The odds are stacked against Reggie Wayne. He’s coming off reconstructive knee surgery, and he’s also getting old.
Wayne will be 36 in November. In the last 20 years, only five receivers who were 36-plus years old have been able to go over 1,000 yards in a season. Jerry Rice did it three times, and Jimmy Smith and Joey Galloway were the only others.
Only 12 receivers in the same period, in fact, have even gone over 800 yards. Rice has half of those. Only six by all other receivers.
36-YEAR-OLD WIDE RECEIVERS | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Age | Receiver | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
2002 | 40 | Jerry Rice | 92 | 1211 | 13.2 | 7 |
1998 | 36 | Jerry Rice | 82 | 1157 | 14.1 | 9 |
2001 | 39 | Jerry Rice | 83 | 1139 | 13.7 | 9 |
2005 | 36 | Jimmy Smith | 70 | 1023 | 14.6 | 6 |
2007 | 36 | Joey Galloway | 57 | 1014 | 17.8 | 6 |
2010 | 37 | Terrell Owens | 72 | 983 | 13.7 | 9 |
2002 | 36 | Tim Brown | 81 | 930 | 11.5 | 2 |
2001 | 36 | Cris Carter | 73 | 871 | 11.9 | 6 |
2003 | 41 | Jerry Rice | 63 | 869 | 13.8 | 2 |
2008 | 36 | Isaac Bruce | 61 | 835 | 13.7 | 7 |
1999 | 37 | Jerry Rice | 67 | 830 | 12.4 | 5 |
2000 | 38 | Jerry Rice | 75 | 805 | 10.7 | 7 |
—Ian Allan