White 1,000-Yard Receivers of the Past 20 Years

[Thrashen]

In the past 30 years of NFL football, the following white players (WR’s and TE’s) have eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Based on this information, one would think that the NFL has become more “fair” to white receivers over the past 30 years, with the last 5-7 years having the highest concentration of prolific white pass-catchers…

1985 - Largent, Collinsworth

1986 - Christensen, Collinsworth, Largent, Bavaro

1987 - None

1988 - None

1989- None

1990- None

1991- None

1992- None

1993- None

1994- None

1995 – None

1996 – None

1997 – None

1998 – Chrebet, McCaffrey

1999 - Jeffers, Schroeder, McCaffrey

2000 – McCaffrey

2001 – None

2002 – None

2003 – None

2004 – Bennett, Stokley

2005 – None

2006 – Furrey

2007 – Welker, Witten, Curtis

2008 – Welker

2009 – Welker, Clark, Witten

2010 – Witten

2011 – Welker, Gronkowski, Nelson

2012 – Welker, Hartline, Decker, Witten

2013 – Nelson, Decker, Edelman, Hartline

2014 – Nelson, Gronkowski, Olsen

2015 – Gronkowski, Olsen, Decker*, Barnidge*

*Decker and Barnidge will each need 23 yards in the final game of 2015.

In 2015, had Edelman and Nelson not gotten injured, the NFL would likely have had six white 1,000-yard receivers, the most I can recall in the 1990's, 2000's, and 2010's.

In my opinion, this sudden fairness to white pass-catchers began with the success of two all-time great players: WR Wes Welker and TE Jason Witten.

 

[celticdb15]

Excellent work! A good list to share. I hope this trend continues. Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz are two young TEs I feel on the cusp of 1,000 yard seasons . Also Jordan Cameron if Miami drafts some quality white OL this year to protect Ryan Tannehill.

 

[Don Wassall]

Nice compilation, Thrashen. But you can go back another eight seasons of no White receivers breaking 1,000 yards until McCaffrey and Chrebet did it in '98.

In 1986, two WRs -- Steve Largent and present-day scumbag Cris Collinsworth -- went over 1,000 yards along with TEs Todd Christensen and Mark Bavaro. A 12 year drought then followed for wide receivers and a 21 year drought for tight ends.

Seeing White tight ends close to dominating their position now gives an inkling of what the NFL (and college football) would be like if it was fair to White players at all positions. Demographically it would be as White as MLB if not Whiter.

 

[Thrashen]

Thanks for the information, Don, I've changed the list to reflect the past 30 years. I was born in 1986, so I'm not too familiar with players from the mid/late 80's and early 90's other than what I read from CF veterans.

The "12-Year Drought" you mention from 1986-1998 now seems unthinkable in today's NFL. But consider how many of the white WR's who've eclipsed 1,000-yards in a season over the past 10-15 years did so with either Peyton Manning or Tom Brady throwing them the ball. When these two great QB's retire, will white pass-catchers achieve the same level of annual production?

As you mentioned, the success of young, white TE's might be the most encouraging trend in the modern NFL. Also, the quotient of white reserve TE's seems to have noticeably increased. Aside from Jordan Reed, there is very little young, black talent at the position. The only other black TE's in the top 50 of receiving yards in 2015 are Delanie Walker (31 years old) and Bejamin Watson (35 years old).

 

[Riggins44]

Excellent work! A good list to share. I hope this trend continues. Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz are two young TEs I feel on the cusp of 1,000 yard seasons . Also Jordan Cameron if Miami drafts some quality white OL this year to protect Ryan Tannehill.

Tyler Eifert is another one.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Nice list. The mid 80's is about when the NFL started to go full caste. I even think there were a few white cornerbacks in the early 80s until they were completely eliminated except for the athlete freak exception Jason Sehorn. What surprises me is that Keith Poole was never able to accomplish the feat. He had one full season as a starter and then I am not sure if injuries took a tole on him or he was replaced by another magic negro.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Danny Amendola has 1K yard potential. I'd like to see him stay healthy & get more reps.

 

[Don Wassall]

Nice list. The mid 80's is about when the NFL started to go full caste. I even think there were a few white cornerbacks in the early 80s until they were completely eliminated except for the athlete freak exception Jason Sehorn. What surprises me is that Keith Poole was never able to accomplish the feat. He had one full season as a starter and then I am not sure if injuries took a tole on him or he was replaced by another magic negro.

1986 was the last year for White WRs and TEs hitting 1,000 yards before The Great Drought began. 1985 was the last time a White RB ran for over 1,000 yards until Peyton Hillis had his big year in 2010. The mid-'80s was when the number of White defensive starters began to drop dramatically.

There are only three possible explanations for why White football players suddenly disappeared from defense and offensive skill positions beginning in the mid 1980s and ever since then except for a few exceptions in recent years:

1. Whites suddenly forgot how to play receiver, tight end, running back and defense; or
2. Whites suddenly lost interest in playing receiver, tight end, running back and defense; or
3. The NFL and the major college programs began systematically discriminating against Whites at those positions dramatically more than previously.

1. and 2. are nonsensical; the evidence that the Caste System went hard-core in football 30 years ago is overwhelming and irrefutable.

 

[Thrashen]

It’s interesting to note that in 30 NFL seasons, no white receiver has led the NFL in receiving yardage. The last time a white player led the NFL in receiving yards was Steve Largent in 1985. Wes Welker was 2nd in 2012, but only because Calvin Johnson had nearly 200 receiving yards in the final week to overtake him.

Also of note is the fact that over the past 30 seasons, the total number of white 1,000-yard receivers in a given season has never eclipsed 4 white players. In the past 4-5 years (which have been fantastic, relatively speaking, for white pass-catchers), this trend only continued due to devastating injuries to star players. In 2015, for instance, we could have easily seen 6 white players (instead of 4) hit the mark had Edelman and Nelson not sustained injuries. Too bad.

If Nelson, Decker, and Edelman do well next season and our top TE’s (Gronkowski, Olsen, Barnidge, Kelce, Ertz, Eifert, Witten, Rudolph, etc) continue to dominate the position, 2016 could be a banner year for white pass-catchers. Of all the white TE’s aside from the all-world Gronkowski, I believe that Ertz has the biggest potential for multiple 1,000-yard campaigns.

 

[Don Wassall]

The trend now seems to be to limit the White stars to tight end. Who are the up and coming receivers to supplement and eventually replace Nelson, Decker and Edelman in the thousand yard club? As of now, none.

Hartline has been phased out as a primary target, and it looks like Cooper will be limited to one big season (47/835/8). Beasley won't be fed the ball enough. There's a group of White receivers being used as fourth and fifth receivers (Whalen, Humphries, Thielen, Walters, Mariani, Campanaro) but it's unlikely any of them will become a star. At best one or two might follow Kevin Walter's career trajectory and eventually become a starter.

Nelson and Decker were drafted in the second and third rounds respectively. We need to see White receivers taken that high again, along with a few organizations with enough decency and fairness to develop some other receivers, or the top tiers of the position are going to be coal black again in a few years.

 

[whiteathlete33]

The trend now seems to be to limit the White stars to tight end. Who are the up and coming receivers to supplement and eventually replace Nelson, Decker and Edelman in the thousand yard club? As of now, none.

Hartline has been phased out as a primary target, and it looks like Cooper will be limited to one big season (47/835/8). Beasley won't be fed the ball enough. There's a group of White receivers being used as fourth and fifth receivers (Whalen, Humphries, Thielen, Walters, Mariani, Campanaro) but it's unlikely any of them will become a star. At best one or two might follow Kevin Walter's career trajectory and eventually become a starter.

Nelson and Decker were drafted in the second and third rounds respectively. We need to see White receivers taken that high again, along with a few organizations with enough decency and fairness to develop some other receivers, or the top tiers of the position are going to be coal black again in a few years.

The highest profile white receiver coming out soon is Nelson Spruce. After that, it's basically nothing.

 

[Carolina Speed]

Nice list. The mid 80's is about when the NFL started to go full caste. I even think there were a few white cornerbacks in the early 80s until they were completely eliminated except for the athlete freak exception Jason Sehorn. What surprises me is that Keith Poole was never able to accomplish the feat. He had one full season as a starter and then I am not sure if injuries took a tole on him or he was replaced by another magic negro.

Yes, wa33. There were several white CB's in the late 70's/ early 80's including HOFer Roger Wehrli, Tim and Steve Foley no relation, Bobby Bryant, and although sport historian will argue and he may be right Nolan Cromwell was listed as a CB for one year with the Rams and Chicago's Terry Schmidt.

BTW, DB's is where the change happened in shocking speed. From the late 70's to the early 80's, I'm not sure any position has changed so dramatically. I'm working on a post now that deals with this sudden change despite the success of the white DB's!

 

[Thrashen]

1,000-yard season update for 2016/2017 (with 4 games remaining)…

Jordy Nelson - 872 yards. He’ll need to average 32 yards per game.

Greg Olsen – 820 yards. He’ll need to average 45 yards per game.

Travis Kelce – 815 yards. He’ll need to average 46 yards per game.

Julian Edelman – 718 yards. He’ll need to average 70 yards per game.

Cole Beasley – 670 yards. He’ll need to average 82 yards per game.

Adam Thielen – 657 yards. He’ll need to average 86 yards per game.

Nelson, Olsen, and Kelce seem like they'll hit the mark. Edelman is 50/50. Beasley and Thielen seem like they'll fall short, barring a huge game or two in the 4 remaining contests.

Realistically, the only "new" name to add to the list of white players that have surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in a season would be TE Travis Kelce. If he accomplishes the feat, Kelce would only be the 8th white TE to ever be a 1,000-yard receiver in the NFL, joining Todd Christiansen, Mark Bavaro, Jason Witten, Dallas Clark, Rob Gronkowski, Greg Olsen, and Gary Barnidge.

 

[Upside]

Not to water it down or anything, but we currently have a much higher percentage of 500+ yard pass catchers than in years past. While it doesn't carry the same prestige as a 1000 yard season, 500 yards is nothing to scoff at...

Hooper - 257 (longshot) **Must average 60 per game
James - 268 (longshot)
G. Celek - 275 (longshot)
Eifert - 337
Henry - 385
McDonald - 391
Doyle - 411
Ertz - 452
Humphries - 467
Barnidge - 468
Feidorowicz - 473
Hogan - 484
Miller - 486

Should all conceivably hit the 500+ yard mark. Witten, Fleener, Gronk, Pitta, Brate, and Rudolph are already there. Add the 6 that should get 1000, and that may get us 25 Caucasian pass receivers with at least 500 yards in 2016. We'll get the percentage at season's end, but I'm thinking it will be pretty solid compared to years past; not good mind you, but trending in the right direction.

In 2013 we had 18 Caucasian pass receivers with 500+ yards receiving, (19% of all 500+ yard pass receivers)
In 2010 we also had 18, (18.7%).
In 2005 we had 9, (11.7%).
In 2000 we had 7, (8.7%)

 

[Shadowlight]

The trend now seems to be to limit the White stars to tight end. Who are the up and coming receivers to supplement and eventually replace Nelson, Decker and Edelman in the thousand yard club? As of now, none.

Hartline has been phased out as a primary target, and it looks like Cooper will be limited to one big season (47/835/8). Beasley won't be fed the ball enough. There's a group of White receivers being used as fourth and fifth receivers (Whalen, Humphries, Thielen, Walters, Mariani, Campanaro) but it's unlikely any of them will become a star. At best one or two might follow Kevin Walter's career trajectory and eventually become a starter.

Nelson and Decker were drafted in the second and third rounds respectively. We need to see White receivers taken that high again, along with a few organizations with enough decency and fairness to develop some other receivers, or the top tiers of the position are going to be coal black again in a few years.

It was in 1997 when SI printed the infamous "Whatever Happened To The White Athlete" article and as you can tell from the Thrashen list white NFL WR"s were coming off a decade long drought for the most part at that time.. Kevin Garnett a young High School basketball prodigy was the next big thing and there was a palpable sense of doom at the professional levels. Back then I could still hang onto the fact that younger white athletes in baseball, basketball and football at least had a chance to break into the pro ranks and make some noise. The three white receivers who had banner years in 1999 were all athletically gifted exciting deep threats (McCaffrey, Schroeder and Jeffers) and speedster Tim Dwight, Keith Poole and Joe Jurevicius were just about to make their (albeit not long lasting) mark a couple of years later. Kevin Curtis was another speedster who along with Stokley and Bennett( all arrived on the scene several years later ) to help mitigate the gloom. And of course there was Welker but the biggest game changer over the past 30 years has been the wonderful Jordy Nelson who not only won a Super Bowl but was spectacular as the Pack defeated the dreaded Steelers in the big game. Up to that point his career was still not fully formed .To me he was the single most important white athlete since Larry Bird. Of course today that mantle probably belongs to Mike Trout but Jordy still remains relevant. Even though the raw stats of white WR's looks a bit better these days than the late 80's and 90's why does everything feel worse to me. As a fan of baseball, basketball and football through most of the 80's Larry Bird and Celtics took up a lot of the emotional energy as they won Championships in 1981, 1984 and 1986. They almost won in 1987 and it was only after the 1988 season you realized their dominance was coming to an end as Larry battled mounting injuries. Then in the early 90's a white friendly Duke team won two consecutive titles. The current state of basketball is not anywhere near those past levels. Also in baseball from say 1990 to 1997 there were many extremely athletic speedy white baseball prospects to pin your hopes on but sadly most but not all of them never panned out over time. Granted baseball has taken a slight uptick over the past couple of years but it could be a lot better.. And college football looked much better then than it does today in terms of white prospects. A lot of the major schools had at least some white skill position players and who could have known at the time most of them were not NFL material. Today the backdrop of so few white high school prospects and paucity of college wide receivers at major schools is eerily similar to the cornerback situation years ago and we all know what happened on that score. Complete and utter elimination of whites. So I share Don's and others concerns about the current lack of solid and sustainable building blocks that would allow white WR's to make it and thrive in college and the NFL. As was mentioned above regarding cornerbacks these trends can happen with sudden devastation.

 

[Don Wassall]

Kelce is the only receiver or TE in the NFL this season with three straight 100 yard receiving games after his 8/140 game against Atlanta. He's been underutilized previously in his career, but he should get the 185 yards he needs to hit the thousand yard mark this year. He's the best tight end in the league with Gronk suffering through an injury-riddled 2016.

 

[Freethinker]

Kelce is the only receiver or TE in the NFL this season with three straight 100 yard receiving games after his 8/140 game against Atlanta. He's been underutilized previously in his career, but he should get the 185 yards he needs to hit the thousand yard mark this year. He's the best tight end in the league with Gronk suffering through an injury-riddled 2016.

Don't forget about Greg Olsen. He's likely to go over 1 thousand yards again this season even with an erratic quarterback having a piss poor season throwing to him. Olsen is also a good blocker as far as I know.

 

[Thrashen]

With three games left, the six white pass-catchers with a chance at 1,000-yards in 2016 are as follows:

Kelce - 916 yards
Nelson - 913 yards
Olsen - 907 yards
Thielen - 758 yards
Edelman* - 718 yards
Beasley - 711 yards

*Note - the Patriots actually have 4 games left

Barring some unforeseen circumstance (injury, resting for playoffs), it seems like Kelce, Nelson, and Olsen should make it easily. Of the bottom 3 guys, I'd say Edelman is most likely to hit the mark with Gronkowski and Amendola out of the lineup. Thielen will need to average 80 yards per game, so it could be very close. Either way, given that he's a white UDFA from a DII school (Minnesota State), his ascension at WR has been very encouraging...

The NFL has never seen more than 4 white pass-catchers reach 1,000 yards in a single season. I'd love to see all these guys get the job done in 2016. If only Decker hadn't gotten injured...

 

[Thrashen]

This past week, Jordy Nelson achieved his 4th 1,000-yard season. Nelson put himself over the illustrious threshold with this fantastic 60-yard catch that won the Packers the game...

Greg Olsen is a mere 8 yards from reaching his 3rd straight 1,000 season. One more catch and #88 puts his name in the history books once again.

Travis Kelce is 43 yards away from his 1st 1,000-yard season. The Chiefs have no reason to rest their star TE so he should get it done.

Julian Edelman is 134 yards away from his 2nd 1,000-yard season. Given that the Pats could wrap up the #1 seed this week (if NE wins and the Raidrs loose), Edelman being "rested" in the final week of the season could be problematic for his stats. He'll need to average 67 yards per contest.

The maximum number of white pass-catchers to eclipse 1,000 yards in a season has never been more than 4 in any given year. In 2016, we'll once again have 3 or 4, unless Beasley or Thielen have massive receiving totals in the final 2 games.

If Decker and Gronkowski come back from their injuries, next season could be a banner year for WR's and TE's. One would imagine that "up and coming" white TE's such as Cameron Brate or Zack Ertz could reach 1,000 in 2017. Chris Hogan will have an entire season with Brady, instead of just 12 games. Guys like Beasley, Thielen, and Humphries will have another year to develop. Gary Barnidge could flourish with a competent QB in Cleveland. Who knows...maybe Christian McCaffrey will actually get drafted by a team in need of his services and become a prominent receiving back and have usage similar out of the backfield to that of LeVeon Bell, Theo Riddick, Ty Montgomery, James White, Danny Woodhead, Dion Lewis, Darren Sproles, or Bilal Powell.

 

[Shadowlight]

I've been obsessed with this post since I first saw it and I kept wondering why in the hell did I keep watching the NFL during these dry wide receiver years? Well for one thing that terrible stretch in the early 2000's coincided with the take off of Brian Urlacher's career. He won rookie of the year in 2000 and was a true speed ball terror out there. He was playing out of his mind so those three desert years from 2001 to 2003 were helped along by having him around. I was reminded of him last night because he just got inducted into the college Hall Of Fame.

 

[Leonardfan]

I still remember that tear Drew Bennett went on with Billy Volek as the titans Qb back in 2004. The late 90s and early 00s were pretty bleak - I remember becoming an instant Chrebet fan when I really got into football in 98 as a high school sophomore and also rooting for Ed McCaffery ( i remember when he broke his leg in 2001).

Mike Martz is a forgotten coach but he was pretty damn white friendly looking back at his tenure with the rams. He brought in Mike furrey, Eric crouch and Kevin Curtis. Kind of amazing that he never got another head coaching job considering his record and being ahead of his time with the offenses he constructed (this was before the league became way too pass happy with the rule changes in the mid 2000s)

 

[Don Wassall]

I was browsing this list again and want to mention a great but now forgotten White receiver whose heyday was just before 1985, when this list begins. Steve Watson of the Broncos had a short but tremendous career in the early to mid-1980s.

His best year was 1981, when he had 60 receptions for 1,244 yards, an average of 20.7 yards per catch, and 13 TDs. Pretty amazing considering it was well before today's pass-happy game. In 1983 Watson went 59/1,133, 19.2 average, 5 TDs. In '84 he was 69/1,170, 17.0 average and 7 TDs. In '85, the first year of this thread's list he was 61/915 for 15.0 average and 5 TDs. Injuries then derailed his career and Steve Watson was out of the NFL after the 1987 strike-marred season. As is obvious by his yards per catch average, he was a top deep threat who caught lots of long touchdowns.

Steve Watson, Cris Collinsworth and Steve Largent were the last three great White wide receivers before the Caste System fully kicked in with the resulting 11- year drought from '87 through '97 when no White WRs or TEs reached 1,000 yards.

 

[Shadowlight]

Largent was a great receiver and even though he was not a jet less was made of that back then. Collinsworth had very good speed and was a deep threat and Watson was a forgotten man. Not considered having elite speed ( although he had pretty good speed) Watson was still a real deep threat but he vanished from view very quickly. I remember liking him but he vanished quickly. I am surprised he had that many (5 or so) terrific seasons. Before these guys one guy who could fly was the Colt's Roger Carr who was on the receiving end of deep bombs from Bert Jones. He had serious speed and was primarily used as a deep threat.

 

[Don Wassall]

Roger Carr was 6'3" and had world class speed. I remember him from the '70s but wasn't aware of the Caste System then. Looking at his career stats, he had one huge year (1976) sandwiched by a bunch of so-so years, reminiscent of Brandon Stokley, Drew Bennett and other White receivers who had a big year but were demoted instead of maintaining their star status.

Carr was crazy good in 1976 -- 43 catches for 1,112 yards, for a ridiculous 25.9 yards per catch average, and 11 TDs. He played ten years but ended with just 271 receptions. I do remember him being flaky, as so many White athletes were in the strange 1970s, the decade Middle America capitulated and was successfully co-opted by cultural communism, including the drug culture that went with it hand in glove back then.

 

[celticdb15]

Awesome, hadn't heard of Carr or Watson until today!!