The Rams are trying to win a Super Bowl today, but there's a side storyline that might only be of interest to a few. Cooper Kupp, with a big game, can potentially finish with the best postseason by a receiver in NFL history.
The all-time leader (yards, touchdowns) in this department is Larry Fitzgerald. The year his Cardinals went to the Super Bowl, in 2008, Fitzgerald caught 30 passes for 546 yards and 7 TDs. That works out to 126.6 fantasy points (PPR), nearly 30 more than the 2nd-best such season (Jerry Rice, in 1988).
Fitzgerald played four games that postseason, as has Kupp, and that helps. Rice only played three games in his biggest postseason. If we looked at things on a per-game basis, Fitzgerald would be behind both Rice and a couple of old-timey guys (Fred Biletnikoff and Tom Fears). But whatever, we're going with cumulative. The best postseason performance by a receiver in NFL history are below, sorted by total PPR points. (Search tools at pro-football-reference.com were used in compiling this table.)
| BEST RECEIVING POSTSEASONS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tm | Year | G | W | L | Rec | Yds | TD | PPR |
| Larry Fitzgerald | ARI | 2008 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 30 | 546 | 7 | 126.6 |
| Jerry Rice | SFO | 1988 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 409 | 6 | 97.9 |
| Hakeem Nicks | NYG | 2011 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 28 | 444 | 4 | 96.4 |
| Cooper Kupp | LAR | 2021 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 25 | 386 | 4 | 87.6 |
| Travis Kelce | KAN | 2020 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 31 | 360 | 3 | 85.0 |
| Anquan Boldin | BAL | 2012 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 22 | 380 | 4 | 84.0 |
| Jerry Rice | SFO | 1989 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 19 | 317 | 5 | 80.7 |
| Steve Smith | CAR | 2005 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 335 | 3 | 78.5 |
| Demaryius Thomas | DEN | 2013 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 28 | 306 | 3 | 76.6 |
| Steve Smith | CAR | 2003 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 404 | 3 | 76.4 |
| Fred Biletnikoff | RAI | 1968 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 370 | 4 | 75.0 |
| Danny Amendola | NWE | 2017 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 26 | 348 | 2 | 72.8 |
| Travis Kelce | KAN | 2021 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 299 | 3 | 70.9 |
| Julio Jones | ATL | 2016 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 334 | 3 | 70.4 |
| Tyreek Hill | KAN | 2021 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 285 | 3 | 69.5 |
| Andre Reed | BUF | 1992 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 313 | 3 | 68.3 |
| Anthony Carter | MIN | 1987 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 391 | 1 | 68.1 |
| Tom Fears | LAR | 1950 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 334 | 3 | 67.4 |
| Amani Toomer | NYG | 2007 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 21 | 280 | 3 | 67.0 |
| John Stallworth | PIT | 1978 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 288 | 4 | 66.8 |
| Michael Crabtree | SFO | 2012 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 285 | 3 | 66.5 |
| Antonio Freeman | GNB | 1997 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 308 | 3 | 65.8 |
| Julian Edelman | NWE | 2018 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 388 | 0 | 64.8 |
| Randy Moss | MIN | 1999 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 315 | 3 | 63.5 |
| James Lofton | BUF | 1990 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 323 | 3 | 63.3 |
| Greg Jennings | GNB | 2010 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 21 | 303 | 2 | 63.3 |
| Vernon Davis | SFO | 2011 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 292 | 4 | 63.2 |
| Stefon Diggs | BUF | 2020 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 311 | 2 | 63.1 |
| Robert Brooks | GNB | 1995 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 281 | 3 | 63.1 |
| Muhsin Muhammad | CAR | 2003 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 352 | 2 | 62.2 |
| Chris Hogan | NWE | 2016 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 332 | 2 | 62.2 |
| T.Y. Hilton | IND | 2013 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 327 | 2 | 61.7 |
| Jordy Nelson | GNB | 2010 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 21 | 286 | 2 | 61.6 |
| Julian Edelman | NWE | 2016 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 342 | 1 | 61.2 |
| Antonio Brown | PIT | 2016 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 309 | 2 | 60.9 |
| Michael Irvin | DAL | 1994 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 303 | 2 | 60.3 |
| Charlie Brown | WAS | 1983 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 401 | 1 | 60.1 |
| Julian Edelman | NWE | 2014 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 281 | 1 | 60.1 |
| Vincent Jackson | SDG | 2007 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 300 | 2 | 60.0 |
| Tyreek Hill | KAN | 2020 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 24 | 355 | 0 | 59.5 |
Kupp will likely set the record for receptions in a postseason. He's just 6 behind Travis Kelce, whose 31 a year ago was one better than Rice in his top season. Yards are a little less likely, since he's 162 behind Fitzgerald, but it's possible.
He'll need 39 fantasy points to catch Fitzgerald, which is unlikely. Something like 12 catches for 150 yards and 2 TDs. It's not something the Rams will be thinking about, but in the realm of possibility.
--Andy Richardson