The game’s greatest pass catchers are on this list.
The NFL is vastly different in 2025 than it was in 1985. Heck, it is vastly different than it was 2015. In today’s NFL, the name of the game is to throw the ball. Air it out and let your playmakers do the rest.
It’s unfair to compare eras, and that isn’t what this list is doing. It’s simply a list of the top ten receiving yards in a single-season. And without further ado…
10. Charley Hennigan – 1,746 – Houston Oilers, 1961
One of the sport’s first truly great seasons by a wide receiver came during a time when throwing the ball was still a foreign concept. Foreign to everyone not named Charley Hennigan.
The Houston Oiler wide receiver put up a season for the ages in 1961, when he finished with 82 receptions for 1,746 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was a first-team All-Pro that year, helping the Oilers win their second consecutive AFL championship.
12
9. CeeDee Lamb – 1,749 – Dallas Cowboys, 2023
Still in the midst of his prime, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb has become one of the NFL’s best wide receivers. It was all but confirmed Lamb was elite by the end of his third season, but his fourth one cemented it.
In 2023, Lamb finished with 135 receptions for 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns. The Cowboys have a long history of excellent wideouts wearing the No. 88, most notably Hall of Famers Drew Pearson and Michael Irvin, along with Dez. Bryant.
Lamb is starting to put together a case, declaring him the best, and he isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
12
8. Isaac Bruce – 1,781 – St. Louis Rams, 1995
Before the “Greatest Show on Turf” had fully arrived in St. Louis, Isaac Bruce was putting up insane numbers, most notably during his 1995 campaign.
Bruce finished the year with 119 receptions for 1,781 yards and 13 touchdowns in just his second year in the league. The Hall of Famer would only get better with the arrival of Kurt Warner, helping lead the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV.
12
7. Tyreek Hill – 1,799 – Miami Dolphins, 2023
Blink and you’ll miss him. After the Kansas City Chiefs traded Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins ahead of the 2022 season, many wondered how the man nicknamed “Cheetah” would be able to perform without Patrick Mahomes throwing him the ball.
Spoiler: Hill only got better. In 2022, he recorded 119 receptions for 1,710 yards and six touchdowns. Then in 2023 he somehow outdid himself, finishing with 119 receptions for 1,799 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Safe to say it doesn’t matter who throws the ball to Hill. He’s going to make plays regardless.
12
6. Justin Jefferson – 1,809 – Minnesota Vikings, 2022
The man who is currently on pace to be one of the all-time greats, Justin Jefferson is off to the fastest start in NFL history when it comes to receiving yards in a player’s first five seasons.
Jefferson has 7,432 yards, followed by Torry Holt’s 6,784, Randy Moss’ 6,743 and Jerry Rice’s 6,364. You may have heard of those names.
The Minnesota Vikings star’s most prolific season to date came in 2022, when he finished with 128 receptions for 1,809 yards and eight touchdowns.
Like Lamb, Jefferson is currently one of the best in the game, and his trajectory has him on par to be one of the best ever. Period.
12
5. Antonio Brown – 1,834 – Pittsburgh Steelers, 2015
One of the biggest “what-ifs” of an NFL career belongs to a man who still has over 900 receptions, 12,000 yards and 80 touchdowns to his name, but that’s the prevailing sentiment around Antonio Brown‘s career.
While it eventually went off the rails the moment he left Pittsburgh, at the peak of his powers, nobody was better than Brown. One of his best seasons of his career came in 2015 when he finished with 136 receptions for 1,834 yards and 10 touchdowns.
As great as Brown’s career was, it had the chance to be even better, which is hard to believe when looking at the numbers and watching it in real time.
12
4. Jerry Rice – 1,848 – San Francisco 49ers, 1995
“Jesus in cleats,” is what Irvin called Jerry Rice. The San Francisco 49ers star owns the title as the greatest wide receiver in NFL history.
Along with the laundry list of career records, Rice’s 1995 season was similar to so many of his others, which is saying something, considering that he finished that year with 122 receptions for 1,848 yards and 15 touchdowns.
The three-time Super Bowl champion, 13-time Pro Bowler, 10-time All-Pro, and Super Bowl MVP played for two decades, finishing his career with 1,549 receptions for 22,985 yards, and 197 touchdowns.
All records, and by a few miles. There was no one like Rice.
12
3. Julio Jones – 1,871 – Atlanta Falcons, 2015
Julio Jones is what you envision wide receivers to look like. He was born to play the position and his 2015 season showed everyone why.
That year he finished with 136 receptions for 1,871 yards and eight touchdowns. A year later he helped the Atlanta Falcons reach the Super Bowl and was an all-time collapse away from winning the franchise’s first world championship.
Jones was made in the image of a certain someone on this list, who may just be at No. 1, but he carved a name for himself as one of his generation’s best to do it.
12
2. Cooper Kupp – 1,947 – Los Angeles Rams, 2021
Cooper Kupp’s 2021 season is arguably the greatest single-season by a wide receiver in NFL history.
Not only did he finish the season with a whopping 145 receptions, 1,947 yards, and 16 touchdowns, while taking home the triple-crown, but Kupp had one of the most prolific postseasons ever.
He carried the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl LVI over the Cincinnati Bengals and took home MVP honors, cementing his status, or at least that season, as all-time.
12
1. Calvin Johnson – 1,964 – Detroit Lions, 2012
The standard is the standard, and that standard was established in 2012 when Calvin Johnson went for 122 receptions for 1,964 yards and oddly enough, only five touchdowns.
But the yards are the most in NFL history and he only needed 16 games to do it, while others had an extra game to work with. Ironically enough, the top two seasons with the most receiving yards in NFL history both came by way of quarterback Matthew Stafford throwing passes to Kupp and Johnson.
The man nicknamed Megatron had one of the most dominant, albeit short, careers of all-time. There’s a reason some consider him the best, even though he only played nine seasons.
As much of a physical freak as Jones was, Johnson was the model. He was created in a lab, and gave Lions fans a reason to watch games for nearly a decade.
12
The race is on to catch Johnson’s mark, but so is the race to be the first wide receiver to crack 2,000 yards.
Jefferson and Lamb are in position to do so, but so is superstar wideout Ja’Marr Chase, who is coming off a triple-crown season of his own, finishing with 127 receptions, 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Sooner or later, there is going to be a WR who gets over the 2,000-yard mark and take their place at No. 1 on the list, but for now, everyone is looking up at Johnson’s 1,964.
12
