In yesterday's post about rookie receivers, reader Robert McKinlay mentioned being cool on Drake London with him perhaps laboring on one of the league's worst teams this season. This interested me: does a bad team necessarily have lousy wide receivers?
In my mind, I figure a team that loses a lot would be passing more often, and could potentially have a top fantasy receiver. To see whether that's true, I took a look at the worst NFL teams since 2000, and pulled out the top wide receiver (PPR scoring) from each.
I set the loser threshold at fewer than 4 wins, which gave me 46 teams from the last 21 years. Table below shows the No. 1 wideout from each of those teams.
Exactly half (23) of those teams had a wideout finish in the top 30 at their position. That includes Amon-Ra St. Brown, who finished 22nd for the 3-14 Lions last year. Just eight of those teams (17 percent) had one rank in the top 15. The last of those was 2019 Kenny Golladay, who was the 9th-best PPR wideout for 3-12-1 Lions that year.
In the table, top-15 wideouts are in bold, top-30 in italics.
NO. 1 WIDEOUTS ON BAD TEAMS, 2001-2021 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Team | Wins | No. 1 WR | No | Yds | TD | Rk |
2021 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 3 | Marvin Jones | 73 | 832 | 4 | 34 |
2021 | Detroit Lions | 3 | Amon-Ra St. Brown | 90 | 912 | 5 | 22 |
2020 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 1 | DJ Chark | 53 | 706 | 5 | 49 |
2020 | New York Jets | 2 | Jamison Crowder | 59 | 699 | 6 | 39 |
2019 | Washington | 3 | Terry McLaurin | 58 | 919 | 7 | 30 |
2019 | Cincinnati Bengals | 2 | Tyler Boyd | 90 | 1046 | 5 | 17 |
2019 | Detroit Lions | 3.5 | Kenny Golladay | 65 | 1190 | 11 | 9 |
2018 | Arizona Cardinals | 3 | Larry Fitzgerald | 69 | 734 | 6 | 26 |
2017 | Cleveland Browns | 0 | Rashard Higgins | 27 | 312 | 2 | 86 |
2017 | New York Giants | 3 | Sterling Shepard | 59 | 731 | 2 | 42 |
2016 | San Francisco 49ers | 2 | Jeremy Kerley | 64 | 667 | 3 | 53 |
2016 | Chicago Bears | 3 | Cameron Meredith | 66 | 888 | 4 | 38 |
2016 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 3 | Allen Robinson | 73 | 883 | 6 | 26 |
2016 | Cleveland Browns | 1 | Terrelle Pryor | 77 | 1007 | 4 | 20 |
2015 | Tennessee Titans | 3 | Dorial Green-Beckham | 32 | 549 | 4 | 59 |
2015 | Cleveland Browns | 3 | Travis Benjamin | 68 | 966 | 5 | 28 |
2014 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 3 | Allen Hurns | 51 | 667 | 6 | 49 |
2014 | Tennessee Titans | 2 | Kendall Wright | 57 | 715 | 6 | 41 |
2014 | Oakland Raiders | 3 | James Jones | 73 | 666 | 6 | 38 |
2014 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 2 | Mike Evans | 68 | 1051 | 12 | 13 |
2013 | Washington | 3 | Pierre Garcon | 113 | 1346 | 5 | 11 |
2013 | Houston Texans | 2 | Andre Johnson | 109 | 1407 | 5 | 10 |
2012 | Kansas City | 2 | Dwayne Bowe | 59 | 801 | 3 | 43 |
2012 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 2 | Cecil Shorts | 55 | 979 | 7 | 26 |
2011 | St. Louis Rams | 2 | Brandon Gibson | 36 | 431 | 1 | 83 |
2011 | Indianapolis Colts | 2 | Pierre Garcon | 70 | 947 | 6 | 22 |
2011 | Minnesota Vikings | 3 | Percy Harvin | 87 | 967 | 9 | 6 |
2010 | Carolina Panthers | 2 | Steve Smith | 46 | 554 | 2 | 66 |
2009 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 3 | Antonio Bryant | 39 | 600 | 4 | 59 |
2009 | St. Louis Rams | 1 | Donnie Avery | 47 | 589 | 5 | 50 |
2009 | Detroit Lions | 2 | Calvin Johnson | 67 | 984 | 5 | 22 |
2008 | St. Louis Rams | 2 | Torry Holt | 64 | 796 | 3 | 35 |
2008 | Kansas City | 2 | Dwayne Bowe | 86 | 1022 | 7 | 16 |
2008 | Detroit Lions | 0 | Calvin Johnson | 78 | 1331 | 12 | 3 |
2007 | Miami Dolphins | 1 | Marty Booker | 50 | 556 | 1 | 65 |
2007 | St. Louis Rams | 3 | Torry Holt | 93 | 1189 | 7 | 11 |
2006 | Oakland Raiders | 2 | Ronald Curry | 62 | 7272 | 1 | 43 |
2006 | Detroit Lions | 3 | Roy Williams | 82 | 1310 | 7 | 9 |
2005 | Houston Texans | 2 | Andre Johnson | 63 | 688 | 2 | 42 |
2005 | New Orleans Saints | 3 | Donte Stallworth | 70 | 945 | 7 | 23 |
2004 | San Francisco 49ers | 2 | Brandon Lloyd | 43 | 565 | 6 | 46 |
2002 | Detroit Lions | 3 | Bill Schroeder | 36 | 595 | 5 | 57 |
2002 | Cincinnati Bengals | 2 | Chad Johnson | 69 | 1166 | 5 | 21 |
2001 | Carolina Panthers | 1 | Donald Hayes | 52 | 597 | 2 | 51 |
2001 | Buffalo Bills | 3 | Peerless Price | 55 | 895 | 7 | 30 |
2001 | Detroit Lions | 2 | Johnnie Morton | 77 | 1154 | 4 | 22 |
One of the things that strikes me from the table is just how lousy things have been in Detroit this century. That team has won 3 or fewer games seven times in the last 21 years. That's terrible, and two more times than the 2nd-worst team, Jacksonville.
Anyway, if we think we can identify who the league's worst teams will be this year -- Atlanta, perhaps, and I suspect Chicago will be in the discussion -- I'd contend there's no reason why they can't have at least a top-30 wide receiver, let's say Drake London or Darnell Mooney. Recent history suggests a 50-50 shot. Top-15 a lot less likely, but there's no chance of either of those guys being selected that early anyway. I don't plan to shy away from wideouts on teams I think will be lousy.
--Andy Richardson