Best Single Season Since The Merger (WR)

As some of you may recall, I started this project last summer, when I attempted to uncover the single greatest season for a running back. This time around I’m going to tackle the wide receivers (figuratively, of course, as I doubt I’m physically capable of actually tackling any of the individuals that will be mentioned in this post). I haven’t ran the numbers yet, but my money is on one of Jerry Rice’s seasons, because he’s Jerry Rice, and I don’t really need a reason other than that. Who knows though, maybe I’ll be surprised.

The first thing I did was set some minimum standards:

• I only looked at 1970 or later, because the NFL/AFL merger happened that year and it served as a nice cut-off.
• The receiver had to play in at least 10 games, with a couple of exceptions made for Dwight Clark and Wes Chandler in the 1982 season, because of the lockout that year.
• The receiver had to have a minimum of 2.75 receptions per game. This sounds like a really low number, but if I had put it higher, 1982 would have been representing the seasons from the longest ago. That’s 12 years of football that would have been excluded. I think this number actually just illustrates how much the game has evolved since the 1970′s, so I’m okay with it being that low.
• For those that are curious, I will include a list of the excluded receivers at the end of this post, that would have otherwise been considered.

Best RB Single Season Performance

Today, just like most days, I was perusing random football statistics. I came across something (I don’t even remember what it was now) and started wondering if Reggie White’s 1987 season was the best season for a defensive end of all-time. Then I wondered if 1987 harbored both the greatest season by a defensive end of all-time and the greatest season by a wide receiver, with Jerry Rice. Then I started to ponder if it was possible to pin down the greatest single season for each position.

For whatever reason, I started looking at running backs first. This was either a good idea or a bad idea depending on how you want to look at it, because there have been several incredible seasons by running backs that could be argued as the single greatest ever. I started by putting together a list, including all of the 2,000-yard rushing seasons, the top five rushing TDs in a season, top five all-purpose TDs in a season, and top ten yards from scrimmage in a season.

Barry Sanders, my favorite running back of all-time

There was obviously some overlap in these groups, so I conveniently ended up with a list of 20 seasons.

(Listed in chronological order after the jump.)