Antonio Brown is in the news today. The star receiver was just traded from Pittsburgh to Oakland, capping one of the most successful runs any wide receiver has ever had with one team.
Brown led the NFL in receiving yards from 2012 to 2016, a 5-year period where he racked up 7,102 yards. Then he had a monster year in 2017, and his trailing 5-year total was upped to a whopping 7,848 yards. That not only led all players, it also was the largest number of receiving yards any player ever gained over any 5-year period.
That held true for… one season, as Julio Jones — who missed most of 2013 — led the NFL in receiving yards from 2014 to 2018 with 7,994 yards.
The table below shows the league leader in receiving yards over every 5-year period. Note that the AAFC and AFL have pretty strong representation here; for those curious, I included both leagues when calculating the league leaders, but I also noted in the footnotes who would be the leader if your study was NFL stats only.
| Year | Player | Yards |
|---|---|---|
| 1936 | Luke Johnsos | 985 |
| 1937 | Don Hutson | 1508 |
| 1938 | Don Hutson | 2056 |
| 1939 | Don Hutson | 2902 |
| 1940 | Don Hutson | 3146 |
| 1941 | Don Hutson | 3348 |
| 1942 | Don Hutson | 4007 |
| 1943 | Don Hutson | 4235 |
| 1944 | Don Hutson | 4255 |
| 1945 | Don Hutson | 4425 |
| 1946 | Jim Benton | 3133 |
| 1947 | Jim Benton | 3299 |
| 1948 | Jim Benton | 3064 |
| 1949 | Mac Speedie [1]Mal Kutner led the NFL with 2986 yards from '45 to '49. | 3554 |
| 1950 | Mac Speedie [2]If this was NFL-only, Mal Kutner led the NFL with 3060 yards from '46 to '50. | 4102 |
| 1951 | Mac Speedie [3]If this was NFL-only, Tom Fears led the NFL with 3355 yards from '47 to '51. | 4127 |
| 1952 | Tom Fears | 3955 |
| 1953 | Elroy Hirsch | 4039 |
| 1954 | Elroy Hirsch | 4433 |
| 1955 | Elroy Hirsch | 4206 |
| 1956 | Billy Howton | 4347 |
| 1957 | Billy Wilson | 4147 |
| 1958 | Billy Wilson | 3899 |
| 1959 | Billy Howton | 3629 |
| 1960 | Raymond Berry | 4452 |
| 1961 | Raymond Berry | 4724 |
| 1962 | Raymond Berry | 4611 |
| 1963 | Buddy Dial | 4723 |
| 1964 | Charley Hennigan [4]Bobby Mitchell led the NFL from '60 to '64 with 4704 yards. | 5932 |
| 1965 | Charley Hennigan [5]Bobby Mitchell led the NFL from '61 to '65 with 4959 yards. | 5788 |
| 1966 | Lance Alworth [6]Bobby Mitchell led the NFL from '62 to '66 with 5496 yards. | 5651 |
| 1967 | Lance Alworth [7]Bobby Mitchell led the NFL from '63 to '67 with 4978 yards. | 6435 |
| 1968 | Lance Alworth [8]Charley Taylor led the NFL from '64 to '68 with 4150 yards. | 6542 |
| 1969 | Lance Alworth [9]Bob Hayes led the NFL from '65 to '69 with 4888 yards. | 6310 |
| 1970 | Lance Alworth [10]Bob Hayes led from '66 to '70 with 4774 yards if you exclude AFL stats. | 5316 |
| 1971 | Don Maynard [11]Bob Hayes led from '67 to '71 with 4382 yards if you exclude AFL stats. | 4602 |
| 1972 | Gary Garrison [12]Paul Warfield led from '68 to '72 with 4258 yards if you exclude AFL stats. | 4546 |
| 1973 | John Gilliam | 4728 |
| 1974 | John Gilliam | 4309 |
| 1975 | John Gilliam | 4134 |
| 1976 | Harold Jackson | 3973 |
| 1977 | Drew Pearson | 3973 |
| 1978 | Cliff Branch | 4345 |
| 1979 | Drew Pearson | 4238 |
| 1980 | Steve Largent | 4817 |
| 1981 | Steve Largent | 5336 |
| 1982 | Steve Largent | 5186 |
| 1983 | James Lofton | 5484 |
| 1984 | James Lofton | 5877 |
| 1985 | James Lofton | 5804 |
| 1986 | James Lofton | 5350 |
| 1987 | James Lofton | 5534 |
| 1988 | Mark Clayton | 5440 |
| 1989 | Jerry Rice | 6364 |
| 1990 | Jerry Rice | 6939 |
| 1991 | Jerry Rice | 6575 |
| 1992 | Jerry Rice | 6698 |
| 1993 | Jerry Rice | 6895 |
| 1994 | Jerry Rice | 6911 |
| 1995 | Jerry Rice | 7257 |
| 1996 | Jerry Rice | 7305 |
| 1997 | Herman Moore | 6383 |
| 1998 | Herman Moore | 6431 |
| 1999 | Tim Brown | 6210 |
| 2000 | Jimmy Smith | 6599 |
| 2001 | Jimmy Smith | 6728 |
| 2002 | Marvin Harrison | 7098 |
| 2003 | Marvin Harrison | 7594 |
| 2004 | Torry Holt | 7368 |
| 2005 | Torry Holt | 7064 |
| 2006 | Torry Holt | 6889 |
| 2007 | Chad Johnson | 6870 |
| 2008 | Reggie Wayne | 6230 |
| 2009 | Larry Fitzgerald | 6287 |
| 2010 | Reggie Wayne | 6584 |
| 2011 | Larry Fitzgerald | 6480 |
| 2012 | Calvin Johnson | 7080 |
| 2013 | Calvin Johnson | 7241 |
| 2014 | Calvin Johnson | 7334 |
| 2015 | Calvin Johnson | 7428 |
| 2016 | Antonio Brown | 7102 |
| 2017 | Antonio Brown | 7848 |
| 2018 | Julio Jones | 7994 |
A few notes:
It should go without saying, but… receiving yards are hardly a perfect measure of wide receiver play. There are a lot of things “receiving yards” as a stat doesn’t capture, but that doesn’t take away the fun trivia value of this post!
Don Hutson led the NFL in 9 consecutive trailing 5-year periods, and Jerry Rice did it in 8. That’s probably not too surprising to you, and you may not be shocked to find that Lance Alworth did it for 5 different 5-year stretches. But you know who else did that? James Lofton, despite never leading the NFL in receiving yards. He is two years younger than Steve Largent, and he crowds the Seahawk great out a bit on this list. Largent led for the 5-year periods ending in ’80, ’81, and ’82, but then Lofton embarked on his 5-year reign. From ’78 to ’87, Lofton had 9,718 yards, Largent had 9,525 yards, and no other player was within 1,000 yards of either of them.
What stands out to you?
References
| ↑1 | Mal Kutner led the NFL with 2986 yards from '45 to '49. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | If this was NFL-only, Mal Kutner led the NFL with 3060 yards from '46 to '50. |
| ↑3 | If this was NFL-only, Tom Fears led the NFL with 3355 yards from '47 to '51. |
| ↑4 | Bobby Mitchell led the NFL from '60 to '64 with 4704 yards. |
| ↑5 | Bobby Mitchell led the NFL from '61 to '65 with 4959 yards. |
| ↑6 | Bobby Mitchell led the NFL from '62 to '66 with 5496 yards. |
| ↑7 | Bobby Mitchell led the NFL from '63 to '67 with 4978 yards. |
| ↑8 | Charley Taylor led the NFL from '64 to '68 with 4150 yards. |
| ↑9 | Bob Hayes led the NFL from '65 to '69 with 4888 yards. |
| ↑10 | Bob Hayes led from '66 to '70 with 4774 yards if you exclude AFL stats. |
| ↑11 | Bob Hayes led from '67 to '71 with 4382 yards if you exclude AFL stats. |
| ↑12 | Paul Warfield led from '68 to '72 with 4258 yards if you exclude AFL stats. |