Over the last couple of days, I’ve been looking at receiving yards by class year. I’ll continue that today, with a look at the best classes in wide receiver history.
The 2014 class looks to be a very special one. It set a rookie record by gaining 18,321 receiving yards in 2014, the most by any set of rookies in NFL history. Then last year, those same players gained 23,727 last year, the most by any class in any single season in history.
Of course, while impressive, we have to remember the pass-friendly environment we are experiencing. The Class of 2014 — which includes all players selected in the 2014 Draft and all undrafted players whose first season began in 2014 — gained 14% of all receiving yards two years ago, and then 18% of all receiving yards in the NFL in 2015. Thought of another way, the class of 2014 has averaged 16% of receiving yards in their first two seasons.
The 1987 class was a bit inflated by the replacement players who all register as rookies. The only other class since the merger with at least 15% through two years was the 1974 class, which got strong rookie seasons from Charlie Wade, Nat Moore, Paul Seal, Joel Parker, Harrison Davis, and Roger Carr, and then had Lynn Swann, Ken Payne, Moore, Ray Rhodes, Carr, Charlie Smith, and John Stallworth play well in 1975.
The 18% number produced by the 2014 class in year 2 was the highest rate since by a sophomore class since 1958. That year, second-year players Del Shofner led the NFL in receiving yards, while R.C. Owens and Tommy McDonald finished in the top ten, with Joe Walton, Jon Arnett, and Billy Ray Barnes rounding out the class.
We can also look at the best classes as rookies, and over 2-, 3-, 5-, 7-, and 10-year periods. Finally, the last column simply sums the percentage of receiving yards from each class in every year of their careers.
| Year | 1 | First 2 | First 3 | First 5 | First 7 | First 10 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 18.5% | 20.7% | 20.4% | 19.3% | 17.3% | 14.5% | 147.9% |
| 1951 | 18.3% | 17.9% | 16.6% | 16% | 14.7% | 11.9% | 123.2% |
| 1952 | 15.8% | 16.9% | 15.9% | 16.8% | 16.6% | 14.5% | 156.2% |
| 1953 | 11.8% | 10.3% | 10.4% | 11.4% | 10.5% | 8.7% | 97.5% |
| 1954 | 16.1% | 13.4% | 14.3% | 12.8% | 11.9% | 9.7% | 105.1% |
| 1955 | 12.9% | 10.7% | 9.1% | 7.3% | 6% | 4.4% | 43.6% |
| 1956 | 10.9% | 13.3% | 14.5% | 14.3% | 13.8% | 11.6% | 118.9% |
| 1957 | 11.4% | 16.2% | 16.7% | 16.2% | 16% | 13.7% | 144.3% |
| 1958 | 10.4% | 13.2% | 15.8% | 15.6% | 15.3% | 13.5% | 137.7% |
| 1959 | 6.4% | 8.2% | 8.5% | 9% | 8.1% | 7.2% | 75.5% |
| 1960 | 8.6% | 10% | 10.1% | 9.4% | 8.3% | 6.7% | 70.8% |
| 1961 | 8.6% | 12.1% | 12.7% | 13.2% | 12.5% | 10% | 102.1% |
| 1962 | 5.8% | 6.9% | 7.6% | 8.1% | 7.6% | 6.6% | 67.2% |
| 1963 | 10.5% | 9.8% | 10.9% | 11.9% | 11.6% | 8.8% | 90.2% |
| 1964 | 13.1% | 13.3% | 14.6% | 14.4% | 13.3% | 10.7% | 112.2% |
| 1965 | 8.7% | 11.8% | 13.8% | 15% | 15.1% | 13.1% | 136.7% |
| 1966 | 3.9% | 7% | 8.4% | 8.8% | 8.4% | 6.6% | 67% |
| 1967 | 8.7% | 11% | 12% | 11.3% | 10.3% | 8.2% | 84.6% |
| 1968 | 8.4% | 9.9% | 11% | 10.9% | 9.8% | 8.2% | 89.9% |
| 1969 | 11% | 13.9% | 14.8% | 15.1% | 13.2% | 10.5% | 114.6% |
| 1970 | 10.7% | 12.5% | 13.7% | 13.7% | 12.3% | 9.8% | 101.3% |
| 1971 | 11.5% | 13.2% | 14% | 13.4% | 11.9% | 9.7% | 103.4% |
| 1972 | 7.9% | 10.1% | 10.7% | 10.9% | 9.9% | 8.1% | 85% |
| 1973 | 10.9% | 13.9% | 14.1% | 13.2% | 11.2% | 8.8% | 90.6% |
| 1974 | 13.7% | 15.2% | 16.7% | 17.1% | 15.7% | 12.3% | 129.8% |
| 1975 | 11.5% | 12.3% | 12.7% | 12% | 10.5% | 8.6% | 89.4% |
| 1976 | 12.7% | 14.1% | 15.2% | 15.6% | 14.5% | 12% | 124.6% |
| 1977 | 9.3% | 11.8% | 12% | 12% | 10.9% | 9% | 94.1% |
| 1978 | 10.8% | 12.1% | 11.8% | 11.8% | 11% | 9.4% | 100.2% |
| 1979 | 10.7% | 13.8% | 15% | 15.9% | 14.5% | 11.9% | 127% |
| 1980 | 9.6% | 9.9% | 10.8% | 11.4% | 9.9% | 7.7% | 81.5% |
| 1981 | 8.4% | 9.8% | 10.8% | 11% | 9.8% | 7.9% | 80.4% |
| 1982 | 8.1% | 10.4% | 10.8% | 10.9% | 9.8% | 8% | 85.6% |
| 1983 | 11.7% | 13.4% | 14.4% | 14.2% | 13.4% | 11.4% | 120.3% |
| 1984 | 9.8% | 11.7% | 11.3% | 11.6% | 10.7% | 8.8% | 97.4% |
| 1985 | 9.6% | 13% | 13.3% | 13.5% | 13.1% | 11.6% | 130% |
| 1986 | 12.1% | 12.7% | 12.5% | 12.7% | 12% | 10.3% | 106.4% |
| 1987 | 16.5% | 16.2% | 15.9% | 14.4% | 12.4% | 9.7% | 103.2% |
| 1988 | 11.1% | 12.4% | 12.8% | 13.9% | 13.5% | 11.6% | 123.4% |
| 1989 | 10.9% | 11% | 10.7% | 10.3% | 9.5% | 8.3% | 87.4% |
| 1990 | 9% | 11.1% | 12.2% | 12.7% | 11.6% | 10.1% | 110.3% |
| 1991 | 7.2% | 10.4% | 11.3% | 12.9% | 12.8% | 11.4% | 123.5% |
| 1992 | 5.5% | 6.6% | 7.6% | 7.8% | 7.6% | 6.2% | 66.1% |
| 1993 | 10.3% | 10.5% | 11.2% | 10.9% | 10.3% | 8.6% | 90.3% |
| 1994 | 8.4% | 10.4% | 11.5% | 11.3% | 10.8% | 9.2% | 98.6% |
| 1995 | 10.8% | 12.3% | 12.8% | 12.3% | 11.5% | 9.4% | 100.3% |
| 1996 | 10.6% | 11.4% | 12.4% | 13.3% | 12.9% | 12% | 137.1% |
| 1997 | 6.5% | 8.4% | 9.4% | 9.8% | 9.1% | 7.8% | 88.8% |
| 1998 | 9.5% | 11.6% | 11.8% | 11.2% | 9.9% | 8% | 86.3% |
| 1999 | 8% | 9.5% | 10.1% | 10.6% | 9.6% | 8.2% | 87.5% |
| 2000 | 9.2% | 10.3% | 11% | 10.5% | 9.4% | 7.4% | 75% |
| 2001 | 10.3% | 12.3% | 13.7% | 13.9% | 12.9% | 10.9% | 118.3% |
| 2002 | 11% | 11.6% | 12.7% | 12.7% | 11.5% | 9.1% | 91% |
| 2003 | 10% | 11.5% | 11.9% | 12% | 11.5% | 9.8% | 107.2% |
| 2004 | 9.5% | 11% | 12.5% | 12.4% | 11.1% | 8.8% | 92.2% |
| 2005 | 8.6% | 9.3% | 9.9% | 9.6% | 8.8% | 7.3% | 74.9% |
| 2006 | 10.2% | 11.7% | 12.3% | 12.1% | 11.5% | 9.7% | 97.4% |
| 2007 | 9.3% | 11.1% | 12.4% | 12.2% | 11% | 86.6% | |
| 2008 | 10.2% | 12.3% | 12.8% | 12.6% | 11.5% | 85.4% | |
| 2009 | 11.3% | 13.7% | 13.5% | 12.4% | 10.9% | 76% | |
| 2010 | 12.1% | 13.7% | 14.2% | 13.7% | 77.4% | ||
| 2011 | 11.7% | 12.6% | 13.1% | 12% | 60.1% | ||
| 2012 | 11.8% | 13.4% | 12.9% | 48.7% | |||
| 2013 | 13.4% | 14.3% | 14% | 42% | |||
| 2014 | 14.2% | 16% | 32.1% | ||||
| 2015 | 12.6% | 12.6% |
The 1996 class, with Marvin Harrison, Terrell Owens, Keyshawn Johnson, Muhsin Muhammad, Joe Horn, Eric Moulds, Amani Toomer, et. al., is often considered one of the best classes ever. That’s not quite so clear early on — a number of classes have them beat through 7 years — but the longevity is incredible. Take a look at this graph, which just shows the total percentages; that’s obviously going to be biased against active classes, but it’s a fun graph to look at anyway:
As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments.