Gronk Smash
On Monday, I looked at the concentration index scores for a number of quarterbacks based on the number of touchdowns thrown to each receiver (more details on the formula available there and here). Today, the reverse: how diverse (or not diverse) were receivers with respect to the number of quarterbacks from whom they caught TDs?
Marques Colston, for example, caught 100% of his touchdowns from Drew Brees. Rob Gronkowski has caught all but one of his touchdowns from Tom Brady. And Mark Clayton caught 94% of his touchdowns from Dan Marino.
At the bottom of the list are two of the most underrated receivers by modern fans. Both were superstars in college and very high draft picks, but “disappointed” in the pros. That’s probably because they were stuck with a revolving door of bad quarterbacks.
Joey Galloway caught 77 career touchdowns and was the 8th pick in the ’95 Draft, but he is chronically underrated due to the bad quarterback play he experienced. He only had double digit touchdowns with one quarterback: an in-his-40s Warren Moon. His top four quarterbacks were responsible for only 51% of his career touchdowns! Galloway played with a lot of quarterbacks, and most of them were below-average.
The other receiver with a concentration index of less than 11% was former number one overall pick Irving Fryar. Regular readers may recall that Fryar is the odd duck who set his career high in receiving yards at age 35 while playing with Bobby Hoying! Fryar has over 3,000 yards with three franchises, a very rare feat. He spent his 20s with the terrible Patriots back when that was a thing, and he led New England in receiving yards in ’90, ’91, and ’92, then led the Dolphins in receiving yards in ’93, ’94, and ’95, and then led the Eagles in receiving yards in ’96 and ’97! It’s pretty impressive to lead your team in receiving yards for eight straight seasons, but it’s really impressive to do it for three different franchises.
The table below shows the concentration index for all receivers with at least 50 receiving touchdowns:
What stands out to you?
