There was an old-dog-new-tricks question raised in the comments yesterday, with somebody asking whether 32-year-old Julio Jones will transition successfully into a new offense. There’s a theory that older players, with more experience, do a better job of fitting in new offenses.
It’s not something I’ve looked into before. I have a file where I track free-agent movers, but it doesn’t have an age component included.
But we can look at that briefly now.
Below I’ve parsed out 27 wide receivers in the last 20 years who have posted top-30 numbers (using PPR scoring) then played for a new team the next season as somebody who is at least 30 years old.
(There are another half dozen guys would switched teams during one of the two seasons, but I am leaving them out.)
Of these 27 transplant receivers, 10 of them (over a third) were able to again put up top-30 numbers with their new team. Four of them actually got even better with their new team.
In the chart below, if a guy ranked even higher with his new team, he is in bold. The other six who finished with top-30 numbers in both seasons are tagged with black dots.
The work of Terrell Owens is impressive. He’s got two of the four seasons where he transplanted and got better, and he’s also got one of the other seasons where he went back-to-back.
| 30 FOR 30 WIDE RECEIVERS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player (Age) | No | Yds | TD | PPR | Rk | Old Tm | Old Stats | Rk |
| 2001 | Jerry Rice, Oak. (39) | 83 | 1139 | 9 | 250.9 | 12 | S.F. | 75-805-7 | 23 |
| 2002 | Cris Carter, Mia. (37) | 8 | 66 | 1 | 20.6 | 132 | Min. | 73-871-6 | 29 |
| 2002 | Johnnie Morton, K.C. (31) | 29 | 397 | 1 | 87.1 | 80 | Det. | 77-1154-4 | 22 |
| 2002 | Qadry Ismail, Ind. (32) | 44 | 462 | 3 | 108.2 | 67 | Balt. | 74-1059-7 | 20 |
| 2002 | Bill Schroeder, Det. (31) | 36 | 595 | 5 | 127.5 | 57 | G.B. | 53-918-9 | 27 |
| 2002 | Keenan McCardell, T.B. (32) | 61 | 670 | 6 | 164.3 | 41 | Jac. | 93-1110-6 | 15 |
| 2003 | Curtis Conway, NYJ (32) | 46 | 640 | 2 | 122.0 | 52 | S.D. | 57-852-7 | 27 |
| 2004 | Keenan McCardell, S.D. (34) | 31 | 393 | 1 | 76.6 | 82 | T.B. | 84-1174-9 | 8 |
| 2004 | Terrell Owens, Phil. (31) | 77 | 1200 | 14 | 280.5 | 6 | S.F. | 80-1102-9 | 11 |
| 2005 | Muhsin Muhammad, Chi. (32) | 64 | 750 | 4 | 163.0 | 33 | Car. | 93-1405-16 | 1 |
| 2005 | • Derrick Mason, Balt. (31) | 86 | 1073 | 3 | 211.3 | 19 | Ten. | 96-1168-7 | 11 |
| 2006 | Joe Jurevicius, Cle. (32) | 40 | 495 | 3 | 107.5 | 66 | Sea. | 55-694-10 | 29 |
| 2006 | Eric Moulds, Hou. (33) | 57 | 557 | 1 | 119.3 | 57 | Buff. | 81-816-4 | 28 |
| 2006 | • Keyshawn Johnson, Car. (34) | 70 | 815 | 5 | 181.9 | 28 | Dall. | 71-839-6 | 26 |
| 2009 | Laveranues Coles, Cin. (32) | 43 | 514 | 5 | 125.4 | 57 | NYJ | 70-850-7 | 24 |
| 2009 | • Terrell Owens, Buff. (36) | 55 | 829 | 6 | 179.3 | 27 | Dall. | 69-1052-10 | 11 |
| 2009 | • T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Sea. (32) | 79 | 911 | 3 | 188.1 | 25 | Cin. | 92-904-4 | 21 |
| 2010 | T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Balt. (33) | 30 | 398 | 3 | 87.8 | 78 | Sea. | 79-911-3 | 25 |
| 2010 | • Anquan Boldin, Balt. (30) | 64 | 837 | 7 | 189.6 | 25 | Ariz. | 84-1024-5 | 18 |
| 2010 | Terrell Owens, Cin. (37) | 72 | 983 | 9 | 224.3 | 17 | Buff. | 55-829-6 | 27 |
| 2012 | Jabar Gaffney, Mia. (32) | 4 | 68 | 0 | 10.8 | 162 | Was. | 68-947-5 | 26 |
| 2013 | • Wes Welker, Den. (32) | 73 | 778 | 10 | 210.8 | 21 | N.E. | 118-1354-6 | 7 |
| 2013 | Anquan Boldin, S.F. (33) | 85 | 1179 | 7 | 246.0 | 15 | Balt. | 65-921-4 | 30 |
| 2015 | Andre Johnson, Ind. (34) | 41 | 503 | 4 | 115.3 | 58 | Hou. | 85-936-3 | 28 |
| 2017 | Pierre Garcon, S.F. (31) | 40 | 500 | 0 | 90.0 | 75 | Was. | 79-1041-3 | 24 |
| 2018 | Michael Crabtree, Balt. (31) | 54 | 607 | 3 | 132.7 | 56 | Oak. | 58-618-8 | 30 |
| 2019 | Antonio Brown, N.E. (31) | 4 | 56 | 1 | 16.1 | 154 | Pitt. | 104-1297-15 | 5 |
—Ian Allan