I recently looked up every WR that has been voted in the Hall of Fame or is considered a future Hall of Fame inductee OR any WR that has ever been labeled as “underrated.” I also looked up stats on every WR that is ranked within the top 50 in receptions and/or touchdown receptions and/or yards and I wrote down every WR’s stats from the age of 30 to the age of 36 because I wanted to see what of numbers Jimmy Smith would have put up if he could have the first 5 years of his NFL career back….

Did you know Jimmy Smith went 5 years calendar years before becoming a 16-game-starter? Did you know Jimmy Smith is ranked 3rd all time for one-thousand yard season with 9. Did you know if he wasn’t suspended for 4 games in 2003 that he would have 10 straight thousand yard seasons. In 2003 he was 195 yards shy.

Jimmy Smith caught his first pass in the regular season in week 9 in Pittsburgh in 1995 He was 26.262 years of age. This means Smith went from week 1 of the 1992 season when he was 23.203 years of age until week 9 of the 1995 season when he was 23.203 years of age before catching his first NFL pass in the regular season. That is exactly 3 calendar years and 59 days before he even made his first catch, which means he missed out on 48 regular season games…or 38 months…or 1,154 days before he made his 1st catch….That’s a loooong time in NFL time.

Smith didn’t become a 16 game starter until 1997, which he was 28.203 years of age. That’s is 5 years….or 60 months….or 1,825 days. Which means a total of 80 NFL games were played from 1992 until 1997 before Smith became the full-time starting wide receiver for the Jaguars. He did start 9 games in 1996, but wasn’t a 16 game starter until the 1997 season.

So I wanted to dig a little further and see what other great receivers did from the age of 30 until 36. The reason I chose to go with the age of 30 is because that is the year Jimmy Smith broke out. He led the league in receptions that year with 116 catches. Pete Prisco always points out that Jimmy had the best 3 year run of any WR in the NFL during that time from 1999 to 2001.

I wanted to take it further and see what kind of numbers did the greats put up from age 30 to 36. I chose 36 years of age because that is when Smith retired. Crazy Fact: Mike Evans racked 9,301 yards BEFORE THE AGE OF 30, while Jimmy Smith was settling into his 3rd season of being a 16 game starter. Deandre Hopkins’ last 1000 yard season was 2 years ago and he is 30 years of age now.

So here we go. I’m going to post the WR’s Name and then I’m going to follow that up with their combined yardage from their 30 years of age season until their 36 years of age season.

AJ Green. - 2301 yards
Antonio Brown - 2381 yards
Chad Johnson - 2694 yards
Julio Jones. - 2898 yards
B.Marshall. - 3301 yards
Michael Irvin. - 3366 yards
Desean Jacksn-3449 yards
Torry Holt. - 3895 yards
Randy Moss. - 4592 yards
Andre Reed - 4965 yards
Andre Johnson-5021 yards
Art Monk. - 5476 yards
Steve Largent - 5481 yards
K.McCardell. -5908 yards
Joey Galloway-6053 yards
Anquan Boldin-6259 yards
Isaac Bruce. -6539 yards
Steve Smith. -6584 yards
Henery Ellard. -6625 yards
Larry Fitzgerald-6670 yards
Derrick Mason. -6945 yards
Irvin Fryer -7048 yards
Reggie Wayne. -7361 yards
Terrell Owens. -7481 yards
MarvinHarrison-7502 yards
Cris Carter. -8000 yards
Tim Brown. -8091 yards

Jimmy Smith. -8249 yards
Jerry Rice. -8540 yards

Another stat to look at is games started.

Jerry Rice started 284 games
Owens started 201 games
Isaac Bruce started 201 games
Larry Fitzgerald started 261 games
Cris Carter started 209 games
Tim Brown started 202 games
Andre Reed started 217 games
Art Monk started 194 games
Steve Smith started 198 games
Reggie Wayne started 197 games

Jimmy Smith started 150 games….it took him 1,825 days to become the full time starter…

Let’s take a look at the first 5 years of a few Wide Receivers

Reggie Wayne. -4161 yards
Andre Johnson - 4804 yards
Antonio Brown. - 5259 yards
DeandreHopkins-5865 yards
Mike Evans -6103 yards
AJ Green. -6171 yards
Julio Jones. -6201 yards

I have 1 final stat for all the guys out there that wasn’t around when Jimmy Smith played.

Julio Jones started 149 games
Jimmy Smith started 150 games

Julio Jones = 13,629 yards receiving
Jimmy Smith=12,287 yards receiving

Imagine if Jimmy Smith was a day 1 starter in his rookie season and had those 5 years to add to his totals. He would have been in the neighborhood of 1051 receptions 16,000 yards and something around 83 TD. 5 years of a young, prime Jimmy Smith….

Somehow is think Jimmy’s missed games weighs more than Fred Taylor’s missed games. You be the judge of that.

Hope you guys enjoyed this.

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