2016 Leaders in Percentage of Team Adjusted Catch Yards

by Chase Stuart on March 13, 2017

On the surface, Kenny Britt didn’t have a remarkable season. He had just 1,002 yards, to go along with 68 receptions and 5 touchdowns. But then again, every receiver is playing in a different environment, and Britt’s environment was very, very bad.

The three teams with the worst passing stats in 2016 — from a cumulative perspective — were Buffalo, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The Bills had a below-average passing offense but rank at the bottom because the team threw the fewest passes in the league, which makes is tough for a receiver to produce good stats. The 49ers were in the bottom 10 in ANY/A and were one of just four teams that didn’t hit the 500-attempt mark. And the Rams were — by a large margin — the worst passing team in the NFL from an efficiency standpoint, thanks in part to Jared Goff having one of the worst rookie seasons ever.

Green grabbing a bunch of ACY

Britt had 1,422 Adjusted Catch Yards — calculated by giving 5 yards for every reception and 20 yards for every touchdown — which ranked just 26th last season. But the Rams offense as a whole had just 5,153 total ACY, so Britt had 28.0% of all Los Angeles Adjusted Catch Yards. And Britt missed one game: on a pro-rated basis, he had 29.8% of all Rams ACY, calculated as 1422 * (Games Played * 5153/16).

That’s good enough for 5th best in the NFL last year. The leader by this metric was A.J. Green of the Bengals, who took over as options 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the Cincinnati passing attack with Mohamed Sanu gone, and Tyler Eifert limited to just eight games. Green had 1,374 ACY in 10 games, but more impressively, he had 34.4% of the Bengals team ACY on a pro-rated basis.

Rk	Player	Tm	Age	Pos	G	Rec	Yds	TD	ACY	TMACY	Perc	Pro Perc
1	A.J. Green	CIN	28	WR	10	66	964	4	1374	6386	21.5%	34.4%
2	Odell Beckham	NYG	24	WR	16	101	1367	10	2072	6432	32.2%	32.2%
3	Antonio Brown	PIT	28	WR	15	106	1284	12	2054	6942	29.6%	31.6%
4	Mike Evans	TAM	23	WR	16	96	1321	12	2041	6520	31.3%	31.3%
5	Kenny Britt	LAR	28	WR	15	68	1002	5	1442	5153	28%	29.8%
6	Julio Jones	ATL	27	WR	14	83	1409	6	1944	7590	25.6%	29.3%
7	T.Y. Hilton	IND	27	WR	16	91	1448	6	2023	6981	29%	29%
8	Jarvis Landry	MIA	24	WR	16	94	1136	4	1686	5836	28.9%	28.9%
9	Jordy Nelson	GNB	31	WR	16	97	1257	14	2022	7260	27.9%	27.9%
10	Demaryius Thomas	DEN	29	WR	16	90	1083	5	1633	6009	27.2%	27.2%
11	Travis Kelce	KAN	27	TE	16	85	1125	4	1630	6119	26.6%	26.6%
12	DeAndre Hopkins	HOU	24	WR	16	78	954	4	1424	5453	26.1%	26.1%
13	Greg Olsen	CAR	31	TE	16	80	1073	3	1533	5912	25.9%	25.9%
14	Terrelle Pryor	CLE	27	WR	16	77	1007	4	1472	5683	25.9%	25.9%
15	Doug Baldwin	SEA	28	WR	16	94	1128	7	1738	6722	25.9%	25.9%
16	Stefon Diggs	MIN	23	WR	13	84	903	3	1383	6589	21%	25.8%
17	Emmanuel Sanders	DEN	29	WR	16	79	1032	5	1527	6009	25.4%	25.4%
18	Amari Cooper	OAK	22	WR	16	83	1153	5	1668	6612	25.2%	25.2%
19	Dez Bryant	DAL	28	WR	13	50	796	8	1206	5924	20.4%	25.1%
20	Rishard Matthews	TEN	27	WR	16	65	945	9	1450	5835	24.9%	24.9%
21	Zach Ertz	PHI	26	TE	14	78	816	4	1286	6018	21.4%	24.4%
22	Michael Crabtree	OAK	29	WR	16	89	1003	8	1608	6612	24.3%	24.3%
23	Larry Fitzgerald	ARI	33	WR	16	107	1023	6	1678	6900	24.3%	24.3%
24	Sammy Watkins	BUF	23	WR	8	28	430	2	610	5020	12.2%	24.3%
25	Alshon Jeffery	CHI	26	WR	12	52	821	2	1121	6254	17.9%	23.9%
26	Golden Tate	DET	28	WR	16	91	1077	4	1612	6747	23.9%	23.9%
27	Julian Edelman	NWE	30	WR	16	98	1106	3	1656	6936	23.9%	23.9%
28	Cameron Meredith	CHI	24	WR	14	66	888	4	1298	6254	20.8%	23.7%
29	Kelvin Benjamin	CAR	25	WR	16	63	941	7	1396	5912	23.6%	23.6%
30	Jordan Matthews	PHI	24	WR	14	73	804	3	1229	6018	20.4%	23.3%
31	Delanie Walker	TEN	32	TE	15	65	800	7	1265	5835	21.7%	23.1%
32	Tyrell Williams	SDG	24	WR	16	69	1059	7	1544	6791	22.7%	22.7%
33	Michael Thomas	NOR	23	WR	15	92	1137	9	1777	8378	21.2%	22.6%
34	Quincy Enunwa	NYJ	24	WR	16	58	857	4	1227	5520	22.2%	22.2%
35	Davante Adams	GNB	24	WR	16	75	997	12	1612	7260	22.2%	22.2%
36	Brandon Marshall	NYJ	32	WR	15	59	788	3	1143	5520	20.7%	22.1%
37	Cole Beasley	DAL	27	wr	16	75	833	5	1308	5924	22.1%	22.1%
38	Allen Robinson	JAX	23	WR	16	73	883	6	1368	6250	21.9%	21.9%
39	Robert Woods	BUF	24	WR	13	51	613	1	888	5020	17.7%	21.8%
40	Adam Thielen	MIN	26	WR	16	69	967	5	1412	6589	21.4%	21.4%
41	Kyle Rudolph	MIN	27	TE	16	83	840	7	1395	6589	21.2%	21.2%
42	Mike Wallace	BAL	30	WR	16	72	1017	4	1457	6938	21%	21%
43	Rob Gronkowski	NWE	27	te	8	25	540	3	725	6936	10.5%	20.9%
44	Jeremy Kerley	SFO	28	WR	16	64	667	3	1047	5021	20.9%	20.9%
45	Steve Smith	BAL	37	WR	14	70	799	5	1249	6938	18%	20.6%
46	Brandin Cooks	NOR	23	WR	16	78	1173	8	1723	8378	20.6%	20.6%
47	Zach Miller	CHI	32	TE	10	47	486	4	801	6254	12.8%	20.5%
48	Brandon LaFell	CIN	30	WR	16	64	862	6	1302	6386	20.4%	20.4%
49	Jimmy Graham	SEA	30	TE	16	65	923	6	1368	6722	20.4%	20.4%
50	Marvin Jones	DET	26	WR	15	55	930	4	1285	6747	19%	20.3%
51	Jordan Reed	WAS	26	TE	12	66	686	6	1136	7483	15.2%	20.2%
52	DeVante Parker	MIA	23	WR	15	56	744	4	1104	5836	18.9%	20.2%
53	Tyler Eifert	CIN	26	te	8	29	394	5	639	6386	10%	20%
54	Pierre Garcon	WAS	30	WR	16	79	1041	3	1496	7483	20%	20%
55	Le'Veon Bell	PIT	24	RB	12	75	616	2	1031	6942	14.9%	19.8%
56	David Johnson	ARI	25	RB	16	80	879	4	1359	6900	19.7%	19.7%
57	Marqise Lee	JAX	25	wr	16	63	851	3	1226	6250	19.6%	19.6%

This stat is not necessarily my favorite wide receiver stat, and it is not flawless by any means. But it does provide a nice counter to traditional stats, and serves as a good reminder that every player can only compete with his teammates for passes, is a product of how good (or bad) his quarterback (and offensive line) is at getting him the ball, and is at the mercy of his offensive coordinator’s frequency of calling pass plays.

Tagged as: WR Ranking Systems

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