Ted Ginn Jr. caught 10 touchdowns last year, and he did it despite catching only 44 passes. That make him the most potent per-catch scorer in the league, scoring on 23 percent of his catches. That’s rare.
Since the league moved to the 16-game schedule in 1978, only 16 other wide receivers have caught 10-plus touchdowns while catching under 50 passes.
Daryl Turner, who used to play opposite Steve Largent here in Seattle, was the all-time king of this category. He’s the only guy who’s done it twice, scoring on 23 of 69 receptions in the 1984-85 seasons.
| UNDER 50 CATCHES AND DOUBLE-DIGIT TOUCHDOWNS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Rec | Avg | TD |
| 1978 | Nat Moore, Mia. | 48 | 645 | 13.4 | 10 |
| 1979 | Stanley Morgan, N.E. | 44 | 1002 | 22.8 | 12 |
| 1980 | Bob Chandler, Oak. | 49 | 786 | 16.0 | 10 |
| 1984 | Freddie Solomon, S.F. | 40 | 737 | 18.4 | 10 |
| 1984 | Daryl Turner, Sea. | 35 | 715 | 20.4 | 10 |
| 1985 | Daryl Turner, Sea. | 34 | 670 | 19.7 | 13 |
| 1986 | Wesley Walker, NYJ | 49 | 1016 | 20.7 | 12 |
| 1987 | Mike Quick, Phil. | 46 | 790 | 17.2 | 11 |
| 1989 | Cris Carter, Phil. | 45 | 605 | 13.4 | 11 |
| 1992 | Michael Haynes, Atl. | 48 | 808 | 16.8 | 10 |
| 1997 | James Jett, Oak. | 46 | 804 | 17.5 | 12 |
| 2004 | Randy Moss, Minn. | 49 | 767 | 15.7 | 13 |
| 2007 | Reggie Williams, Jac. | 38 | 629 | 16.6 | 10 |
| 2009 | Robert Meachem, N.O. | 45 | 722 | 16.0 | 10 |
| 2013 | Jerricho Cotchery, Pitt. | 46 | 602 | 13.1 | 10 |
| 2014 | Torrey Smith, Balt. | 49 | 767 | 15.7 | 11 |
| 2015 | Ted Ginn Jr., Car. | 44 | 739 | 16.8 | 10 |
But is this kind of play sustainable? That is, can we count on Ginn with any confidence to continue to haul in 40-yard touchdowns? They’ve got Kelvin Benjamin coming back, which works against him. And they might also get more out of Devin Funchess.
Of the previous 16 of these receivers, only two came back the next year and posted even better numbers. For fantasy purposes, probably four others came back and did what could have been reasonably expected from them. Nat Moore, Stanley Morgan and James Jett all went over 800 yards, with 6 TDs each, and people weren’t drafting them with the expectation they’d do much more. Michael Haynes caught only 4 TDs but moved up to 72 receptions.
On the “decline” percentage number that’s added as the final column, that’s using the fantasy scoring system of 6 points for a touchdown catch and 1 point for every 10 yards.
| SAME RECEIVERS: THE NEXT SEASON | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Rec | Avg | TD | Decline |
| 1979 | Nat Moore, Mia. | 48 | 840 | 17.5 | 6 | 4% |
| 1980 | Stanley Morgan, N.E. | 45 | 991 | 22.0 | 6 | 22% |
| 1981 | Bob Chandler, Oak. | 26 | 458 | 17.6 | 4 | 50% |
| 1985 | Freddie Solomon, S.F. | 25 | 259 | 10.4 | 1 | 76% |
| 1985 | Daryl Turner, Sea. | 34 | 670 | 19.7 | 13 | +10% |
| 1986 | Daryl Turner, Sea. | 18 | 334 | 18.6 | 7 | 48% |
| 1987 | Wesley Walker, NYJ | 9 | 190 | 21.1 | 1 | 86% |
| 1988 | Mike Quick, Phil. | 22 | 508 | 23.1 | 4 | 48% |
| 1990 | Cris Carter, Minn. | 27 | 413 | 15.3 | 3 | 53% |
| 1993 | Michael Haynes, Atl. | 72 | 778 | 10.8 | 4 | 28% |
| 1998 | James Jett, Oak. | 45 | 882 | 19.6 | 6 | 19% |
| 2005 | Randy Moss, Oak. | 62 | 1136 | 18.3 | 8 | +4% |
| 2008 | Reggie Williams, Jac. | 37 | 364 | 9.8 | 3 | 56% |
| 2010 | Robert Meachem, N.O. | 44 | 638 | 14.5 | 5 | 29% |
| 2014 | Jerricho Cotchery, Car. | 48 | 580 | 12.1 | 1 | 47% |
| 2015 | Torrey Smith, S.F. | 33 | 663 | 20.1 | 4 | 37% |
—Ian Allan