FanPost

AJ Green’s rookie campaign... how does it compare?

Looking at the All-Time list, here is how AJ Green has fared:

#

name

yr

rec

yd

td

1

Randy Moss

1998

69

1313

17

2

Bill Groman

1960

72

1473

12

3

Billy Howton

1952

53

1231

13

4

Anquan Boldin

2003

101

1377

8

5

John Jefferson

1978

56

1001

13

6

Bob Hayes

1965

46

1003

12

7

Michael Clayton

2004

80

1193

7

8

Marques Colston

2006

70

1038

8

9

Sammy White

1976

51

906

10

10

Terry Glenn

1996

90

1132

6

11

Cris Collinsworth

1981

67

1009

8

12

AJ Green

2011

65

1057

7

13

Joey Galloway

1995

67

1039

7

14

Julio Jones

2011

54

959

8

15

Eddie Brown

1985

53

942

8

.

If my collection of rookie WR seasons is complete, AJ Green finished with the 12th best rookie WR season in the history of the NFL! Not too bad for a kid with a limited preseason and a rookie QB who supposedly has bad arm strength.

Also of note, 2 other Bengals made the list – Eddie Brown and Chris Collins.

The 3 guys that 99% of you haven’t heard of (Groman, Howton, Hayes) had ridiculous 20+ yards per catch numbers (Howton 23.2 ypc, Hayes 21.8 ypc, Groman 20.5 ypc) in their rookie seasons, which were the highest of anybody on the list, ahead of Moss’ 19.0 ypc which was 4th.

I used fantasy football points as a way to try to rank them...6 pts per td and 1 pt for every 10 rec yards.

I know a million people will come up with a million ranking schemes, but it’s one that is widely known and the one that I picked. So deal with it :-)

.

.

Since 2000, here is how AJ Green has fared with other rookies:

#

name

yr

rec

yd

td

1

Anquan Boldin

2003

101

1377

8

2

Michael Clayton

2004

80

1193

7

3

Marques Colston

2006

70

1038

8

4

AJ Green

2011

65

1057

7

5

Julio Jones

2011

54

959

8

6

Lee Evans

2004

48

843

9

7

Roy Williams

2004

54

817

8

8

Dwayne Bowe

2007

70

995

5

9

Eddie Royal

2008

90

980

5

10

Larry Fitzgerald

2004

58

780

8

AJ is #4 on the list since 2000, while fellow rookie Julio Jones finishes at 5th, right behind AJ.

Interestingly, some of these guys have gone on to become great (Fitzgerald), others have gone on to be very good (Boldin, Colston, Bowe) and others have just faded (Clayton, Royal, Williams).

.

.



So the big question becomes how does AJ Green do going forward? He had a great rookie year, so does he follow the trajectory of guys like Fitzgerald, Andre Johnson & Calvin Johnson who went on to be the top 3 WR’s in the NFL over the last half decade? Does he flame out like Michael Clayton or Eddie Royal? Or does he linger in the very good category but fail to become elite (like Bowe, Boldin, Colston)?

.

I’m sure I probably missed a couple rookie WR’s who had great seasons that should be in the lists.

If that is you, I’m sorry.

If that’s not you, oh well...

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.