Odell Beckham Jr. is a controversial young wideout, with emotions and antics (on-field and on the sidelines) sometimes overshadowing or detracting from his performance. But there's no denying that he's one of the most talented wideouts in the game -- today, and in recent memory.
He was one of the top performers during Pro Bowl week, catching 6 passes for 93 yards in the game, impressing in the various skills challenges, and being one of the better representatives as far as interacting with the fans. Some Giants fans gripe about his actions hurting the team now and again, plus he came up small in the playoff loss. But hard to ignore his on-field accomplishments.
Over the last 20 years, only one other first-round wideout has had a better start to his career, and that guy will end up in the Hall of Fame (Randy Moss). Beckham in his first three seasons has more total yards, and touchdowns, than any other receiver.
Lot of great young wideouts in the NFL today, including one who will play in Sunday's Super Bowl. But tough to drop Beckham behind very many of them.
The top 35 first-round wideouts (ranked by yards) in the first three seasons of their career over the past two decades are shown below.
YARDS AND TOUCHDOWNS, FIRST THREE SEASONS (1997-PRESENT) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Yds (1) | TD (1) | Yds (2) | TD (2) | Yds (3) | TD (3) | Yds (Tot) | TD (tot) |
Randy Moss | 1313 | 17 | 1413 | 12 | 1437 | 15 | 4163 | 44 |
Odell Beckham Jr. | 1305 | 12 | 1450 | 13 | 1367 | 10 | 4122 | 35 |
A.J. Green | 1057 | 7 | 1350 | 11 | 1426 | 11 | 3833 | 29 |
Torry Holt | 788 | 6 | 1635 | 6 | 1363 | 7 | 3786 | 19 |
Mike Evans | 1051 | 12 | 1206 | 3 | 1321 | 12 | 3578 | 27 |
DeAndre Hopkins | 802 | 2 | 1210 | 6 | 1521 | 11 | 3533 | 19 |
David Boston | 473 | 2 | 1156 | 7 | 1598 | 8 | 3227 | 17 |
Larry Fitzgerald | 780 | 8 | 1409 | 10 | 946 | 6 | 3135 | 24 |
Calvin Johnson | 756 | 5 | 1331 | 12 | 984 | 5 | 3071 | 22 |
Hakeem Nicks | 790 | 6 | 1052 | 11 | 1192 | 7 | 3034 | 24 |
Lee Evans | 843 | 9 | 743 | 7 | 1292 | 8 | 2878 | 24 |
Dez Bryant | 561 | 8 | 928 | 9 | 1382 | 12 | 2871 | 29 |
Brandin Cooks | 550 | 4 | 1138 | 9 | 1173 | 8 | 2861 | 21 |
Roy Williams | 817 | 8 | 687 | 8 | 1310 | 7 | 2814 | 23 |
Andre Johnson | 976 | 4 | 1142 | 6 | 688 | 2 | 2806 | 12 |
Julio Jones | 959 | 8 | 1198 | 10 | 580 | 2 | 2737 | 20 |
Braylon Edwards | 512 | 3 | 884 | 6 | 1289 | 16 | 2685 | 25 |
Koren Robinson | 536 | 1 | 1240 | 5 | 896 | 5 | 2672 | 11 |
Percy Harvin | 790 | 8 | 868 | 7 | 967 | 9 | 2625 | 24 |
Dwayne Bowe | 995 | 5 | 1022 | 7 | 589 | 4 | 2606 | 16 |
Plaxico Burress | 273 | 0 | 1008 | 6 | 1325 | 7 | 2606 | 13 |
Jeremy Maclin | 773 | 4 | 964 | 10 | 859 | 5 | 2596 | 19 |
Santonio Holmes | 824 | 3 | 942 | 8 | 821 | 5 | 2587 | 16 |
Sammy Watkins | 982 | 6 | 1047 | 9 | 430 | 2 | 2459 | 17 |
Michael Floyd | 562 | 2 | 1041 | 5 | 841 | 6 | 2444 | 13 |
Kendall Wright | 626 | 4 | 1079 | 2 | 715 | 6 | 2420 | 12 |
Javon Walker | 319 | 1 | 716 | 9 | 1382 | 12 | 2417 | 22 |
Rod Gardner | 741 | 4 | 1006 | 8 | 600 | 5 | 2347 | 17 |
Demaryius Thomas | 283 | 2 | 551 | 4 | 1434 | 10 | 2268 | 16 |
Michael Crabtree | 625 | 2 | 741 | 6 | 874 | 4 | 2240 | 12 |
Ashley Lelie | 525 | 2 | 628 | 2 | 1084 | 7 | 2237 | 11 |
Roddy White | 446 | 3 | 506 | 0 | 1202 | 6 | 2154 | 9 |
Kelvin Benjamin | 1008 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 941 | 7 | 1949 | 16 |
Mark Clayton | 471 | 3 | 939 | 5 | 531 | 0 | 1941 | 8 |
Michael Clayton | 1193 | 7 | 372 | 0 | 356 | 1 | 1921 | 8 |
--Andy Richardson