Which Receivers Played On The Most Efficient Passing Offenses?

by Chase Stuart on June 9, 2018

On Thursday, I posted a methodology to determine which wide receivers played on the most pass-happy teams, and yesterday, I posted another method of examining the same concept. Today, we will use the same approach to measure which receivers played in the most efficient passing offenses.

Efficiency is defined using Relative ANY/A, which is Team ANY/A minus League Average ANY/A. Let’s use Jerry Rice as an example. You will not be surprised to see that he generally played on very efficient passing offenses. In 1995, Rice had 1,848 receiving yards, which was 8.1% of his career receiving yardage. The 1995 49ers had a Relative ANY/A of +1.19 which means 8.1% of Rice’s career RANY/A grade is going to have a weight of +1.19. Do this calculation for every season of his career, and you see that Rice had a career RANY/A of +1.57.

The table below shows the career RANY/A grades for all receivers with at least 5,000 receiving yards:

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Search:

Rk	Receiver	Rec Yd	First Yr	Last Yr	RANY/A	HOF
13	Jerry Rice	22895	1985	2004	1.57	Yes
62	Terrell Owens	15934	1996	2010	0.82	Yes
234	Larry Fitzgerald	15545	2004	2017	-0.21	Likely
34	Randy Moss	15292	1998	2012	1.18	Yes
118	Isaac Bruce	15208	1994	2009	0.38	No
102	Tony Gonzalez	15127	1997	2013	0.52	Likely
112	Tim Brown	14934	1988	2004	0.41	Yes
220	Steve Smith	14731	2001	2016	-0.12	Not El.
16	Marvin Harrison	14580	1996	2008	1.51	Yes
28	Reggie Wayne	14345	2001	2014	1.34	Not El.
169	Andre Johnson	14185	2003	2016	0.14	Not El.
168	James Lofton	14004	1978	1993	0.14	Yes
101	Cris Carter	13899	1987	2002	0.54	Yes
197	Anquan Boldin	13779	2003	2016	0.03	Not El.
145	Henry Ellard	13777	1983	1998	0.24	No
95	Torry Holt	13382	1999	2009	0.56	No
128	Andre Reed	13198	1985	2000	0.34	Yes
151	Steve Largent	13089	1976	1989	0.21	Yes
207	Irving Fryar	12785	1984	2000	-0.05	No
85	Art Monk	12721	1980	1995	0.63	Yes

Showing 1 to 20 of 283 entries

None of the Hall of Fame receivers have negative RANY/A grades, although Larry Fitzgerald and Calvin Johnson will probably change that.

Here’s a look at the 23 receivers with 8,000 career receiving yards and played on below-average passing teams:

Search:

Rk	Receiver	Rec Yd	First Yr	Last Yr	RANY/A	HOF
234	Larry Fitzgerald	15545	2004	2017	-0.21	Likely
220	Steve Smith	14731	2001	2016	-0.12	Not El.
207	Irving Fryar	12785	1984	2000	-0.05	No
209	Brandon Marshall	12215	2006	2017	-0.06	Not El.
232	Calvin Johnson	11619	2007	2015	-0.18	Likely
228	Muhsin Muhammad	11438	1996	2009	-0.15	No
256	Joey Galloway	10950	1995	2010	-0.45	No
203	Keyshawn Johnson	10571	1996	2006	-0.02	No
217	Eric Moulds	9995	1996	2007	-0.08	No
213	Amani Toomer	9497	1996	2008	-0.07	No
264	Rob Moore	9368	1990	1999	-0.57	No
233	Anthony Miller	9148	1988	1997	-0.19	No
206	Roy Green	8965	1979	1992	-0.03	No
214	Ricky Proehl	8878	1990	2006	-0.07	No
278	Mark Carrier	8763	1987	1998	-0.87	No
252	Laveranues Coles	8609	2000	2009	-0.39	No
225	Curtis Conway	8230	1993	2004	-0.15	No
245	Jeff Graham	8172	1991	2001	-0.3	No
235	Sterling Sharpe	8134	1988	1994	-0.22	No
263	Haven Moses	8091	1968	1981	-0.56	No
243	Art Powell	8046	1960	1968	-0.29	No
261	Bill Brooks	8001	1986	1996	-0.51	No

You will not be surprised to see Joey Galloway on there at -0.45, at least not if you have been paying attention.

Tagged as: WR Project

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