Over the last three years, Calvin Johnson has 5,137 receiving yards in 46 games. That’s an average of 111.7 receiving yards per game, the most by any player over a three-year stretch in NFL history. That mark comes with a bit of an asterisk, of course, as the Lions have attempted 2,040 passes since the start of the 2011 season, also an NFL record; that’s why I like using True Receiving Yards and various other WR Ranking Systems rather than just raw receiving yards.
But hey, trivia is trivia, and Johnson is the current record holder. But prior to 2013, do you know who held the record for receiving yards per game over a three-year stretch? The answer is not Jerry Rice, or else this would be a really lame trivia question. Rice averaged 101.0 receiving yards per game from 1993 to 1995, and is one of just three players to average over 100 receiving yards per game for a three-year stretch. Megatron also averaged 101.4 receiving yards per game from 2010 to 2012, but he only became the 3-year king after the conclusion of the 2013 season.
From 1964 to 1966, Lance Alworth averaged 108.2 receiving yards per game. Alworth also produced a 105.1 average from ’65 to ’67, and 101.1 from ’63 to ’65. As you can imagine, Alworth’s 114.4 yards per game average in 1965 was a bit help, but he was at over 100 yards per game in ’64 and ’66, too.
I suspect you’ll also be surprised to see who would is number 4 on the list of most receiving yards per game over a three-year span (counting each player only once, of course).
From 2007 to 2009, Andre Johnson averaged 97.4 receiving yards per game. Johnson did miss seven games during that stretch, but he also averaged 96.5 yards per game if you include his 2010 season, too.
After Johnson, Rice, and our two mystery men, which other players have had the best three-year runs? The table below shows players 5 through 50 in receiving yards per game for a three-year stretch, including for each player only his best three seasons.
