In the 2020 NFL season, 18 players went for 1,000 or more receiving yards. 16 of them were wide receivers, including league-leader Stefon Diggs, perennial top-tier threats DeAndre Hopkins and Tyreek Hill, and rising stars Justin Jefferson and Terry McLaurin. The other two were tight ends Travis Kelce and Darren Waller, whose playing styles represent that of a wide receiver more than anything else. 2019 saw eleven more players achieve the 1,000-yard feat, including running back Christian McCaffrey.
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To make it easier for you to visualize the statistical trend of the frequency of a 1,000-yard receiver, here's a list of each of the past 10 seasons, and how many players were able to reach that threshold.
2020: 18
2019: 29
2018: 21
2017: 15
2016: 25
2015: 26
2014: 23
2013: 24
2012: 20
2011: 19
It appears that the low-to-mid-20s is the sweet spot for this figure based on recent trends. So it may come as a surprise to hear that Yahoo Sports' fantasy football projections for the 2021 season features not 18 players, or 22 players, or 26 players that they see as 1,000-yard receivers. Instead, these projections have 55 players going over 1,000 yards.
Yahoo Sports' rankings came to my attention thanks to a Reddit post, showing that Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown was projected for 1,062 yards on 141 targets, both of which were higher than fellow rookie Ja'Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals. I thought that was an interesting projection, so I decided to join a draft lobby and see all of the projections for myself.
Before I mention the full list, it's worth noting that there are a few things that probably factor into these projections. One is that they probably don't account for injuries, and if every player had a full season, there'd probably be a lot more 1,000-yard campaigns each year. Another is that this is a 17-game season, so figures from past years may seem a little bit low once everyone in the 900-yard range gets that extra game to push them over 1,000.
But 55 1,000-yard pass-catchers? If that's the case, we're going to be looking at a whole lot of offense in 2021... and I'm not necessarily opposed to that! Here are all the players, sorted by position:
WR (49)
- Tyreek Hill
- Stefon Diggs
- DK Metcalf
- DeAndre Hopkins
- Calvin Ridley
- Terry McLaurin
- Davante Adams
- A.J. Brown
- Justin Jefferson
- Chris Godwin
- DJ Moore
- Keenan Allen
- Allen Robinson II
- Corey Davis
- Tyler Lockett
- Cooper Kupp
- Robby Anderson
- Mike Evans
- CeeDee Lamb
- Odell Beckham Jr.
- Amari Cooper
- Jerry Jeudy
- Julio Jones
- Robert Woods
- Diontae Johnson
- Brandin Cooks
- DJ Chark Jr.
- Jakobi Meyers
- Adam Thielen
- Courtland Sutton
- Jarvis Landry
- Mike Williams
- Jamison Crowder
- T.Y. Hilton
- JuJu Smith-Schuster
- Amon-Ra St. Brown
- Sterling Shepard
- Kenny Golladay
- Mecole Hardman
- Jaylen Waddle
- Michael Pittman Jr.
- Tee Higgins
- Brandon Aiyuk
- Ja'Marr Chase
- Nelson Agholor
- Chase Claypool
- Jalen Reagor
- Deebo Samuel
- Will Fuller V
(got all that?)
TE (5)
- Travis Kelce
- Darren Waller
- George Kittle
- T.J. Hockenson
- Noah Fant
RB (1)
- Christian McCaffrey
Perhaps we'll see more 1,000-yard receivers than ever before in 2021, and if that's the case, I missed a pretty important entry on my list from earlier this week.
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