NFL
Hall of Fame Receivers Regularly Had Single-Digit Yardage Performances As Rookies
Kyle Odegard has been a professional journalist for two decades, with three years of experience in the sports betting industry. He was a beat writer for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals from 2013-2021 and previously covered MLB, NFL, NBA, college football and more for the East Valley Tribune newspaper in Tempe, Arizona. Kyle has broken multiple national stories about the Arizona Cardinals and his work has been referenced by numerous publications, including Sports Illustrated, the Daily Mail, the New York Post, Yahoo!, FOX News, MSN, the Arizona Republic and Pro Football Talk.
Get to know Kyle Odegard betterPublished12 Sep 2024
It was a slow start for Marvin Harrison, Jr. on Sunday, as the No. 4 overall pick in the draft had just one catch for four yards against the Bills.
There is plenty of hand-wringing going on about the performance, but I took a look at the historical data and found that even some of the best wide receivers of all-time had many quiet games their rookie year.
Eleven Hall of Fame wideouts started their NFL careers in 1985 or later, and nine of them had at least one single-digit yardage game their rookie season. Terrell Owens led the way with seven before becoming one of the top pass-catchers in NFL history.
The only exceptions? Harrison’s father, Marvin Harrison, Sr., and Andre Johnson.
| Player | Single-Digit Yardage Games As Rookie | Single-Digit Yardage Games In Career |
|---|---|---|
| Terrell Owens | 7 | 19 |
| Cris Carter | 4 | 24 |
| Tim Brown | 3 | 24 |
| Jerry Rice | 3 | 13 |
| Andre Reed | 3 | 25 |
| Michael Irvin | 2 | 13 |
| Randy Moss | 1 | 13 |
| Isaac Bruce | 1 | 13 |
| Calvin Johnson | 1 | 3 |
| Andre Johnson | 0 | 11 |
| Marvin Harrison | 0 | 2 |
Now, many of those Hall of Famers did not come in with the same expectations as Harrison, a top-5 pick who was immediately inserted into the Arizona offense as the clear-cut No. 1 wideout, but the data shows that slow starts are pretty common, even among the best in the game.
Harrison, Jr. is following in the footsteps of a soon-to-be Hall of Famer in the desert, and even Larry Fitzgerald had quiet games as a rookie.
In Week 7 against the Bills, Fitzgerald had zero catches on five targets. In Week 9 against the Giants, he had one catch for two yards. Fitzgerald ended up with eight career games in which he had fewer than 10 yards receiving.
Harrison had a top speed of 16.7 mph on Sunday, according to ESPN tracking data, which is one of the lower marks among wideouts in the past several years. It’s certainly something to monitor, as an undisclosed injury or another issue could be slowing him down.
However, Harrison, Jr. had little preseason action, and the most likely reason for the slow start is paralysis by analysis as he gets more comfortable at the NFL level.
“Remember the saying, ‘It’s tough to walk and chew gum at the same time?’” former Rams and Saints quarterback Jim Everett said. “That’s exactly how it rolls for rooks when processing the play on the run. As the game slows down in his head, the game will speed up in athletic ability.”
It’s going to be a long time until we know if Harrison, Jr. is truly a Hall of Fame-caliber talent at wide receiver, but as history proves, one poor game doesn’t move the needle either way.
