Top 20 Wide Receivers Of The Last 20 Years?

[GamedayGuru]

Demaryius Thomas? Gimme Colston over him any day of the week. 

[LaserFocus]

I could never support a list which has troublemakers and postseason flops like Chad Johnson and Brandon Marshall over the likes of Hines Ward and Rod Smith. Incredibly, Marshall has never appeared in a playoff game, and that's a problem when evaluating his career in this era of expanded playoffs.

[Malik]

2 minutes ago, LaserFocus said:

I could never support a list which has troublemakers and postseason flops like Chad Johnson and Brandon Marshall over the likes of Hines Ward and Rod Smith. Incredibly, Marshall has never appeared in a playoff game, and that's a problem when evaluating his career in this era of expanded playoffs.

Calvin Johnson played in 2 playoff games. But Clearly Rod Smith > Megatron

[LaserFocus]

21 minutes ago, Malik said:

Calvin Johnson played in 2 playoff games. But Clearly Rod Smith > Megatron

I didn't say that, but postseason performance must be included in the overall evaluation of these players.

[MSURacerDT55]

15 hours ago, LaserFocus said:

I could never support a list which has troublemakers and postseason flops like Chad Johnson and Brandon Marshall over the likes of Hines Ward and Rod Smith. Incredibly, Marshall has never appeared in a playoff game, and that's a problem when evaluating his career in this era of expanded playoffs.

What is this? a moral superiority threat or a simple question of who is the best WR? Best WR means "Best WR" Simple and plain....

[GSUeagles14]

On 11/20/2017 at 7:14 PM, RandyMossIsBoss said:

To all these saying AB isn't "special" or not that great, I kind of understand since he's like Rice in that he doesn't jump out at you physically or with wow catches (sure, Rice managed to overcome that to the tune of earning the "GOAT" nickname, but he had to outproduced everybody by an outlandish amount).  However, I would disagree. Bit by bit there's nothing generational about him, perhaps, but the sum of the parts is truly special.  Very good hands, great speed, quick feet that allow him to run routes at an elite level and an ever growing football IQ that just enhances all of his other talents. I'd point to the Jaguars game where he sonned Ramsey (though Ramsey did bounce back to have a good 2nd half), possibly the best CB in the game. He just gets in and out of his breaks so smoothly, no missed beats, it's a fairly impossible task to stop him 1 on 1. 

 

edit: I don't even know if people were saying anything like that in this thread lol... Maybe this just poured over from the legacy thread over in gen. Oh well.

i mean, has he really separated himself from jones or even green over a significant stretch? Its been a coin toss between the two more or less, so when you start talking about legacy like its something weve never seen before, theres gonna be some push back.

[mdonnelly21]

#1. Randy Moss 
#2. T.O

#3. Calvin Johnson 
#4. Sterling Sharpe 
#5. Michael Irvin 

#6. Marvin Harrison 

#7. Larry Fitzgerald 

#8. Steve Smith 

#9. Marvin Harrison 

#10. Tory Holt 

#11. Cris Carter  

#12. Antonio Brown 

#13. Isaac Bruce 

#14. Julio Jones 
#15. Art Monk

#16. Andre Reed 

#17.  Reggie Wayne 

#18. Hines Ward 

#19. Chad Johnson 
#20. A.J Green 

[iothar]

On ‎11‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 9:50 PM, LaserFocus said:

I didn't say that, but postseason performance must be included in the overall evaluation of these players.

Calvin Johnson was better than either of those players even if you subtract multiple seasons from his career. Dude had GOAT potential but played for the Lions..

[BlaqOptic]

17 hours ago, GSUeagles14 said:

i mean, has he really separated himself from jones or even green over a significant stretch? Its been a coin toss between the two more or less, so when you start talking about legacy like its something weve never seen before, theres gonna be some push back.

This idea he hasn't seperated himself from Jones is a bit facetious. He has.

[bootsy]

On 11/20/2017 at 12:52 AM, BlaqOptic said:

So on November 16th Adam Rank sent out a pretty outlandish tweet that Antonio Brown is the best Wide Receiver of the last 20 years. Yes, he even made sure to say better than Jerry Rice and Randy Moss. While that certainly is not true, it did bring up an interesting question as many respondents on Twitter proceeded to name their Top 10 to 20 Wide Receivers of the last 20 years and it brought back some great memories of some damn amazing Wide Receivers from '97 to '17. So, as a result, I want to know what your list of the top 20 Wide Receivers over the last 20 years is...

I have mine as follow...

01. Jerry Rice

02. Randy Moss

03. Larry Fitzgerald

04. Calvin Johnson

05. Steve Smith Sr.

06. Terrell Owens

07. Marvin Harrison

08. Torry Holt

09. Andre Johnson

10. Isaac Bruce

10. Tim Brown

11. Cris Carter

12. Jimmy Smith

13. Antonio Brown

14. Reggie Wayne

15. Anquan Boldin

16. Jimmy Smith

17. Brandon Marshall

18. Julio Jones

19. AJ Green

20. Chad Johnson

HM: Hines Ward, Derrick Mason, Michael Irvin*, Demaryius Thomas, Rod Smith, Donald Driver

*Not enough years in timespan.

 

 

 

 

LOL at HM for Michael Irvin. **** outta here. What a joke of a list.

[Jetzger]

2 minutes ago, bootsy said:

LOL at HM for Michael Irvin. **** outta here. What a joke of a list.

Michael Irvin had two seasons in the time span the OP is using, and neither of them were particularly strong seasons.

[bootsy]

2 minutes ago, Jetzger said:

Michael Irvin had two seasons in the time span the OP is using, and neither of them were particularly strong seasons.

Fine I guess. Probably should use Michael at all if that's the case.

[GSUeagles14]

2 hours ago, BlaqOptic said:

This idea he hasn't seperated himself from Jones is a bit facetious. He has.

no, he really hasnt. youre just a homer.

[BlaqOptic]

1 minute ago, GSUeagles14 said:

no, he really hasnt. youre just a homer.

WR #1: 89 Career Games, 88 Career Starts, 84 Games With Significant Snaps, 863 Targets, 551 Receptions, 8,396 Yards, 41 Touchdowns, 2 1st Team All-Pros,

WR #2: 111 Career Games, 84 Career Starts, 95 Games With Significant Snaps, 1,058 Targets, 702 Receptions, 9,403 Yards, 56 Touchdowns, 3 1st Team All-Pros, 1 2nd Team All-Pro

I'm really wondering how one could say that one of those guys clearly hasn't presented as better than the other outside of being a homer.

[JAF-N72EX]

Nice list @BlaqOptic. Outside of a few inter-changeable spots, there's not much that I disagree with. 

1) Jerry Rice - The GPoAT.

2) Moss - Had the highest-ceiling and best chance, skills-wise, to surpass Rice as the best WR of all-time but, imo, he never reached his full potential which is saying alot after what he accomplished despite this.

3) Larry Fitzgerald - The definition of consistency and I want his dietitian, whoever he or she is. The man has over 350 receptions and 21 TD's alone SINCE he "lost a step"! Think about that.

4)  TO - One of the greatest to ever do it, but much like Moss he let himself get in his own way alot. 

5) Calvin Johnson - A freak of nature that had the second highest peak of any WR not named Moss. It's just too bad that he quit as soon as he did. Not that I'm mad at him for that.

6) Cris carter 
7) Tim Borwn
8) Steve Smith
9) Marvin Harrison
10) Andre Johnson
11) Torry Holt
12) Reggie Wayne
13) Antonio Brown
14) Anquan Boldin
15) Brandon Marshall
16) Chad Johnson
17) Jimmy Smith (the most underrated WR on this entire list)
18) Isaac Bruce
19) Julio Jones
20) Hines Ward
HM) AJ Green

I will say this though. Since 2007 this has been a pass-happy league(14.7% increase in attempts) and in-turn, has made it tougher to compare QB's and any skill position player that has played before and after this era. The more attempts...the more opportunities and chances to fill thier stat sheets.  

Now how you subjectively quantify this - I don't know, I don't have that answer. But it is something that should be taken into consideration when comparing the WR's that have played their career (or at least the majorityof it) in this era vs those that played previously before this time, imo.