In 2019, Carolina wide receiver D.J. Moore gained 1,175 receiving yards; in 2020 he caught 66 passes for 1,193 yards. Strong seasons, to be sure, but probably not too noteworthy in your head. For instance, over the last two seasons, there have been 15 players who had more than 1,193 receiving yards in either 2019 or 2020.

But among that group, tight end Travis Kelce is the only one who did it in both years. In fact, Moore is the only wide receiver to hit 1,175 yards in both seasons. Drop the threshold to 1,165 yards, and DeAndre Hopkins also joins the group. Drop down to 1,130, and then Stefon Diggs and Allen Robinson also make the cut (as does another tight end, Darren Waller). But no matter: if one is playing a game of trivia, D.J. Moore is the answer to the question: which wide receiver topped the highest threshold of receiving yards in each of the past two season?

That’s funky, of course, and a misleading way of implying that Moore might be the best receiver in the NFL. In addition to Kelce, four wide receivers (Diggs, Hopkins, Robinson, and Davante Adams) gained more receiving yards than Moore and a few others (Michael Thomas, Julio Jones, Chris Godwin, Calvin Ridley, and Tyreek Hill) also have averaged more receiving yards per game than Moore. ^[1]Allen Robinson actually averaged fewer yards per game; Moore played 15 game both years, while Robinson did not miss a game. But misleading stats can also make for fun trivia, so this made me wonder: who are the other D.J. Moore all stars in NFL history?

For example, Michael Thomas crossed the highest threshold in both 2018 and 2019, as he was the only player to top 1,400 yards both seasons. In 2017 and 2018, DeAndre Hopkins had over 1,375 receiving yards both years. In fact, 2019 and 2020 was the first time since the strike-impacted seasons of 1987 and 1988 that no wide receiver topped 1,200 yards both seasons.

The table below shows the leading wide receiver in each pair of seasons since the merger, from the perspective of crossing a certain minimum threshold.

Some thoughts:

• • Naturally, Jerry Rice leads the way with 6 pairs of seasons where he had the highest minimum number of receiving yards.

• • Marvin Harrison is second with 3 pairs of seasons, and he did it over a 4-year span! In fact, even Rice didn’t do that, which makes Harrison the only player to have the highest minimum receiving yards in a 2-year span for three consecutive 2-year spans. From ’99 to ’02, Harrison averaged 98.8 yards per game and did not miss a game. He was well ahead of the pack during this time, despite the presence of three Hall of Fame wide receivers (Moss, Owens, Bruce) in their relative prime years.

• • Historians know that in the strike-shortened 1982 season, Chargers receiver Wes Chandler had a monster season with over 1,000 receiving yards in 8 games. So that gave him a big leg up to winning both ’81-’82 and ’82-’83, as long as he had decent seasons in the surrounding years (which he did). So I was curious how it looked on a per-game basis: Chandler was in fact one of just two receivers to top 70 receiving yards per game in both ’81 and ’82, but on a per-game basis, James Lofton beat him: he averaged over 77 receiving yards per game in ’81 and ’82. In ’82-’83. In ’83, Chandler had only 845 yards in 16 games, but he wins ’82-’83 because only one other player (Dwight Clark, who had 840 yards in ’83) was the only other player to top 800 yards in the strike-shortened ’83 season. Lofton again topped 77 receiving yards in ’83, but it’s actually Cris Collinsworth, who averaged 78 receiving yards per game both seasons, who wins ’82-’83 on a per-game basis. In case you were wondering, Rice still leads both ’86-’87 and ’87-’88 on a per-game basis.

• • If you are looking for other “relatively unimpressive” leaders relative to the surrounding seasons, a few nominations: Reggie Wayne from ’09 to ’10 and Roddy White from ’10 to ’11, Rice from ’90 to ’91, Drew Hill from ’85-’86, and Charley Taylor from ’73 to ’74.

What stands out to you?