Michael Irvin ranks 27th on the list of career receiving yards. At the time he retired, Irvin ranked 9th in that metric, so some of his “poor” ranking is due to the passing inflation of the last two decades.

Another reason is because he had a relatively short career. Irvin also ranks tied for 11th in receiving yards per game, and was tied for 5th when he retired. How short? His prime was from ages 25 to 32, an 8-year stretch that encompassed 86.5% of his career receiving yards.

During those years, covering the 1991 to 1998 seasons, Irvin led all players in receiving yards.  Yes, that’s all players, even Jerry Rice, although Rice missed 9 more games than Irvin due to a torn ACL.  Even still, Rice averaged 85.5 yards per game, Irvin 83.7, and the two receivers were far ahead of the rest of the NFL.  But it’s worth noting that the Cowboys were a run-heavy team during this era: Dallas ranked 24th in pass attempts during this time, while the 49ers ranked 12th.

Irvin was a dominant player on a team that wasn’t pass-happy; he was particularly dominant in games his team won, when he averaged 85 receiving yards per game.  Those Cowboys won a lot of games, and didn’t pass often, but when they did, they passed to Irvin.  And it usually worked.

Over the weekend, I wrote about the year-by-year leaders in receiving yards per team pass attempt (RY/TPA) and Receiving Yards per Adjusted Team Pass Attempt (RY/aTPA), which are two simple but effective ways to measure receiver play. RY/TPA simply takes a player’s number of receiving yards and divides it by his team’s number of pass attempts; RY/aTPA adjusts for missed games.

Irvin’s first three years were unremarkable by any measure. But in 1991, he broke out in a huge way: he led the NFL with 1,523 receiving yards. He also led the NFL in RY/TPA and RY/aTPA, as the Cowboys threw just 500 passes that year (Irvin played the full season). And he didn’t stop there:

• In 1992, Irvin again led the league in RY/TPA, but Herman Moore (in 11 games) led the NFL in RY/aTPA.

• In 1993, Rice averaged 2.87 RY/TPA and RY/aTPA, leading the league in both categories; Irvin averaged 2.80 RY/TPA in a full season, ranking second in both metrics.

• In 1994, both Rice and Irvin played full seasons and led the league in both categories: Rice averaged 2.93 RY/TPA, relating Irvin’s 2.77 RY/TPA to second place.

• In 1995, Rice and Irvin again finished 1-2, but this time Irvin beat him handily: he averaged 3.24 RY/TPA, to Rice’s 2.87 average (both played 16 games).

• Then, in 1996, Irvin was limited to 11 games, but led the NFL in RY/aTPA with a 2.87 average; Isaac Bruce ranked 1st in RY/TPA and 2nd in RY/aTPA, at 2.78 in both categories.

So for six straight seasons, Irvin was either the best in football in RY/TPA or RY/aTPA, or the second-best in football behind the greatest receiver ever. That is an unbelievable streak of dominance that is unmatched by anyone other than Rice and Don Hutson.  The table below shows Irvin’s production in every season of his career.

Irvin’s career numbers aren’t overwhelming, especially compared to modern players who have benefited from the passing improvements of the last twenty years.  And his career wasn’t very long, and he played on run-first teams.  But for a six-year stretch, he was as good as the very best receiver there ever was… and maybe, just maybe, even a little bit better.