WR Rankings

Our boy Gosselin posted this today.  I found it interesting and I'm sure J will be thrilled to see any ranking with Rice discounted.  It's nice to see the old-timers well represented.

John Turney is a member of the Professional Football Research Association (PFRA), so he specializes in crunching numbers. He’s devised a system that ranks pass catchers based on four categories: catches per game, yards per game, yards per catch and touchdown percentage. His twist is that all four of the categories are weighted equally.

Turney recently ranked the top 283 receivers of all time and, based on his computations, the most productive pass catcher was Hall of Famer Don Hutson of the Green Bay Packers. He averaged 4.21 receptions per game, 68.8 yards per game, 16.4 yards per catch and scored a touchdown on a staggering 20.5 percent of his catches (100 in 488).

The two wide receivers on my personal all-time team -- Lance Alworth and Paul Warfield -- rank second and 10 all-time on Turney’s list. Here’s his rating scale for the Top 20:

Rank, Receiver	Catches	Yards	TDs	Rating
1. Don Hutson	488	7,981	100	.842
2. Lance Alworth	542	10,267	85	.828
3. Randy Moss	954	14,858	153	.816
4. Art Powell	479	8,046	81	.800
5. Marvin Harrison	1,102	14,580	128	.791
6. Terrell Owens	1,078	15,934	153	.7904
7. Jerry Rice	1,545	22,895	197	.7901
8. Mike Quick	363	6,464	61	.775
9. Larry Fitzgerald	613	8,204	65	.773
10. Paul Warfield	427	8,565	85	.772
11. Bob Hayes	371	7,414	71	.771
12. Charlie Hennigan	410	6,823	51	.764
13. Andre Johnson	673	9,164	50	.757
14. Sterling Sharpe	595	8,134	65	.754
15. Torry Holt	920	13,382	74	.746
16. Don Maynard	633	11,834	88	.742
17. Marques Colston	369	5,097	40	.741
18. Anquan Boldin	650	8,357	51	.739
19. Michael Irvin	750	11,904	65	.737
20. Tommy McDonald	495	8,410	84	.725

(Hall of Famers in bold)

Powell (Raiders) and Hennigan (Oilers) played their careers in the AFL in the 1960s. Owens, Fitzgerald, Johnson, Colston and Boldin are all still active.

The three receivers who were finalists for the Hall of Fame last February but failed to garner enough support for induction were Carter, Tim Brown and Andre Reed. Carter ranks 44 on Turney’s list, Brown 85 and Reed 95.

Others of note include Hall of Famers Steve Largent (21st), Elroy Hirsch (25), Raymond Berry (51), James Lofton (53), Tom Fears (55), Charley Taylor (64), Bobby Mitchell (66), Lynn Swann (68), John Stallworth (83), Fred Biletnikoff (101), Art Monk (110), Lenny Moore (121) and Charlie Joiner (128).

Past and present Cowboys include Anthony Miller (59th), Keyshawn Johnson (62), Terry Glenn (63), Tony Hill (67), Joey Galloway (78), Roy Williams (91), Drew Pearson (118) and Raghib Ismail (184).

As a footnote, in Turney’s ratings the receivers are ranked 1 through 283 in all four categories. Boldin has the highest average of catches per game at 5.86, so all other receivers fall in under him. He gets the 100 points for being No. 1, Andre Johnson gets 99 points for ranking No. 2 with 5.85 receptions per game and so on down the line. Add a receiver’s ranking in each category and then divide by four for the receiver’s rating on Turney’s scale.

S