It’s not a great year for wide receivers in the draft. None will be picked in the top 10. I would guess that we probably won’t see any in the top 20. There’s no Calvin Johnson or A.J. Green type freak pushing up into the top 5. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be some good players.
Five times in this century no receiver has gone in the top 10. In three of those seasons, none went in the top 20 -- 2006, 2008, 2010. (In 2002, Donte Stallworth was the first receiver off the board, at 13th, while Corey Coleman went 15th two years ago.)
But there are so many talented, motivated receivers trying to carve out names for themselves, that there are always guys coming in every year who go on to make an impact.
In a rough sense there have been 28 wide receivers in those five draft classes who have come in and moved the needle. This is an unscientific list, but 28 guys (I think) who at some point in their career have been coveted – who’ve at been chosen in the vast majority of fantasy leagues to at least come in and serve as a second or third receiver.
And plenty of big-time receivers in there. I see 12 that at some point in their career were definitely among the first 10 wide receivers selected in drafts. Antonio Brown, Jordy Nelson, Marques Colston and Greg Jennings in particular – not guys that anybody was talking about for weeks and weeks prior to their NFL drafts, but they went on to have great careers. Brown was just a sixth-round pick, and he’s been putting up Jerry Rice type numbers for a lot of years.
Here be those 28. I’m listing them by how they performed in their first year.
| ROOKIE RECEIVERS -- LEAN DRAFT YEARS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pk | Player | No | Yds | Avg | TD | Pts |
| 2016 | 47 | • Michael Thomas, N.O. | 92 | 1137 | 12.4 | 9 | 167.7 |
| 2010 | 101 | Mike Williams, T.B. | 65 | 964 | 14.8 | 11 | 162.4 |
| 2006 | 252 | • Marques Colston, N.O. | 70 | 1038 | 14.8 | 8 | 151.8 |
| 2016 | 165 | • Tyreek Hill, K.C. | 61 | 593 | 9.7 | 12 | 131.3 |
| 2008 | 42 | Eddie Royal, Den. | 91 | 980 | 10.8 | 5 | 128.0 |
| 2016 | 40 | Sterling Shepard, NYG | 65 | 683 | 10.5 | 8 | 116.3 |
| 2008 | 49 | • DeSean Jackson, Phil. | 62 | 912 | 14.7 | 4 | 115.2 |
| 2002 | 63 | Antonio Bryant, Dall. | 44 | 733 | 16.7 | 6 | 109.3 |
| 2002 | 13 | Donte Stallworth, N.O. | 42 | 594 | 14.1 | 8 | 107.4 |
| 2010 | 24 | • Dez Bryant, Dall. | 45 | 561 | 12.5 | 8 | 104.1 |
| 2006 | 25 | Santonio Holmes, Pitt. | 49 | 824 | 16.8 | 3 | 100.4 |
| 2016 | 21 | Will Fuller, Hou. | 47 | 635 | 13.5 | 3 | 81.5 |
| 2006 | 52 | • Greg Jennings, G.B. | 45 | 632 | 14.0 | 3 | 81.2 |
| 2016 | -- | Robby Anderson, NYJ | 42 | 587 | 14.0 | 2 | 70.7 |
| 2002 | 62 | Antwaan Randle El, Pitt. | 47 | 489 | 10.4 | 3 | 66.9 |
| 2002 | 65 | Deion Branch, N.E. | 43 | 489 | 11.4 | 2 | 60.9 |
| 2010 | 78 | Brandon LaFell, Car. | 38 | 468 | 12.3 | 1 | 52.8 |
| 2010 | 82 | • Emmanuel Sanders, Pitt. | 28 | 376 | 13.4 | 2 | 49.6 |
| 2008 | 36 | • Jordy Nelson, G.B. | 33 | 366 | 11.1 | 2 | 48.6 |
| 2006 | 119 | • Brandon Marshall, Den. | 20 | 309 | 15.5 | 2 | 42.9 |
| 2010 | 22 | • Demaryius Thomas, Den. | 22 | 283 | 12.9 | 2 | 40.3 |
| 2002 | 20 | • Javon Walker, G.B. | 23 | 319 | 13.9 | 1 | 37.9 |
| 2010 | 60 | Golden Tate, Sea. | 21 | 227 | 10.8 | 0 | 22.7 |
| 2008 | 224 | Stevie Johnson, Buff. | 10 | 102 | 10.2 | 2 | 22.2 |
| 2010 | 195 | • Antonio Brown, Pitt. | 16 | 167 | 10.4 | 0 | 16.7 |
| 2010 | 87 | Eric Decker, Den. | 6 | 106 | 17.7 | 1 | 16.6 |
| 2008 | 95 | Mario Manningham, NYG | 4 | 26 | 6.5 | 0 | 2.6 |
| 2008 | 205 | Pierre Garcon, Ind. | 4 | 23 | 5.8 | 0 | 2.3 |
—Ian Allan