routes, had good size, knew how to use his body, and made his quarterback better.  He won 3 rings.  I just liked him because he was a wide receiver that caught the ball and nothing else, and that’s all you need to do.

#5 – Steve Largent.  I grew up in an era of great running backs.  Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas, Bo Jackson, Emmitt Smith.  There was a little bit of prestige to each of these players when you said their name. Kind of like Michael and Kobe when it comes to basketball.  Steve Largent was probably one of the few receivers that could be allocated this honor.  He was kind of the underdog gone good.  The Houston Oilers had drafted him, but traded him to the Seahawks because they were going to cut him anyway.  He then went on to score 100 touchdowns, and has been mentioned in a lot of greatest receivers’ lists, which is all the more impressive considering his quarterbacks during his time with the Seahawks.  (Jim Zorn and Dave Krieg).

#4 – Sterling Sharpe.  For a long time, he was my favorite wide receiver.  I’m still heartbroken that he never got to be a part of the Packers Super Bowl winning team back in 1997.  He could do just about everything on the field as well, but for having a lot of receptions, he ran a lot of routes that would be considered down field.  I think the reception statistic gets cheapened a little bit now-a-days as we have the screens and the 5 WR sets that gets guys 4-5 yard receptions, but Sterling and Jerry Rice were both capable of catching a number of balls while also running downfield routes.  He only played 5 1-2 seasons in the NFL, and there are people who consider Sterling one of the all-time greats.  I won’t quite reach for that marker, but I think Shannon Sharpe got it right when he said, “I'm the only player, of 267 men that [have] walked through this building to my left, that can honestly say this: I'm the only pro football player that's in the Hall of Fame, and I'm the second best player in my own family.”

#3 – Randy Moss.  For a long time he was - my guy.  I followed him as soon as I had heard about his first highlights while reading NFL Sporting News back in the 9th grade.  I watched as Notre Dame and Florida State walked away, and still thought, he’s so good, why would these teams give up on this guy?  I remember playing NCAA football with the Marshall Thundering Herd and averaging 32 yards per catch with #88 in the bright green.  And I remember being devastated when I saw that it was going to be Dennis Green that took a chance on the greatest wide receiver talent in the history of football.  He put up some amazing numbers and scored some amazing touchdowns while not giving everything during his time in the league.  If he had decided to work as hard as a Monk, or a Rice, or a Payton, I have no idea what amount of numbers he may have been able to put up.

#2 – Tim Brown.  This guy is getting slept on by all the voters who decide whether a player does or doesn’t make the NFL Hall of Fame.  His numbers are better than both Art Monk’s and Steve Largent’s while one could say that his teams were worse until the uniting of Brown, Rice and Gannon.  He gained more than 2,000 total yards in his rookie year between running and receiving. (He also returned kicks for the Raiders much longer than he should have, but was quite productive – 25.2 KR & 10.2 PR avg). Most impressive for me though was how he evolved through his career.  He started out as a flanker, and was expected to run a lot of deep routes and get behind the secondary.  Then during the prime of his career they asked him to play a style similar to Cris Carter; make tough catches and get in the end zone.  During the latter stages of his career when the team had Jerry Rice and Jerry Porter, he moved inside and became their 3rd wideout and made big plays on third downs and caught a lot of the ‘tough yards’.  An all-faceted skilled wide receiver that is just missing a ring.  Evidently that ring is good enough to keep him out of the Hall of Fame, but not off of this list.  I love the guy.

#1 – Jerry.  It’s too easy.  I think he’s the greatest player that NFL sports have ever seen.  He was so much better than everybody else, and it wasn’t because of his pure talent or athletic gifts (6’2” 200 lbs). He wasn’t the quickest player on the field either.  But he had every single intangible that is probably asked of any athlete in any sport.  He did have massive hands (I still remember seeing him drop the ball against Green Bay, probably the only time that it happened). He had a mean healthy streak, in fact I think he only missed one full season in his NFL career.  He kept a positive attitude and never created animosity at any organization that he was a part of. He had a confidence that was probably borderline cocky, but definitely knew the difference and when to pull back on the reins. Most importantly, he worked his ASS OFF!  Most people know about the Hill that he and Roger Craig would run during the off-season.  He also would run a 100, 200, 400 and 800 so he could differentiate between what types of speed he needed to use on the football field.  He worked on skill sets that would improve his explosion techniques, his hand-eye coordination, his change of direction, vertical leaping, and on and on.  I’m not sure about the other guys on this list, but I’m guessing that while most of them were looking at their accomplishments with what could be described as satisfaction; Jerry was probably working on continuing to make himself better.  That’s almost certainly the difference between being everybody’s #1, and being debated regarding who is the second best.

The Hill