Today's Top 10: Best Wide Receivers

This is something I hope to maintain. The goal is to take a different theme each day and create a top 10 list. Sometimes, the top 10 will be sports related. Other times, it will be related to pop culture or some other topic. So the threads may appear in different folders.

I'll post my Top 10 in the topic listed in the subject line. Responders are encouraged to post their own list or debate the list(s). I'm sure there will be times when I snub someone obvious. Feel free to call me (or anyone else) on it. Just keep it courteous and not contentious.

Today's Top 10 will focus on the greatest wide receivers in NFL/AFL history. What's great about football is that statistics are usually worthless when it comes to talking about great players. Otherwise, we'd be talking about how Keenan McCardell and his 883 receptions make him one of the 10 greatest of all time.

So here it is, my Top 10 wide receivers. (Note: Tight ends do not count since it's a different position).

1. Jerry Rice (13 pro bowls, 10 time first team all-pro, went to four Super Bowls, most receptions, yards and TDs. Obvious choice)
2. Steve Largent (one of the most consistent receivers ever, seven pro bowls, first to 100 career TD receptions)
3. Don Hutson (greatest receiver of his era)
4. Lance Alworth (best receiver from the AFL, seven pro bowls and six time first team all-pro)
5. Cris Carter (struggled early in his career, but flourished in Minnesota, eight pro bowls, two time first team all-pro
6. Randy Moss (six pro bowls, four time first team all-pro, holds season record for receiving TD, on pace to approach Rice's records)
7. Marvin Harrison (eight pro bowls, three time first team all-pro, second most receptions, Super Bowl winner, two of the top 10 season receiving yards)
8. Terrell Owens (six pro bowls, five time first team all-pro, sixth most receptions, fifth most yards and second most TDs)
9. James Lofton (eight pro bowls, one first team all-pro, 18.3 yards per catch, sixth most receiving yards)
10. Art Monk (three pro bowl, one first team all-pro, went to Super Bowl four times, eighth most receptions and 13th most yards)

 

Don Maynard, Homer Jones, Isaac Bruce, Tim Brown
Fuck TO, Terribly Overrated.

 

John Stallworth and Andre Reed might deserve a spot, too.

I don't think T.O. is overrated, but is Harrison top ten-caliber? I think the QB/system had something to do with the gaudy numbers he's piled up.

 

Joiner, Alworth, Berry, Taylor, Belitnikoff...

 

Irvin?

 

I'd think in a few years Reggie Wayne might deserve to be on that list.

 

I gave Maynard serious consideration. Bruce and Brown were decent, but I think their stats are padded thanks to the prolific passing of the last 20 years.

Jones didn't play long enough. I also thought long and hard about Charlie Joiner and Biletnikoff, too.

One other thing that surprised me about Bruce. He never once made the AP all-pro first team.

As far as TO goes, he's been incredibly consistent and productive throughout his career. His personality aside, he's one of the best receivers ever.

 

bob hayes

 

I would certainly rank Charley Taylor (Rookie of the Year as a running back!), Biletnikoff, and Irvin ahead of TO, Lofton, and Monk.
Randy Moss is at least worth mentioning. So is Paul Warfield.

 

Don't know about James Lofton. What I do know is in two or three more years, Larry Fitzgerald replaces T.O.

 

Word. His yards per catch and touchdown-to-reception ratio rivals anyone.

I'll throw my support behind Alworth, too. Absolutely impossible to cover in an era when the rules really benefited the defense.

 

Good question on Harrison. I put him in based on his recognition by his peers and press (pro bowls and all-pro teams). He also has three of the top 21 seasons for receiving yards and four of the top 40 seasons for receptions. Yes, we're in a pass-crazy era and he has one of the best quarterbacks ever throwing him the ball, but his body of work is still impressive.