A couple years ago, I took a look back at the best rookie performances for wide receivers since 1990. With Mike Evans’ huge game this past Sunday, I decided to take another look to see what the top 10 rookie wide receivers in Fantasy Football were over the past couple decades or so. I already figured out that this class is very close to being the best rookie WR class in NFL history, based on their current stats and their projected finishes.
With all of that rattling around in the back of my head, I thought I’d rank the top 10 rookie wide receivers ever!
While I say “ever,” I’m actually limiting this mostly to players in the past 33 seasons, only because very few people played Fantasy Football in the ‘80s, much less before that. So referencing great seasons by Billy Howton, Sammy White and Bob Hayes would just be a waste.
Top 10 Fantasy Rookie Wide Receivers Ever – PPR
Also, since more and more people are playing PPR leagues, I’m using that as the scoring system for this look down memory lane.
1998 – Randy Moss, Minnesota: 69-1,313-17 – 302 Fantasy pts
The standard by all rookie wide receivers will be measured – likely forever. Will anyone beat this mark? He led the league in his rookie season with 17 touchdown catches in the Vikings’ record-breaking offense with Randall Cunningham at QB and Cris Carter at WR.
2003 — Anquan Boldin, Arizona: 101-1,377-8 — 286
Evans came within nine yards of breaking Boldin’s rookie record for receiving yards in a game (217), which Boldin did in his first pro game.
1978 — John Jefferson, San Diego: 56-1,001-13 – 264
Led the league with 13 touchdown catches in Air Coryell offense.
2004 — Michael Clayton, Tampa Bay: 80-1,193-7 – 241
With Brian Griese as the Buccaneers’ starting quarterback for 11 games, if you can believe all of that.
1996 — Terry Glenn, New England: 90-1,132-6 – 239
For a guy that caught so much crap from head coach Bill Parcells (he referred to Terry as “her” to the press once), this was a pretty awesome rookie season catching Drew Bledsoe’s passes.
2010 — Mike Williams, Tampa Bay: 65-964-11 – 227
It’s amazing to think two different Buccaneers wide receivers are on this list, but then again, it does make sense some. They would be forced to throw rookies to the wolves, and they would have to throw the ball a lot when they got behind.
2013 – Keenan Allen, San Diego: 71-1,046-8 – 223
Only five other rookie wide receivers had more receiving yards than Allen in NFL history.
2006 — Marques Colston, New Orleans: 70-1,038-8 – 222
Interestingly, he holds the record for most receptions in the first two seasons in the NFL (168), which appears safe from Allen reaching it this year. But next year, with this 2014 group? That number could be in serious trouble.
1981 – Cris Collinsworth, Cincinnati: 67-1,009-8 – 216
Hate him on NBC’s Sunday Night Football all you want, but this guy was the Bengals’ primary receiver during their ’81 Super Bowl run.
1995 — Joey Galloway, SEA – 67-1,039-7 – 213
Galloway also had 36 punt returns for 360 yards and a touchdown in his rookie effort out of Ohio State.
1981 – Cris Collinsworth, Cincinnati: 67-1,009-8 – 216
Hate him on NBC’s Sunday Night Football all you want, but this guy was the Bengals’ primary receiver during their ’81 Super Bowl run.
4 WRs From 2014 Class That Might Break Into Top 10 Rookie WRs Ever
While I say “ever,” I’m actually limiting this mostly to players in the past 33 seasons, only because very few people played Fantasy Football in the ‘80s, much less before that. So referencing great seasons by Billy Howton, Sammy White and Bob Hayes would just be a waste.
Kelvin Benjamin, Carolina: If he continues his current pace, he could finish just behind Jefferson for fourth place. And this guy was a “project” receiver coming into the league?
Sammy Watkins, Buffalo: In six games since Kyle Orton took over under center, Watkins has 28 catches for 452 yards and three touchdowns. If he adds that same set of numbers for his next six games, he’ll finish with 73 catches, 1,101 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. That’s good enough for 231 PPR Fantasy points, ranking him sixth on this list.
Mike Evans, Tampa Bay: He’s second among all wide receivers, not just rookies, in PPR points since the Bucs came back from their Week 7 bye week (25 receptions, 536 yards, five touchdowns). He likey Josh McCown!
Jordan Matthews, Philadelphia: Since Week 9, the rookie out of Vanderbilt has more PPR points than all WRs not named Mike Evans, Antonio Brown or Emmanuel Sanders (15-285-4).
And all of this will be done without Brandin Cooks (thumb) and Allen Robinson (foot), who were having outstanding rookie seasons of their own!