Odell Beckham And Fantasy WRs Changing Teams Early

by Chase Stuart on June 27, 2019

in Checkdowns

When the Giants traded Odell Beckham to the Browns, I noted how rare it was for young, talented wide receivers to change teams. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve calculated the fantasy value – as measured by VBD – of every player since 1970.

The graph below shows all WRs to enter the league since 1970 and produce at least 200 points of VBD. The X-Axis shows the year that player switched teams for the first time. The Y-Axis shows how much VBD they had in their career prior to switching teams.

As you can see, OBJ is a bit of an outlier when it comes to being both very good with his first team and leaving his first team at a young age.

The table below shows the 95 wide receivers with 200+ points of VBD since 1970. Here’s how to read the table below. John Jefferson played from 1978 to 1985, and was 25 years old when he first switched teams. He had a whopping 318 points of VBD with his first team, and 320 points of career VBD through age 26.

Wide Receiver	First Yr	Last Yr	Age When Switching Teams	VBD With 1st Team	Career VBD Thru 26
Andre Rison	1989	2000	23	0	384
Ken Burrough	1970	1981	23	0	37
John Jefferson	1978	1985	25	318	320
Wes Chandler	1978	1988	25	90	365
Cris Carter	1987	2002	25	10	35
Ahmad Rashad	1972	1982	25	1	1
Reggie Rucker	1970	1981	25	0	70
Brandon Marshall	2006	2018	26	220	242
Santana Moss	2001	2014	26	68	156
Wes Welker	2004	2015	26	0	61
Keenan McCardell	1992	2007	26	0	20
Odell Beckham	2014	2018	27	392	392
Charlie Brown	1982	1987	27	209	209
Terance Mathis	1990	2002	27	0	0
Randy Moss	1998	2012	28	689	648
DeSean Jackson	2008	2018	28	185	120
Keyshawn Johnson	1996	2006	28	146	103
Joe Horn	1996	2007	28	0	0
Anthony Miller	1988	1997	29	237	115
Darrell Jackson	2000	2008	29	210	135
Joey Galloway	1995	2010	29	196	157
Vincent Jackson	2005	2016	29	133	96
Drew Hill	1979	1993	29	0	0
Anquan Boldin	2003	2016	30	408	223
Carl Pickens	1992	2000	30	313	292
Antonio Freeman	1995	2003	30	312	261
Greg Jennings	2006	2015	30	266	141
Louis Lipps	1984	1992	30	209	176
J.T. Smith	1978	1990	30	0	0
Terrell Owens	1996	2010	31	559	96
James Lofton	1978	1993	31	510	303
Gary Clark	1985	1995	31	455	186
Ernest Givins	1986	1995	31	264	168
Bob Chandler	1971	1982	31	210	71
Derrick Mason	1997	2011	31	204	3
Irving Fryar	1984	2000	31	47	15
Mark Clayton	1983	1993	32	518	281
Muhsin Muhammad	1996	2009	32	244	67
T.J. Houshmandzadeh	2001	2011	32	215	0
Haywood Jeffires	1987	1996	32	201	53
Torry Holt	1999	2009	33	635	192
Chad Johnson	2001	2011	33	469	183
Jordy Nelson	2008	2018	33	361	87
Henry Ellard	1983	1998	33	300	9
Eric Moulds	1996	2007	33	249	90
Andre Johnson	2003	2016	34	573	134
Roy Green	1979	1992	34	373	143
Anthony Carter	1985	1995	34	228	35
Harold Carmichael	1971	1984	35	553	245
Steve Smith	2001	2016	35	498	188
Stanley Morgan	1977	1990	35	346	184
Isaac Bruce	1994	2009	36	560	268
Andre Reed	1985	2000	36	459	212
Art Monk	1980	1995	37	422	57
Tim Brown	1988	2004	38	597	19
Jerry Rice	1985	2004	39	1636	446
Marvin Harrison	1996	2008	na	941	43
Steve Largent	1976	1989	na	810	321
Antonio Brown	2010	2018	na	724	247
Larry Fitzgerald	2004	2018	na	687	424
Calvin Johnson	2007	2015	na	683	350
Sterling Sharpe	1988	1994	na	574	183
Julio Jones	2011	2018	na	571	342
Michael Irvin	1988	1999	na	563	211
Cliff Branch	1972	1985	na	527	149
Reggie Wayne	2001	2014	na	509	77
Herman Moore	1991	2002	na	499	321
Jimmy Smith	1992	2005	na	475	0
Rod Smith	1995	2006	na	462	0
A.J. Green	2011	2018	na	423	248
John Stallworth	1974	1987	na	422	117
Roddy White	2005	2015	na	419	34
Hines Ward	1998	2011	na	405	133
Mike Quick	1982	1990	na	389	280
Wesley Walker	1977	1989	na	382	176
Demaryius Thomas	2010	2018	na	370	194
DeAndre Hopkins	2013	2018	na	362	362
Tony Hill	1977	1986	na	350	197
Marques Colston	2006	2015	na	337	185
Dwight Clark	1979	1987	na	332	301
Drew Pearson	1973	1983	na	331	264
Sammy White	1976	1985	na	331	239
Mel Gray	1971	1982	na	330	99
Dez Bryant	2010	2017	na	326	302
Mark Duper	1982	1992	na	314	152
Cris Collinsworth	1981	1988	na	296	243
Lynn Swann	1974	1982	na	295	235
Isaac Curtis	1973	1984	na	282	274
Nat Moore	1974	1986	na	279	212
Alfred Jenkins	1975	1983	na	270	107
Steve Watson	1979	1987	na	249	180
Donald Driver	1999	2012	na	247	0
Mike Evans	2014	2018	na	242	242
Davante Adams	2014	2018	na	213	213
Al Toon	1985	1992	na	213	188

As for Beckham, he ranks 4th in career VBD through age 26 among all wide receivers to enter the NFL since 1970. The top three? Randy Moss, Jerry Rice, and Larry Fitzgerald.

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