Who Is The 2nd Best WR Of All Time?

[BAT]

Totally correct about sharpe being right there with playmaker. He was really good. Better than Moss and Carter.
1. Rice
2. Irvin
3. Sharpe
4. Moss
5. Carter (cris)

Can't argue your top 4, but there were better WRs than Carter IMO. Tim Brown, Terrell Owens and Andre Reed are better IMO.

 

[CCBoy]

Mine was Steve Largent as well. I loved watching him get separation and always bagging the catch. He wasn't that great in the speed category...just made catches.

 

[perrykemp]

Totally correct about sharpe being right there with playmaker. He was really good. Better than Moss and Carter.
1. Rice
2. Irvin
3. Sharpe
4. Moss
5. Carter (cris)

Carharris2 -- Sharpe only played 7 years. It's too bad he ended up with a career ending injury, but alas he did and I just don't think the sample size is big enough to rank him above those other guys. All you can you with Sharpe is say "What if?"

 

[NorthTexan95]

Still say Don Hutson and Jerry Rice are 1A and 1B, flip a coin as to which is which. The difference is during Hutson's time, he was the BEST by light years (miles are too close) while during Jerry's heyday, his competitors were tight on his heels. There were some years where Irvin or Sharpe were clearly better.

After thinking about it some more I think I would put Don Hutson at No. 2 ... maybe No. 1. You can't really compare guys from different eras but when you look at them compared to other guys in their same era, Hutson maybe No. 1.

Chris Carter is getting way too much credit from some here. Lance Alworth isn't getting nearly enough.

 

[perrykemp]

After thinking about it some more I think I would put Don Hutson at No. 2 ... maybe No. 1. You can't really compare guys from different eras but when you look at them compared to other guys in their same era, Hutson maybe No. 1.

Chris Carter is getting way too much credit from some here. Lance Alworth isn't getting nearly enough.

Here is the thing about Hutson. He was doing things that were completely and utterly mind blowing at the time -- I don't think we can even fathom an equivalent from today.

The closest equivalent today would be a RB of WR going off for 4000 yards in a single season. That's how much better he was than everyone else at the time he was playing.

 

[BAT]

Carharris2 -- Sharpe only played 7 years. It's too bad he ended up with a career ending injury, but alas he did and I just don't think the sample size is big enough to rank him above those other guys. All you can you with Sharpe is say "What if?"

I thought his list was 90's era only. LOL. If all-time, then yes, I would revise.

 

[perrykemp]

I thought his list was 90's era only. LOL. If all-time, then yes, I would revise.

The thread sorta was starting to degenerate into a best WRs of the 90s discussion.

 

[Risen Star]

The 2nd best WR of all time is Jerry Rice.

~high fiving the playmaker~

 

[CATCH17]

If you think Barry Sanders is the best RB of all time the how can you not say Randy Moss is to the best receiver of all time.


Moss is the most unstoppable player I have ever seen and got a lot of QBs paid who weren't any good.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Im partial to Tim Brown.

If he didnt get hurt, I think it would have been Sterling Sharpe

 

[Super_Kazuya]

It's actually pretty stunning how similar Owens and Moss careers went. Which one is which?

G Rec Yds Y/R TD Lng R/G Y/G
218 982 15292 15.6 156 82 4.5 70.1
219 1078 15934 14.8 153 98 4.9 72.8

 

[NickZepp]

The numbers Don Hutson put up in that era are flat out insane. He might even have a case for number 1 because of that.

 

[Nirvana]

I love your enthusiasm for Calvin Johnson -- I can't fault you for it, HOWEVER

In my conscience football watching lifetime, Jerry Rice was the best PLAYER I have ever seen -- forget just WR.

He was that good.

At age 33 he put up 1848 yards. He scored 207 TDs. In the strike shortened season of 1987 he scored 22 TDs in 12 games. He had a 200 yard receiving game in the Superbowl.

The only thing Calvin Johnson is better at than Jerry Rice is being tall. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Jerry had a better QB as well. Less sophisticated defenses also. I watched Jerry's whole career as well. I hated the 49ers the whole time, maybe I am biased. I still would rather have CJ.

 

[JoeKing]

T.O. was poison to every team he played for. Irvin's career was cut too short. Cris Carter was 2nd fiddle to Randy Moss on the Vikings and then Moss went on to the Pats and solidified his status as 2nd GOAT WR.

 

[lane]

Im partial to Tim Brown.

If he didnt get hurt, I think it would have been Sterling Sharpe

tim brown was one of my favorite players ever...

he was a true all around athlete.

 

[Nova]

Best and greatest are two very different things, if you ask me.

If it's "best", it's probably Jerry Rice, because honestly Randy Moss was the most talented receiver ever and he was just as refined (though many people believe he was a one trick pony).

Greatest, I could be a host of other players including Moss, Hutson, Owens Etc. Jerry is clearly the greatest.

 

[DandyDon1722]

Great question. There is no clear cut #2 due to the absolutely massive differences in WRs stats over the eras.

Don Hutson was pretty consistently considered the #1 WR of all time up until the point Jerry Rice showed up. Still, he played in an era with the NFL passing game was fairly primitive.

I want to say Randy Moss, however, he never help a team win a Superbowl and in some cases was a distraction. He definitely didn't always consistently bring his 'A' game.

Marvin Harrison put up MASSIVE stats while he played. Lofton was very good for a long long time....

TO had the potential to be the clear cut #2 WR in NFL history, but his antics really hurt his case.

Irvin was an incredible all-around HoF WR who's stats would have been much much better on a more passing dominated team...

Man, it's tough...

Yep, you ignore Don Hutson at your own peril in any era. He still holds records and is generally considered "The Babe Ruth of Football." If you don't know who he is or what he did, look him up - he was incredible.

 

[lane]

randy moss and barry sanders are both the same in my opinion..

arguably the best at what they do...but not complete.

barry would razzle and dazzle you between the 20's.. he was not a blocker on blitz pickups

most of his touchdowns were long runs.

when they got down to tough sledding they would pull him out and throw a fade to moore or whoever.

randy moss was a one trick pony...go routes and fades in the end zones..

while he is easily the beast at those two qualities he did not go over the middle like irvin .

he would have been out of the league before his career even got started..

i like complete football players like emmitt and irvin.

demarco and bryant show me those qualities...and i am loving every minute of it.

 

[Gameover]

I think you make a good point, however, I distinctly remember Sharpe passing the eyeball test as an amazing WR -- who seemed to be virtually unstoppable. I have a strong memory of Sharpe going off for 4 TDs against the Cowboys sometime in the Jimmy Johnson era and looking like Superman when he did it.

A quick look at his stats page and Sharpe was a 5 time pro-bowler an 3 time 1st-team All Pro during his 7 years career. Irvin was a 5 time bowler and a 1 time 1st-team All Pro. Yes, I realize Irvin didn't get as many targets.

My point in this is not to say Sharpe deserves to be ranked higher than Irvin in the 'All time great WRs' pecking order. Irvin is in the HoF and Sharpe will never be, however, I am indicating that back in the day when Irvin / Sharpe / Rice where all playing, most viewed the Sharpe / Irvin comparison as a toss-up.

Sharpe was viewed as better to the naked eye. With metric data, Irvin stomps him. I've seen Ron Wolfe talk about WR from that era, and he always gushes about Irvin. I believe he was in GB with Sharpe. Wolfe pretty much put Irvin at #2 to Rice as far as the 1990s go. He dismissed Cris Carter. Some of it may still be in the espn.com archives.

 

[HappyOnions]

For me, it's Terrell Owens.

Also, just for arguments sake, Torry Holt doesn't get the recognition he deserves.