The Top Receivers And The Men Who Threw It To Them II

by Chase Stuart on July 14, 2014

in Quarterbacks, Receiving, Statgeekery, Statistics

One of my first posts at Football Perspective was one of my favorites: the top receivers and the men who threw it to them. I like referencing that post from time to time, so I decided to update the numbers through the 2013 season.

I looked at all regular season games since 1960 ^[1]Sorry, Don Hutson., and calculated the percentage of passing yards produced from each quarterback. Then, I assigned that percentage to the number of receiving yards for each receiver. For example, in this Raiders game from 1995, Vince Evans threw for 75% of the Raiders passing yards, and Jeff Hostetler was responsible for the other 25%. Therefore, since Tim Brown gained 161 yards, 121 of those yards are assigned to the “Brown-Evans” pairing and 40 to the “Brown-Hostetler” pairing. Do this for every game since 1960, and you can then assign the percentage of career receiving yards each receiver gained from each quarterback.

For example, 32% of Brown’s yards came from Rich Gannon, 26% from Hostetler, 12% from Jeff George, and 9% from Jay Schroeder. That breakdown isn’t too unique: in fact, of the six receivers with the most receiving yards since 1960, all six (including Brown) gained between 29% and 37% of their career receiving yards from their top quarterback.

The table below lists the top 7 quarterbacks for each receiver, although I only included quarterbacks who were responsible for at least five percentage of the receiver’s yards. It includes the 200 players with the most receiving yards since 1960.

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Rk	Receiver	RecYd	First	Last	QB 1	QB 2	QB 3	QB 4	QB 5	QB 6	QB 7
1	Jerry Rice	22895	1985	2004	37% - Steve Young	27% - Joe Montana	12% - Rich Gannon	6% - Jeff Garcia
2	Terrell Owens	15934	1996	2010	34% - Jeff Garcia	20% - Tony Romo	15% - Steve Young	12% - Donovan McNabb	6% - Carson Palmer
3	Randy Moss	15292	1998	2012	37% - Daunte Culpepper	19% - Tom Brady	10% - Randall Cunningham	7% - Kerry Collins	7% - Jeff George	6% - Matt Cassel
4	Isaac Bruce	15208	1994	2009	29% - Marc Bulger	24% - Kurt Warner	15% - Tony Banks	9% - Chris Miller
5	Tony Gonzalez	15127	1997	2013	33% - Trent Green	26% - Matt Ryan	16% - Elvis Grbac	10% - Damon Huard	6% - Tyler Thigpen
6	Tim Brown	14934	1988	2004	32% - Rich Gannon	26% - Jeff Hostetler	12% - Jeff George	9% - Jay Schroeder
7	Marvin Harrison	14580	1996	2008	87% - Peyton Manning	8% - Jim Harbaugh
8	James Lofton	14004	1978	1993	45% - Lynn Dickey	18% - Jim Kelly	13% - David Whitehurst	7% - Randy Wright
9	Cris Carter	13899	1987	2002	21% - Warren Moon	20% - Randall Cunningham	13% - Brad Johnson	13% - Daunte Culpepper	11% - Rich Gannon	6% - Jeff George	5% - Jim McMahon
10	Henry Ellard	13777	1983	1998	54% - Jim Everett	18% - Gus Frerotte	6% - Heath Shuler	5% - Dieter Brock
11	Reggie Wayne	13566	2001	2013	78% - Peyton Manning	14% - Andrew Luck
12	Torry Holt	13382	1999	2009	47% - Marc Bulger	28% - Kurt Warner	6% - Jamie Martin	6% - Trent Green	5% - David Garrard
13	Andre Reed	13198	1985	2000	71% - Jim Kelly	9% - Doug Flutie	7% - Todd Collins	5% - Frank Reich
14	Steve Largent	13089	1976	1989	47% - Jim Zorn	43% - Dave Krieg
15	Irving Fryar	12785	1984	2000	18% - Dan Marino	12% - Steve Grogan	12% - Ty Detmer	10% - Hugh Millen	9% - Tony Eason	5% - Bobby Hoying
16	Art Monk	12721	1980	1995	36% - Joe Theismann	29% - Mark Rypien	16% - Jay Schroeder	7% - Doug Williams
17	Andre Johnson	12661	2003	2013	55% - Matt Schaub	28% - David Carr	8% - Sage Rosenfels	5% - Case Keenum
18	Jimmy Smith	12287	1995	2005	65% - Mark Brunell	20% - Byron Leftwich	5% - David Garrard
19	Steve Smith	12197	2001	2013	49% - Jake Delhomme	27% - Cam Newton	8% - Matt Moore	7% - Rodney Peete
20	Charlie Joiner	12146	1969	1986	63% - Dan Fouts	11% - Ken Anderson	6% - Dan Pastorini
21	Hines Ward	12083	1998	2011	51% - Ben Roethlisberger	20% - Kordell Stewart	18% - Tommy Maddox
22	Derrick Mason	12061	1997	2011	48% - Steve McNair	24% - Joe Flacco	10% - Kyle Boller	7% - Billy Volek
23	Michael Irvin	11904	1988	1999	79% - Troy Aikman	5% - Steve Beuerlein
24	Don Maynard	11750	1960	1973	53% - Joe Namath	14% - Al Dorow	12% - Dick Wood	6% - Johnny Green
25	Muhsin Muhammad	11438	1996	2009	30% - Jake Delhomme	28% - Steve Beuerlein	10% - Rex Grossman	7% - Kerry Collins	6% - Rodney Peete	6% - Kyle Orton

Showing 1 to 25 of 200 entries

It always kind of surprises me to see that Marc Bulger was the top quarterback for both Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce.

Marvin Harrison picked up 87% of his career receiving yards from Peyton Manning. Of course, Harrison was about as dominant statistically as any wide receiver not named Rice or Hutson, which is what you would expect from a HOF wide receiver who got to play with Manning.

Harrison gained 12,753 unofficial yards with Manning. Only one other WR-QB pairing has topped 10,000 yards using this methodology: Reggie Wayne and Manning. Six other pairings have hit the 8,000-yard mark, and four of them are pretty obvious: Andre Reed–Jim Kelly ranks 4th (9,360), Steve Young–Jerry Rice is 5th (8,577), Dan Marino–Mark Duper is 6th (8,451), and Marino-Mark Clayton is 7th (8,352). The other two were a little surprising, at least to me. Troy Aikman–Michael Irvin ranks third on the list with 9,384 unofficial yards together, while Drew Brees–Marques Colston is 8th (!) with 8,322 yards.

Cris Carter played with some very good quarterbacks, but he’s one of only six of the 200 players on the list that didn’t catch at least 22% of his yards from one quarterback.

Irving Fryar had about 1,000 fewer yards than Carter, but his top quarterback was Marino — at just 18%. And Joey Galloway topped 10,000 yards despite his top quarterback being Quincy Carter, who was responsible for just 14% of his yards. In an alternate universe (you know, one where Galloway had good quarterback play), who knows how good Galloway could have been. Carter, a 41- and 42-year old Warren Moon, Rick Mirer, Chris Simms, John Friesz, Brian Griese and a 37- and 38-year old Jeff Garcia is a pretty brutal slate of passers.

The table above is easily searchable — just type in the name of a quarterback or receiver, and let the fun commence. Leave your fun findings in the comments. I’ll start it off: Jeff George was responsible for at least 5% of the receiving yards for 11 different receivers.

References[+]

References
↑1	Sorry, Don Hutson.

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