Which wide receiver had the best season last year?

"C" had the most receptions, "B" the most yards, "D" caught more touchdowns, and "A" was pretty good all-around.

Pick one and JUMP

Welcome. Now that you've picked the WR you think had the best season, how would your view change if you knew that the yardage leader (B) was thrown 181 passes in that season, most in the league, while C was thrown at 150 times, D was targeted only 139 times, and A just 100.

If you thought "B" was better than "C", are you reconsidering due to "B" turning 31 more targets into less receptions and only 100 more yards? Do the solid, but not outstanding numbers from "A" look a lot better considering he need just 100 passes thrown to him to reach them?

Catching the football is a key task for a wide receiver. The normal way of looking at receiver lines largely misses this. Here are the lines again with the number of passes thrown taken into account.

Catch% shows how "C" had more receptions with 31 less targets and helps show how "A" kept in the picture with by far the least targets.

"C" stands out pretty dramatically, almost like he's playing a different game than the other 3. He is to an extent, as a more conventional, but usually glazed over stat shows.

It's pretty clear that "A and "C" are playing WR differently. "A" is gaining nearly twice as many yards per catch. As we saw above "A" and "D" are also catching the ball significantly less often. These two are no coincidence. A 10 yard pass is harder to complete than a 20 yard pass. A and D were working as deep threats, while B and C are working much shallower routes (median* WR YPR last year was 12.6)

*=much, much quicker to find median on NFL.com's WR stat rankings, than to calculate the mean, 12.6 is in-line with  the previous year means I remember from reading a PFR project on WRs.

We can use both the YPR and Catch % to a get a picture of a WRs usage/style and his ability.

So WR A has a pretty average Catch % and a excellent YPR.

B was slightly below average in both

C was the picture of a possession WR with a tiny YPC, but great Catch%

D was way below average in catch%, while running a bit deeper than usual routes.

One last time, who do you think had the best season?

WR A is Vincent Jackson
WR B is Brandon Marshall
WR C is Wes Welker
WR D is Terrell Owens

Finally we get to the other half of the title. Anthony Gonzalez will be stepping into the #2 WR role. I'll be tough to match the 88-87 duo, but Anthony Gonzalez has shown a lot these past two seasons in his limited role.

Gonzo has recorded an average to above average YPR of 13.2, with an outstanding Catch% of 72% the last two years. Only Wes Welker and Ike Hilliard have topped his catch% over that time, and both had YPR's of just 10.5. Anthony Gonzalez has shown a rare ability to catch passes at a far greater than usual rate, while not running shorter than usual routes. This is an excellent sign for his future as he expands into a full time #2 WR.