Wide Receivers Still Workhorses of the NFL
Kevin Day, June 18th, 2009In 2007, wide receivers with 90+ receptions outnumbered running backs with 300+ carries. That was the first time it happened since 2002.
At the time, it wasn’t clear if it was a fluke or a new trend in how NFL offenses operate. To follow up the original article with data from 2008, it looks like it probably is a trend.
According to Pro-Football-Reference, there were 6 wide receivers with 90 or more receptions while only 5 running backs received 300 or more carries.
Both high-use wide receivers and running backs dipped last year, with running back studs dropping to a low not previously seen this century.
Based on the previous trend in this graph, these two graphs don’t intersect much. There was a running back bubble period where up to a thirteen running backs received 300 carries or more. However, no one is expecting that to happen this year.
Just like the stock market has bull and bear cycles, the NFL appears to have passing and rushing cycles. Since the next couple of years look to be pass-heavy, it’s easy to imagine Jim Cramer screaming “BUY BUY BUY!” on wide receivers.
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Cool! Thanks for doing this. This is a result of RBBC for sure, but I am actually wondering if we see less WRs this year with 90+ receptions due to the amount of 3 WR sets and TE use. Good job!
markV on June 24th, 2009 at 12:32 am