In 2011, A.J. Green and Julio Jones had viable rookie seasons, but those guys are exceptions. When you look at less-coveted receivers -- guys selected outside the top 20 -- it's extremely rare to see somebody make an impact in their first season.
Tavon Austin has some promise. He's the No. 8 pick of the draft and a guy the Rams hope/think will be their leading pass-catcher from the git-go. He might catch 70-80 passes in his first year.
But what about the next tier of receivers? What about the likes DeAndre Hopkins, Cordarrelle Patterson, Justin Hunter and Robert Woods. The Titans and Vikings would very much like for their rookies to start and make a nice impact immediately. And Woods could start for the Bills (they ain't got much else).
But those guys were all selected in the low first round or early in the second. And historically, it's really rare to see one of those guys make much of an impact. In this century (since 2000), 58 wide receivers have been selected between 20th and 50th. None of those guys reached 1,000 yards.
Only three managed to go over 900 yards. Andre Davis, with 7 TDs, was your top scorer. Only three others (out of 58 receivers) scoredd 6 TDs. It's tough for these guys to come in an thrive right away.
If you're selecting one of these receivers, I hope you're in a dynasty format.
'Second Tier' Rookie receivers since 2000 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | No | Yds | TD | Pts | |
2007 | Dwayne Bowe | 70 | 995 | 5 | 129.5 |
2008 | Eddie Royal | 91 | 980 | 5 | 128.0 |
2008 | DeSean Jackson | 62 | 912 | 4 | 115.2 |
2009 | Percy Harvin | 60 | 790 | 6 | 115.0 |
2009 | Hakeem Nicks | 47 | 790 | 6 | 115.0 |
2006 | Santonio Holmes | 49 | 824 | 3 | 100.4 |
2011 | Titus Young | 48 | 607 | 6 | 96.7 |
2010 | Dez Bryant | 45 | 561 | 6 | 92.1 |
2009 | Kenny Britt | 42 | 701 | 3 | 88.1 |
2012 | Kendall Wright | 64 | 626 | 4 | 86.6 |
2000 | Sylvester Morris | 48 | 678 | 3 | 85.8 |
2008 | Donnie Avery | 53 | 674 | 3 | 85.4 |
2002 | Andre Davis | 37 | 420 | 7 | 84.0 |
2005 | Reggie Brown | 43 | 571 | 4 | 81.1 |
2009 | Mohamed Massaquoi | 34 | 624 | 3 | 80.4 |
2007 | Anthony Gonzalez | 37 | 576 | 3 | 75.6 |
2005 | Matt Jones | 36 | 432 | 5 | 73.2 |
2005 | Mark Clayton | 44 | 471 | 3 | 65.1 |
2007 | Sidney Rice | 31 | 396 | 4 | 63.6 |
2002 | Josh Reed | 37 | 514 | 2 | 63.4 |
2005 | Roddy White | 29 | 446 | 3 | 62.6 |
2001 | Quincy Morgan | 30 | 432 | 2 | 55.2 |
2012 | Alshon Jeffery | 24 | 367 | 3 | 54.7 |
2002 | Jabar Gaffney | 41 | 483 | 1 | 54.3 |
2010 | Arrelious Benn | 25 | 395 | 2 | 51.5 |
2008 | Jordy Nelson | 33 | 366 | 2 | 48.6 |
2012 | Stephen Hill | 21 | 252 | 3 | 43.2 |
2000 | Dennis Northcutt | 39 | 422 | 0 | 42.2 |
2010 | Demaryius Thomas | 22 | 283 | 2 | 40.3 |
2003 | Bethel Johnson | 16 | 209 | 3 | 38.9 |
2001 | Chad Johnson | 28 | 329 | 1 | 38.9 |
2002 | Reche Caldwell | 22 | 208 | 3 | 38.8 |
2002 | Javon Walker | 23 | 319 | 1 | 37.9 |
2001 | Reggie Wayne | 27 | 345 | 0 | 34.5 |
2001 | Freddie Mitchell | 21 | 283 | 1 | 34.3 |
2006 | Chad Jackson | 13 | 152 | 3 | 33.2 |
2011 | Jon Baldwin | 21 | 254 | 1 | 31.4 |
2012 | Brian Quick | 11 | 156 | 2 | 27.6 |
2010 | Dexter McCluster | 21 | 209 | 1 | 26.9 |
2007 | Craig Davis | 20 | 188 | 1 | 24.8 |
2005 | Mark Bradley | 18 | 230 | 0 | 23.0 |
2004 | Rashaun Woods | 7 | 160 | 1 | 22.0 |
2000 | R. Jay Soward | 14 | 154 | 1 | 21.4 |
2008 | James Hardy | 9 | 87 | 2 | 20.7 |
2000 | Todd Pinkston | 10 | 181 | 0 | 18.1 |
2008 | Devin Thomas | 15 | 120 | 1 | 18.0 |
2004 | Michael Jenkins | 7 | 119 | 0 | 11.9 |
2009 | Brian Robiskie | 7 | 106 | 0 | 10.6 |
2003 | Taylor Jacobs | 3 | 37 | 1 | 9.7 |
2007 | Dwayne Jarrett | 6 | 73 | 0 | 7.3 |
2002 | Tim Carter | 2 | 37 | 0 | 3.7 |
2006 | Sinorice Moss | 5 | 25 | 0 | 2.5 |
2000 | Jerry Porter | 1 | 6 | 0 | .6 |
2008 | Jerome Simpson | 1 | 2 | 0 | .2 |
2012 | A.J. Jenkins | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 |
2007 | Robert Meachem | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 |
2004 | Devery Henderson | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 |
2001 | Robert Ferguson | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 |
--Ian Allan