The gap between Jerry Rice and the
second best receiver of all time may be larger than in any other sport.
Although most of Rice’s prime didn’t coincide with the so-called “passing era”,
he still managed to have far and away the best receiving numbers in NFL
history. He finished his career with 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns and 1569
catches.
To put his numbers in perspective,
consider Terrell Owens is second all-time with 15,934 receiving yards. There
are 6961 yards between Rice and the retired Owens or more than Dwight Clark,
Kellen Winslow I or Cris Collinsworth gained in their entire careers. Rice has
more career yards than Lance Alworth and Raymond Berry COMBINED, more catches
than Michael Irvin and James Lofton combined and more touchdowns than Steve
Largent and Isaac Bruce combined. By the way, all those guys besides Bruce are
Hall of Famers.
However all these ways of measuring
his stats don’t do justice to the era he played in and what receiving numbers
looked like before he entered the league. When he was a rookie in 1985, the
all-time leader in receiving yards was Charlie Joiner with just over 12,000
yards. At the time there were only five players in NFL history with over 10,000
career yards. In fact, when Rice retired in 2004, Tim Brown and James Lofton
were the only receivers within 9000 yards of Rice; more than all but 49 players
have gained in NFL history. Lastly, only 14 players who started their careers
before 1990 have gained 10,000 yards receiving. Rice is the only one in that
group who’s gained at least 15,000 yards. And he has nearly 23,000.
There are only eight players in NFL
history with 100 receiving touchdowns; Jerry Rice has 197 or 41 more than the
next highest. Steve Largent is the only player whose career started before
Rice’s with triple-digit touchdowns and he has 100. In other words, he’s closer
to the career touchdown total of Justin Blackmon than he is to Jerry Rice’s.
In addition Rice has, by far, the
most receptions of all time. Tony Gonzalez has now played 16 seasons of
pro-bowl level football and is still over 300 receptions behind Rice. Even the
stars of this pass-heavy era barely have a prayer to catch Rice. Randy Moss’s
career is just about over and he’s nearly 600 behind. Anquan Boldin, Andre
Johnson, Wes Welker and Steve Smith are on the wrong side of thirty yet are
barely halfway there. Even all-time greats that played with Rice like Art Monk
and Tim Brown aren’t near the same level as him.
However Rice was more than just the
greatest receiver of all time; he was an innovator. Rice’s legendary workout
routines changed things in the way Don Hutson’s pre-determined routes changed
things so long ago. Football became a year-round game, especially for
receivers. Rice never took a day off or an easy day, he was determined to be
the best ever and he succeeded. This is precisely what made Randy Moss’s claim
of being the best ever at Super Bowl media day so ridiculous. It’s not that
Rice is just better; it’s that they aren’t even in the same conversation.
Rice is the greatest of all time and there’s no reasonable
debate to the contrary. In fact, Pro
Football Referece lists his nick name as G.O.A.T (Greatest of All Time). He
may be the only person in sports capable of pulling off that nickname without
sounding incredibly arrogant…because it’s accurate. Jerry Rice is the greatest
of all time.
Stay Hungry, My Friends
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