Comparing the production of wide receivers can be difficult. Yards and touchdowns are the traditional barometers for wide receivers, but many factors can skew these numbers either way. The most notable factor is simply the amount of snaps that are run in pass routes. Calvin Johnson broke the record for receiving yards this season, but his quarterback Matthew Stafford also attempted the most passes ever. Is it really fair to compare Johnson’s 1,964 yards to Sydney Rice’s 748 yards when the Lions threw the ball 335 times more than the Seahawks? We don’t think so.
That is why we created our signature stat, Yards per Route Run (YPRR). This unique metric evaluates yardage totals solely based on routes run so that the stats are indicative of performance relative to the number of opportunities. It’s easy enough to understand, so let’s look at the notable performances.
No. 1 Option
This season one man put himself in another league in terms of being the featured receiver in an offense. No, it wasn’t Calvin Johnson; it was the Bears’ Brandon Marshall. Marshall had the second highest YPRR in the league at 2.76, but it was his peripheral stats that were truly amazing. The Bears wide out was targeted on 33.1% of his routes and accounted for 45.8% of the Bears' total receiving yards — both were the highest in the league by wide margins. It is safe to say that Marshall made a big impact in his first year with the Bears.
Limited by his Offense
Michael Crabtree played like an elite receiver all season long, he just didn’t play in a pass-heavy offense. Of the Top 5 receivers in YPRR, Crabtree’s 433 snaps in route are the fewest by 98 even though he didn’t miss a game. For the season he ran three less routes than Michael Jenkins yet totaled 656 more yards. The way Crabtree finished out the season with Colin Kaepernick at quarterback suggests things are pointing up for the fourth-year wideout. Crabtree caught 41 balls for 595 yards and a YPRR of 3.15 in the last seven games of the season with Kaepernick at the helm.
Mid-Season Pick Up
One of the most physically imposing receivers in football this season wasn’t even on an NFL roster until mid-October. Danario Alexander played his first snap in Week 8 and then proceeded to gain 658 yards in nine games after that, compiling a YPRR of 2.1. The third-year pro led the league with a yards per target of 12.2. His stats are quite impressive, but his physical abilities are even more intriguing. With former Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy now calling the shots in San Diego, Alexander will be a strong candidate to have even more of a breakout season in 2013.
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Quarterback Dependency
Sometimes a receiver just can’t overcome the deficiencies of his quarterback. Nowhere was that more evident than in Arizona. The Cardinals had four receivers qualify with at least 300 snaps in route and their highest finisher in YPRR was Michael Floyd, who finished 56th out of 75. Arizona attempted the ninth most passes, but ended up with the 28th most total passing yards as they had the worst yards per attempt in the league. The carousel of quarterbacks featured Kevin Kolb, John Skelton, Ryan Lindley, and Brian Hoyer, and only Kolb threw more touchdowns than interceptions. All of it added up to Larry Fitzgerald gaining his lowest yardage total since his rookie season, and his lowest YPRR we’ve calculated by .58 yards. This goes to show that all receivers are still very much dependent on their quarterbacks.
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As was pointed out earlier, it will be nearly impossible to be high on this list without at least an adequate quarterback. Another factor that plays highly is targets. All but one of the bottom 15 were targeted less than 20% of the time, while all but one of the Top 15 were over 20%. The last thing to keep in mind is that these are, in the end, just stats and they will never be as indicative of overall performance as PFF’s grades. That said, it’s well worth looking beyond the box numbers to see who really impressed.
Follow Mike on Twitter: @PFF_MikeRenner
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