With the NFL Draft approaching, we've been taking a look over the last few weeks at how recent rookies have panned out in the NFL. First we did running backs from the first, second and third rounds; now we'll take a look at wide receivers. We're examining players drafted since 2000.
Evaluations are a little tricky because whether a player has been great or not is often a matter of opinion. Kenny Britt, Hakeem Nicks, Jeremy Maclin and Percy Harvin. Are those players great? All are talented and have had at least one great season. But there's a difference between them and somebody like Andre Johnson.
Regardless, here are all the first-round wide receivers drafted since 2000. We'll look at second- and third-rounders later this week. I've sorted by their rookie year yardage, then offered an opinion as to whether they should be considered "great" or not. There's certainly room for debate. Santonio Holmes: Great? Hard to say. Feel free to disagree; it's not an exact science.
If you go with my determinations, it looks like we've got 5 question marks and 14 great players out of 55 (25 %). Pretty similar to running backs. If you want to be more generous with great, including the likes of Maclin, Harvin, Holmes and maybe Dwayne Bowe, you'd drift up into 1 out of 3 range.
| FIRST-ROUND WIDE RECEIVERS, 2000-2014 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pick | Player | Team | Rec | Yards | TDs | Great? |
| 2014 | 12 | Odell Beckham Jr. | Giants | 91 | 1305 | 12 | Yes |
| 2004 | 15 | Michael Clayton | Bucs | 80 | 1193 | 7 | No |
| 2011 | 4 | A.J. Green | Bengals | 65 | 1057 | 7 | Yes |
| 2014 | 7 | Mike Evans | Buccaneers | 68 | 1051 | 12 | Yes |
| 2014 | 28 | Kelvin Benjamin | Panthers | 73 | 1008 | 9 | ? |
| 2007 | 23 | Dwayne Bowe | Kansas City | 70 | 995 | 5 | No |
| 2014 | 4 | Sammy Watkins | Bills | 65 | 982 | 6 | ? |
| 2003 | 3 | Andre Johnson | Texans | 66 | 976 | 4 | Yes |
| 2011 | 6 | Julio Jones | Falcons | 54 | 959 | 8 | Yes |
| 2012 | 5 | Justin Blackmon | Jaguars | 64 | 865 | 5 | No |
| 2004 | 13 | Lee Evans | Bills | 48 | 843 | 9 | No |
| 2006 | 25 | Santonio Holmes | Steelers | 49 | 824 | 3 | No |
| 2004 | 7 | Roy Williams | Lions | 54 | 817 | 8 | No |
| 2013 | 27 | DeAndre Hopkins | Texans | 52 | 802 | 2 | ? |
| 2009 | 22 | Percy Harvin | Vikings | 60 | 790 | 8 | No |
| 2009 | 29 | Hakeem Nicks | Giants | 47 | 790 | 6 | Yes |
| 2004 | 3 | Larry Fitzgerald | Cardinals | 58 | 780 | 8 | Yes |
| 2009 | 19 | Jeremy Maclin | Eagles | 56 | 773 | 4 | No |
| 2007 | 2 | Calvin Johnson | Lions | 48 | 756 | 5 | Yes |
| 2001 | 15 | Rod Gardner | Washington | 46 | 741 | 4 | No |
| 2009 | 30 | Kenny Britt | Titans | 42 | 701 | 3 | No |
| 2000 | 21 | Sylvester Morris | Kansas City | 48 | 678 | 3 | No |
| 2012 | 20 | Kendall Wright | Titans | 64 | 626 | 4 | No |
| 2009 | 10 | Michael Crabtree | 49ers | 48 | 625 | 2 | No |
| 2002 | 13 | Donte Stallworth | Saints | 42 | 594 | 8 | No |
| 2000 | 4 | Peter Warrick | Bengals | 51 | 592 | 7 | No |
| 2007 | 32 | Anthony Gonzalez | Colts | 37 | 576 | 3 | No |
| 2012 | 13 | Michael Floyd | Cardinals | 45 | 562 | 2 | ? |
| 2010 | 24 | Dez Bryant | Cowboys | 45 | 561 | 8 | Yes |
| 2014 | 20 | Brandin Cooks | Saints | 53 | 550 | 4 | ? |
| 2001 | 9 | Koren Robinson | Seahawks | 39 | 536 | 1 | No |
| 2002 | 19 | Ashley Lelie | Broncos | 35 | 525 | 2 | No |
| 2005 | 3 | Braylon Edwards | Browns | 32 | 512 | 3 | No |
| 2005 | 22 | Mark Clayton | Ravens | 44 | 471 | 3 | No |
| 2013 | 29 | Cordarrelle Patterson | Vikings | 45 | 469 | 9 | No |
| 2005 | 27 | Roddy White | Falcons | 29 | 446 | 3 | Yes |
| 2003 | 17 | Bryant Johnson | Cardinals | 35 | 438 | 1 | No |
| 2005 | 21 | Matt Jones | Jaguars | 36 | 432 | 5 | No |
| 2007 | 9 | Ted Ginn Jr. | Dolphins | 34 | 420 | 3 | No |
| 2013 | 8 | Tavon Austin | Rams | 40 | 418 | 6 | No |
| 2001 | 8 | David Terrell | Bears | 34 | 415 | 4 | No |
| 2005 | 7 | Troy Williamson | Vikings | 24 | 372 | 2 | No |
| 2005 | 10 | Mike Williams | Lions | 29 | 350 | 1 | No |
| 2001 | 30 | Reggie Wayne | Colts | 27 | 345 | 0 | Yes |
| 2002 | 20 | Javon Walker | Packers | 23 | 319 | 1 | No |
| 2010 | 22 | Demaryius Thomas | Broncos | 22 | 283 | 2 | Yes |
| 2001 | 25 | Freddie Mitchell | Eagles | 21 | 283 | 1 | No |
| 2000 | 10 | Travis Taylor | Ravens | 28 | 276 | 3 | No |
| 2000 | 8 | Plaxico Burress | Steelers | 22 | 273 | 0 | Yes |
| 2004 | 9 | Reggie Williams | Jaguars | 27 | 268 | 1 | No |
| 2011 | 26 | Jon Baldwin | Kansas City | 21 | 254 | 1 | No |
| 2003 | 2 | Charles Rogers | Lions | 22 | 243 | 3 | No |
| 2007 | 30 | Craig Davis | Chargers | 20 | 188 | 1 | No |
| 2004 | 31 | Rashaun Woods | 49ers | 7 | 160 | 1 | No |
| 2000 | 29 | R. Jay Soward | Jaguars | 14 | 154 | 1 | No |
| 2009 | 7 | Darrius Heyward-Bey | Raiders | 9 | 124 | 1 | No |
| 2004 | 29 | Michael Jenkins | Falcons | 7 | 119 | 0 | No |
| 2001 | 16 | Santana Moss | Jets | 2 | 40 | 0 | Yes |
| 2012 | 30 | A.J. Jenkins | 49ers | 0 | 0 | 0 | No |
| 2007 | 27 | Robert Meachem | Saints | 0 | 0 | 0 | No |
--Andy Richardson