Fake Teams Fantasy Football Hall of Fame: Wide Receivers

Before we get onto the the wide receiver nominations for the 2018 Fake Teams Fantasy Football Hall of Fame, a little housekeeping is in order to confirm the winners of the Running Back vote. The first three entrants to get a Fake Teams bust in the Hall of Fame are:

1. LaDainian Tomlinson - 36% of votes cast
2. Marshall Faulk - 27%
3. Walter Payton - 18%

Next up, we’re asking you to vote on the receivers to be enshrined. I’ve whittled down an initial list of 20 down to a top 6.

Note: All fantasy numbers quoted are derived by converting historical regular season data from NFL.com into fantasy points, using standard scoring measures.

Jerry Rice

San Francisco 49ers 1985-2000, Oakland Raiders 2001-2004, Seattle Seahawks 2004

This feels silly even putting this guy to a vote. Jerry Rice is the all-time leading point scorer in fantasy football, totaling just under 4,000 fantasy points (3,936) across his 20 seasons in his league. He’s so far ahead of the field, that the gap between Rice and the next highest point scoring receiver (Terrell Owens), is over 1,300 points, or Rob Gronkowski’s fantasy career to date. Rice had eight 200+ point seasons, two more than any other player.

Rice finished as a top-10 fantasy receiver an incredible 13 times, and between 1987 and 1996 he finished no lower than third in any season, finishing first seven times during that period. He is first all time in quality starts (greater than 8 fantasy points) with 197 from his 296 career games, and his 66.6% quality start percentage ranks second only to Calvin Johnson (67.4%), but from more than double the number of starts. Finally, Rice ranks first in career 20-point games (60), 30 point games (14) and 40 point games (3).

Terrell Owens

San Francisco 49ers 1996-2003, Philadelphia Eagles 2004-2005, Dallas Cowboys 2006-2008, Buffalo Bills 2009, Cincinnati Bengals 2010

TO as we’ve already mentioned, ranks a distant second to Jerry Rice in the all-time fantasy points by receivers. However, over the course of his fifteen seasons in the league, Owens scored over 2,500 fantasy points (2,542), averaging 11.94 points per game (4^th all-time) and he put up the third highest quality start percentage with 64.8% (138 from 213 games), with an impressive 40 games over 20 points.

Owens also has eight seasons where he finished as a top-10 fantasy receiver, finishing second four times. His five 200+ point seasons rank 4^th all-time.

Randy Moss

Minnesota Vikings 1998-2004, 2010, Oakland Raiders 2005-2006, New England Patriots 2007-2010, Tennessee Titans 2010, San Francisco 49ers 2012

Hot on the heels of Terrell Owens in all-time fantasy points by receivers is Randy Moss. Moss ranks third all-time with 2,467 points at 11.92 points per game, just 0.02 points per game behind Owens. Where Moss has the edge against his fellow ‘real life’ Hall of Famer is that he was more consistently productive over the course of his career, with nine top-10 fantasy seasons, including four where he finished as the WR1 (1998, 2000, 2003 & 2007), plus a six year run from 1998 to 2003 where he finished no lower than 5^th in fantasy points.

Moss’ 2007 season of 287.3 points ranks first all-time amongst Wide Receivers, plus he also has the third highest season of all-time with 267 points in 2003, and six all together of more than 200 fantasy points (tied second).

In terms of quality starts, Moss is third all-time in volume (134 from 207 games) and fifth in quality start percentage (64.73%). He has 43 games where he scored over 20 points, good enough for second all-time, though his 20+ point game percentage (20.8%) is higher even than Jerry Rice (20.3%) and so is the best we’ve ever seen. He also has nine 30+ point games, but never broke the 40 point barrier.

Marvin Harrison

Indianapolis Colts 1996-2008

One of the most consistent fantasy performers of all time, Marvin Harrison is second only to Jerry Rice for the longest stretch of fantasy seasons as a top-10 receiver. His 8-year run from 1999 to 2006 saw him finish as the number one receiver four times (1999, 2001, 2002 & 2006), and in the top five in seven of those eight years.

Harrison is 4^th all-time in quality start percentage (64.74%), with 123 games of 8 points or more from 190 starts, as well as 34 games with 20+ points (4^th all-time). His six seasons with 200 or more fantasy points is tied second with Randy Moss.

Cris Carter

Philadelphia Eagles 1987-1989, Minnesota Vikings 1990-2001, Miami Dolphins 2002

Continuing down in order, Cris Carter comes in 5^th all-time in fantasy points by receivers. Another stalwart of consistency, Carter has the third longest streak of years as a top-10 receiver, putting up seven straight seasons between 1993 and 1999. He was never the top man in that period and never finished higher than third in any one season (1999), but he does have the 5^th most quality starts all-time with 126 and the 6^th most 20-point games with 24.

Calvin Johnson

Detroit Lions 2007-2015

Megatron has been included on this list despite playing far fewer games (135) than any of his fellow nominees, and putting up over 400 points less over the course of his career than anyone else as well (1,670). However, Johnson’s fantasy exploits over that relatively short span means he deserves to be in the conversation.

Johnson finished as a top-10 receiver six times in his nine seasons, finishing first in back-to-back seasons in 2011 and 2012, with the 2011 season finishing with the 4^th highest scoring season of all time with 263.2 points. Johnson had over 200 fantasy points four times in his career (joint 5^th) and he has the highest percentage of quality starts in the history, with 67.4% (91 from 135 games), with only Randy Moss having a higher percentage of 20+ point games (20.7% vs 20.8% for Moss).