On the surface, Kenny Britt didn’t have a remarkable season. He had just 1,002 yards, to go along with 68 receptions and 5 touchdowns. But then again, every receiver is playing in a different environment, and Britt’s environment was very, very bad.
The three teams with the worst passing stats in 2016 — from a cumulative perspective — were Buffalo, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The Bills had a below-average passing offense but rank at the bottom because the team threw the fewest passes in the league, which makes is tough for a receiver to produce good stats. The 49ers were in the bottom 10 in ANY/A and were one of just four teams that didn’t hit the 500-attempt mark. And the Rams were — by a large margin — the worst passing team in the NFL from an efficiency standpoint, thanks in part to Jared Goff having one of the worst rookie seasons ever.
Britt had 1,422 Adjusted Catch Yards — calculated by giving 5 yards for every reception and 20 yards for every touchdown — which ranked just 26th last season. But the Rams offense as a whole had just 5,153 total ACY, so Britt had 28.0% of all Los Angeles Adjusted Catch Yards. And Britt missed one game: on a pro-rated basis, he had 29.8% of all Rams ACY, calculated as 1422 * (Games Played * 5153/16).That’s good enough for 5th best in the NFL last year. The leader by this metric was A.J. Green of the Bengals, who took over as options 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the Cincinnati passing attack with Mohamed Sanu gone, and Tyler Eifert limited to just eight games. Green had 1,374 ACY in 10 games, but more impressively, he had 34.4% of the Bengals team ACY on a pro-rated basis.
Rk | Player | Tm | Age | Pos | G | Rec | Yds | TD | ACY | TMACY | Perc | Pro Perc |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | A.J. Green | CIN | 28 | WR | 10 | 66 | 964 | 4 | 1374 | 6386 | 21.5% | 34.4% |
2 | Odell Beckham | NYG | 24 | WR | 16 | 101 | 1367 | 10 | 2072 | 6432 | 32.2% | 32.2% |
3 | Antonio Brown | PIT | 28 | WR | 15 | 106 | 1284 | 12 | 2054 | 6942 | 29.6% | 31.6% |
4 | Mike Evans | TAM | 23 | WR | 16 | 96 | 1321 | 12 | 2041 | 6520 | 31.3% | 31.3% |
5 | Kenny Britt | LAR | 28 | WR | 15 | 68 | 1002 | 5 | 1442 | 5153 | 28% | 29.8% |
6 | Julio Jones | ATL | 27 | WR | 14 | 83 | 1409 | 6 | 1944 | 7590 | 25.6% | 29.3% |
7 | T.Y. Hilton | IND | 27 | WR | 16 | 91 | 1448 | 6 | 2023 | 6981 | 29% | 29% |
8 | Jarvis Landry | MIA | 24 | WR | 16 | 94 | 1136 | 4 | 1686 | 5836 | 28.9% | 28.9% |
9 | Jordy Nelson | GNB | 31 | WR | 16 | 97 | 1257 | 14 | 2022 | 7260 | 27.9% | 27.9% |
10 | Demaryius Thomas | DEN | 29 | WR | 16 | 90 | 1083 | 5 | 1633 | 6009 | 27.2% | 27.2% |
11 | Travis Kelce | KAN | 27 | TE | 16 | 85 | 1125 | 4 | 1630 | 6119 | 26.6% | 26.6% |
12 | DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 24 | WR | 16 | 78 | 954 | 4 | 1424 | 5453 | 26.1% | 26.1% |
13 | Greg Olsen | CAR | 31 | TE | 16 | 80 | 1073 | 3 | 1533 | 5912 | 25.9% | 25.9% |
14 | Terrelle Pryor | CLE | 27 | WR | 16 | 77 | 1007 | 4 | 1472 | 5683 | 25.9% | 25.9% |
15 | Doug Baldwin | SEA | 28 | WR | 16 | 94 | 1128 | 7 | 1738 | 6722 | 25.9% | 25.9% |
16 | Stefon Diggs | MIN | 23 | WR | 13 | 84 | 903 | 3 | 1383 | 6589 | 21% | 25.8% |
17 | Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 29 | WR | 16 | 79 | 1032 | 5 | 1527 | 6009 | 25.4% | 25.4% |
18 | Amari Cooper | OAK | 22 | WR | 16 | 83 | 1153 | 5 | 1668 | 6612 | 25.2% | 25.2% |
19 | Dez Bryant | DAL | 28 | WR | 13 | 50 | 796 | 8 | 1206 | 5924 | 20.4% | 25.1% |
20 | Rishard Matthews | TEN | 27 | WR | 16 | 65 | 945 | 9 | 1450 | 5835 | 24.9% | 24.9% |
21 | Zach Ertz | PHI | 26 | TE | 14 | 78 | 816 | 4 | 1286 | 6018 | 21.4% | 24.4% |
22 | Michael Crabtree | OAK | 29 | WR | 16 | 89 | 1003 | 8 | 1608 | 6612 | 24.3% | 24.3% |
23 | Larry Fitzgerald | ARI | 33 | WR | 16 | 107 | 1023 | 6 | 1678 | 6900 | 24.3% | 24.3% |
24 | Sammy Watkins | BUF | 23 | WR | 8 | 28 | 430 | 2 | 610 | 5020 | 12.2% | 24.3% |
25 | Alshon Jeffery | CHI | 26 | WR | 12 | 52 | 821 | 2 | 1121 | 6254 | 17.9% | 23.9% |
26 | Golden Tate | DET | 28 | WR | 16 | 91 | 1077 | 4 | 1612 | 6747 | 23.9% | 23.9% |
27 | Julian Edelman | NWE | 30 | WR | 16 | 98 | 1106 | 3 | 1656 | 6936 | 23.9% | 23.9% |
28 | Cameron Meredith | CHI | 24 | WR | 14 | 66 | 888 | 4 | 1298 | 6254 | 20.8% | 23.7% |
29 | Kelvin Benjamin | CAR | 25 | WR | 16 | 63 | 941 | 7 | 1396 | 5912 | 23.6% | 23.6% |
30 | Jordan Matthews | PHI | 24 | WR | 14 | 73 | 804 | 3 | 1229 | 6018 | 20.4% | 23.3% |
31 | Delanie Walker | TEN | 32 | TE | 15 | 65 | 800 | 7 | 1265 | 5835 | 21.7% | 23.1% |
32 | Tyrell Williams | SDG | 24 | WR | 16 | 69 | 1059 | 7 | 1544 | 6791 | 22.7% | 22.7% |
33 | Michael Thomas | NOR | 23 | WR | 15 | 92 | 1137 | 9 | 1777 | 8378 | 21.2% | 22.6% |
34 | Quincy Enunwa | NYJ | 24 | WR | 16 | 58 | 857 | 4 | 1227 | 5520 | 22.2% | 22.2% |
35 | Davante Adams | GNB | 24 | WR | 16 | 75 | 997 | 12 | 1612 | 7260 | 22.2% | 22.2% |
36 | Brandon Marshall | NYJ | 32 | WR | 15 | 59 | 788 | 3 | 1143 | 5520 | 20.7% | 22.1% |
37 | Cole Beasley | DAL | 27 | wr | 16 | 75 | 833 | 5 | 1308 | 5924 | 22.1% | 22.1% |
38 | Allen Robinson | JAX | 23 | WR | 16 | 73 | 883 | 6 | 1368 | 6250 | 21.9% | 21.9% |
39 | Robert Woods | BUF | 24 | WR | 13 | 51 | 613 | 1 | 888 | 5020 | 17.7% | 21.8% |
40 | Adam Thielen | MIN | 26 | WR | 16 | 69 | 967 | 5 | 1412 | 6589 | 21.4% | 21.4% |
41 | Kyle Rudolph | MIN | 27 | TE | 16 | 83 | 840 | 7 | 1395 | 6589 | 21.2% | 21.2% |
42 | Mike Wallace | BAL | 30 | WR | 16 | 72 | 1017 | 4 | 1457 | 6938 | 21% | 21% |
43 | Rob Gronkowski | NWE | 27 | te | 8 | 25 | 540 | 3 | 725 | 6936 | 10.5% | 20.9% |
44 | Jeremy Kerley | SFO | 28 | WR | 16 | 64 | 667 | 3 | 1047 | 5021 | 20.9% | 20.9% |
45 | Steve Smith | BAL | 37 | WR | 14 | 70 | 799 | 5 | 1249 | 6938 | 18% | 20.6% |
46 | Brandin Cooks | NOR | 23 | WR | 16 | 78 | 1173 | 8 | 1723 | 8378 | 20.6% | 20.6% |
47 | Zach Miller | CHI | 32 | TE | 10 | 47 | 486 | 4 | 801 | 6254 | 12.8% | 20.5% |
48 | Brandon LaFell | CIN | 30 | WR | 16 | 64 | 862 | 6 | 1302 | 6386 | 20.4% | 20.4% |
49 | Jimmy Graham | SEA | 30 | TE | 16 | 65 | 923 | 6 | 1368 | 6722 | 20.4% | 20.4% |
50 | Marvin Jones | DET | 26 | WR | 15 | 55 | 930 | 4 | 1285 | 6747 | 19% | 20.3% |
51 | Jordan Reed | WAS | 26 | TE | 12 | 66 | 686 | 6 | 1136 | 7483 | 15.2% | 20.2% |
52 | DeVante Parker | MIA | 23 | WR | 15 | 56 | 744 | 4 | 1104 | 5836 | 18.9% | 20.2% |
53 | Tyler Eifert | CIN | 26 | te | 8 | 29 | 394 | 5 | 639 | 6386 | 10% | 20% |
54 | Pierre Garcon | WAS | 30 | WR | 16 | 79 | 1041 | 3 | 1496 | 7483 | 20% | 20% |
55 | Le'Veon Bell | PIT | 24 | RB | 12 | 75 | 616 | 2 | 1031 | 6942 | 14.9% | 19.8% |
56 | David Johnson | ARI | 25 | RB | 16 | 80 | 879 | 4 | 1359 | 6900 | 19.7% | 19.7% |
57 | Marqise Lee | JAX | 25 | wr | 16 | 63 | 851 | 3 | 1226 | 6250 | 19.6% | 19.6% |
This stat is not necessarily my favorite wide receiver stat, and it is not flawless by any means. But it does provide a nice counter to traditional stats, and serves as a good reminder that every player can only compete with his teammates for passes, is a product of how good (or bad) his quarterback (and offensive line) is at getting him the ball, and is at the mercy of his offensive coordinator’s frequency of calling pass plays.