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Steve Smith vs. Carolina

The track record of payback receivers against former teams

Show of hands: Who believes in the “payback” dimension of a team playing against his former team? It seemed to work last week, when DeSean Jackson played through a shoulder injury and had a big game against the Eagles. But do those kind of players really tend to bring a little something extra to the table when they’re matched up against their former team?

After all, you could reasonably conclude that the guys left behind on the former team would in theory be more interested in stopping the returning star.

There’s another one of these big games this weekend, with Steve Smith going against the team that kicked him to the curb in the offseason. Smith, like Jackson, seems to be a player who increases his level of play in such situations. As well as he’s playing, Smith is certainly a guy to plug into a fantasy lineup this week.

But in these kind of situations, best not to widen the search and look at a larger sample of data. I went back to 2002, the year they went to 32 teams, and made note of all the big-time type receivers getting to play for the first time against their previous team.

There are some games where the player seemed to be extra motivated and really on his game. Deion Branch, for example, didn’t do much of anything when he was in Seattle, but when he got a shot at the Patriots, he was flying around and caught a pair of touchdowns. Same with Robert Meachem (who switched from New Orleans to San Diego).

Anquan Boldin seemed to be on a mission when he played against Arizona for the first time. He didn’t have a great first season in Baltimore, but in his game against the Cardinals, he caught 7 passes for 145 yards.

On the flip side, there have been plenty of similar kinds of situations where the affected receiver didn’t do much of anything. Terrell Owens flopped in his first game back at Philadelphia. Three superstar-type receivers came back to play Pittsburgh, and none of them had more than 40 yards – Santonio Holmes, Plaxico Burress and Mike Wallace.

The overall numbers, in my opinion, don’t add clarity to the situation. Of the last 30 of these kind of receivers, they’ve averaged 59 yards per game. 11 of the 30 have scored. If you had a full season’s worth of these kind of receivers (one guy playing 16 games) it would translate into 67 catches, 944 yards and 8 TDs. Good, but not super special.

ELITE RECEIVERS IN FIRST GAME AGAINST FORMER TEAM
YearPlayer, TeamOppNoYdsAvgTD
2002Jerry Rice, Oak.S.F.67412.30
2002Terry Glenn, G.B.N.E.3196.30
2003Keenan McCardell, T.B.Jac.8749.30
2004Joe Horn, N.O.K.C.516733.41
2005Terrell Owens, Phil.S.F.514328.62
2005Derrick Mason, Balt.Tenn.8607.51
2005Muhsin Muhammad, Chi.Car.6498.21
2006Terrell Owens, Dall.Phil.34515.00
2006Keyshawn Johnson, Car.Dall.11919.00
2007Randy Moss, N.E.Oak.56713.42
2007Santana Moss, Wash.NYJ44912.30
2008Deion Branch, Sea.N.E.48822.02
2008Bernard Berrian, Minn.Chi.68113.51
2008Isaac Bruce, S.F.St.L.12020.00
2008Plaxico Burress, NYGPitt.3155.00
2009Torry Holt, Jac.St.L.510120.20
2009Laveranues Coles, Cin.NYJ3196.30
2010Brandon Marshall, Mia.Den.66110.20
2010Santonio Holmes, NYJPitt.6406.70
2011Anquan Boldin, Balt.Ariz.714520.70
2012Robert Meachem, S.D.N.O.36722.32
2012Brandon Lloyd, N.E.St.L.22814.02
2012Sidney Rice, Sea.Minn.45413.51
2012Brandon Lloyd, N.E.Den.33411.30
2012Vincent Jackson, T.B.S.D.55911.80
2013Wes Welker, Den.N.E.4317.80
2013Mike Wallace, Mia.Pitt.2199.50
2013Percy Harvin, Sea.Minn.11717.00
2013Greg Jennings, Minn.G.B.199.00
2014DeSean Jackson, Wash.Phil.511723.41

—Ian Allan

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