Everyone tend to get excited about players selected in the first round, but with wide receivers, the reality is that you tend to see little immediate success. Ian Allan explores.
I will focus for just a moment on DeAndre Hopkins and Cordarrelle Patterson. These are the wide receivers selected late in the first round.
The Texans and Vikings are hoping these guys can be big stars.
Maybe they will be. Neither team has any reason yet to express buyer's remorse.
But it's rare to see receivers selected in that range of the draft make much of an impact as a rookie.
In this century (that is, since 2000), 26 wide receivers have been selected in the second half of the first round. Of that group of 26, only a handful had much of any success as rookies.
None of them reached 1,000 yards, for example. Dwayne Bowe came close (995), and Santonio Holmes finished with 824. Only three others reached 700.
Three managed to catch 6 TDs -- Dez Bryant, Percy Harvin and Hakeem Nicks. With Bryant and Harvin, they also scored 2 TDs each on kick returns, so some value there. Only two other wide receivers in this group of 26 scored 5 TDs.
And that's pretty much it.
If you want to simply average the production of these other receivers, you get 33 catches, 451 yards and 2.7 TDs. That's the kind of production to expect from Hopkins and Patterson. Not guys you should be targeting in fantasy leagues with the notion they'll be helping you this year.
| RECEIVERS DRAFTED IN SECOND HALF OF FIRST ROUND | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Receiver | No | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2000 | K.C. | Sylvester Morris | 48 | 678 | 14.1 | 3 |
| 2000 | Jac. | R. Jay Soward | 14 | 154 | 11.0 | 1 |
| 2001 | Ind. | Reggie Wayne | 27 | 345 | 12.8 | 0 |
| 2001 | Phil. | Freddie Mitchell | 21 | 283 | 13.5 | 1 |
| 2002 | Den. | Ashley Lelie | 35 | 525 | 15.0 | 2 |
| 2002 | G.B. | Javon Walker | 23 | 319 | 13.9 | 1 |
| 2003 | Ariz. | Bryant Johnson | 35 | 438 | 12.5 | 1 |
| 2004 | S.F. | Rashaun Woods | 7 | 160 | 22.9 | 1 |
| 2004 | Atl. | Michael Jenkins | 7 | 119 | 17.0 | 0 |
| 2005 | Atl. | Roddy White | 29 | 446 | 15.4 | 3 |
| 2005 | Jac. | Matt Jones | 36 | 432 | 12.0 | 5 |
| 2005 | Balt. | Mark Clayton | 44 | 471 | 10.7 | 3 |
| 2006 | Pitt. | Santonio Holmes | 49 | 824 | 16.8 | 3 |
| 2007 | S.D. | Craig Davis | 20 | 188 | 9.4 | 1 |
| 2007 | K.C. | Dwayne Bowe | 70 | 995 | 14.2 | 5 |
| 2007 | Ind. | Anthony Gonzalez | 37 | 576 | 15.6 | 3 |
| 2007 | N.O. | Robert Meachem | 0 | 0 | --- | 0 |
| 2009 | Phil. | Jeremy Maclin | 56 | 773 | 13.8 | 4 |
| 2009 | NYG | Hakeem Nicks | 47 | 790 | 16.8 | 6 |
| 2009 | Tenn. | Kenny Britt | 42 | 701 | 16.7 | 3 |
| 2009 | Minn. | Percy Harvin | 60 | 790 | 13.2 | 8 |
| 2010 | Den. | Demaryius Thomas | 22 | 283 | 12.9 | 2 |
| 2010 | Dall. | Dez Bryant | 45 | 561 | 12.5 | 8 |
| 2011 | K.C. | Jon Baldwin | 21 | 254 | 12.1 | 1 |
| 2012 | S.F. | A.J. Jenkins | 0 | 0 | --- | 0 |
| 2012 | Tenn. | Kendall Wright | 64 | 626 | 9.8 | 4 |
| 2013 | Hou. | DeAndre Hopkins | ||||
| 2013 | Minn. | Cordarrelle Patterson | ||||