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Goal-line receiving

The curious case of Charles Clay

The Dolphins have tagged Charles Clay with the transition tag. He’ll wind up re-signing there, and that’s fine. He’s got some ability. But in basketball terms, he couldn’t buy a bucket last year.

When the Dolphins were inside the 5 last year, they threw 9 passes to Clay, and he remarkably didn’t score on any of them. He caught 2 underneath balls, but he didn’t score on any of those 9 plays.

By my count, that’s the worst of any player in this century.

I took the time to pick through the numbers of the last 15 seasons. I found 35 other players with at least 5 pass plays who scored on less than 20 percent of their plays. (Guys who scored 20 or more percent, they’re not listed here.)

For these purposes, I’m including 2-point conversions. If they throw to you on a 2-point attempt, that counts as a pass, and I’m just counting those as “scores”, since they’ve successfully got it to you in the end zone.

Miami didn’t have much success getting it to Clay in the end zone last year.

SCORING ON UNDER 20 PERCENT OF GOAL LINE PASSES
YearPlayerAttNoTDPct
2000Richie Anderson, NYJ5200%
2001Terrell Owens, S.F.92111%
2001Peerless Price, Buff.5000%
2002Mikhael Ricks, Det.81113%
2002Jerramy Stevens, Sea.61117%
2002Chad Johnson, Cin.6000%
2002John Owens, Det.5000%
2003L.J. Smith, Phil.5000%
2004Eric Moulds, Buff.81113%
2004Terrell Owens, Phil.62117%
2004Amani Toomer, NYG5000%
2005Randy Hymes, Balt.71114%
2005Marvin Harrison, Ind.62117%
2005Reggie Wayne, Ind.61117%
2005Justin McCareins, NYJ61117%
2005Tony Gonzalez, K.C.5100%
2006Chris Chambers, Mia.12118%
2007Brandon Marshall, Den.71114%
2007Chris Cooley, Wash.61117%
2008Dustin Keller, NYJ61117%
2008Ashley Lelie, Oak.61117%
2008Steve Smith, Car.5100%
2009Brent Celek, Phil.71114%
2011Brandon Marshall, Mia.8000%
2011Marcedes Lewis, Jac.8000%
2011A.J. Green, Cin.61117%
2012Julio Jones, Atl.81113%
2012Calvin Johnson, Det.61117%
2013Josh Gordon, Clev.81113%
2013Jordy Nelson, G.B.62117%
2013Cecil Shorts III, Jac.61117%
2013Justin Blackmon, Jac.5000%
2014Charles Clay, Mia.9200%
2014Julian Edelman, N.E.72114%
2014Alshon Jeffery, Chi.71114%

—Ian Allan

4 Reader Comments:

DENNIS LYONS

Elk Grove, CA
2015-03-09T21:38:16Z
It would be interesting to know with a player like Clay if this was a 1 year fluke thing and to see how they did the year before and did they bounce back the next year to a more normal or better level.

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2015-03-09T23:45:10Z
Clay was very good inside the 10 a year ago, catching 7 of the 9 passes thrown his way, with 4 going for touchdowns.

Dave (MOJO) Smith

Walls, MS
2015-03-10T01:19:51Z
Clay was injured a lot this year which might have been a factor.

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2015-03-10T02:40:32Z
They also had a completely different offense in 2013.
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