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Factoid

Wide receivers on bad teams

How can a loser ever win?

In yesterday's post about rookie receivers, reader Robert McKinlay mentioned being cool on Drake London with him perhaps laboring on one of the league's worst teams this season. This interested me: does a bad team necessarily have lousy wide receivers?

In my mind, I figure a team that loses a lot would be passing more often, and could potentially have a top fantasy receiver. To see whether that's true, I took a look at the worst NFL teams since 2000, and pulled out the top wide receiver (PPR scoring) from each.

I set the loser threshold at fewer than 4 wins, which gave me 46 teams from the last 21 years. Table below shows the No. 1 wideout from each of those teams.

Exactly half (23) of those teams had a wideout finish in the top 30 at their position. That includes Amon-Ra St. Brown, who finished 22nd for the 3-14 Lions last year. Just eight of those teams (17 percent) had one rank in the top 15. The last of those was 2019 Kenny Golladay, who was the 9th-best PPR wideout for 3-12-1 Lions that year.

In the table, top-15 wideouts are in bold, top-30 in italics.

NO. 1 WIDEOUTS ON BAD TEAMS, 2001-2021
YearTeamWinsNo. 1 WRNoYdsTDRk
2021Jacksonville Jaguars3Marvin Jones73832434
2021Detroit Lions3Amon-Ra St. Brown90912522
2020Jacksonville Jaguars1DJ Chark53706549
2020New York Jets2Jamison Crowder59699639
2019Washington3Terry McLaurin58919730
2019Cincinnati Bengals2Tyler Boyd901046517
2019Detroit Lions3.5Kenny Golladay651190119
2018Arizona Cardinals3Larry Fitzgerald69734626
2017Cleveland Browns0Rashard Higgins27312286
2017New York Giants3Sterling Shepard59731242
2016San Francisco 49ers2Jeremy Kerley64667353
2016Chicago Bears3Cameron Meredith66888438
2016Jacksonville Jaguars3Allen Robinson73883626
2016Cleveland Browns1Terrelle Pryor771007420
2015Tennessee Titans3Dorial Green-Beckham32549459
2015Cleveland Browns3Travis Benjamin68966528
2014Jacksonville Jaguars3Allen Hurns51667649
2014Tennessee Titans2Kendall Wright57715641
2014Oakland Raiders3James Jones73666638
2014Tampa Bay Buccaneers2Mike Evans6810511213
2013Washington3Pierre Garcon1131346511
2013Houston Texans2Andre Johnson1091407510
2012Kansas City2Dwayne Bowe59801343
2012Jacksonville Jaguars2Cecil Shorts55979726
2011St. Louis Rams2Brandon Gibson36431183
2011Indianapolis Colts2Pierre Garcon70947622
2011Minnesota Vikings3Percy Harvin8796796
2010Carolina Panthers2Steve Smith46554266
2009Tampa Bay Buccaneers3Antonio Bryant39600459
2009St. Louis Rams1Donnie Avery47589550
2009Detroit Lions2Calvin Johnson67984522
2008St. Louis Rams2Torry Holt64796335
2008Kansas City2Dwayne Bowe861022716
2008Detroit Lions0Calvin Johnson781331123
2007Miami Dolphins1Marty Booker50556165
2007St. Louis Rams3Torry Holt931189711
2006Oakland Raiders2Ronald Curry627272143
2006Detroit Lions3Roy Williams82131079
2005Houston Texans2Andre Johnson63688242
2005New Orleans Saints3Donte Stallworth70945723
2004San Francisco 49ers2Brandon Lloyd43565646
2002Detroit Lions3Bill Schroeder36595557
2002Cincinnati Bengals2Chad Johnson691166521
2001Carolina Panthers1Donald Hayes52597251
2001Buffalo Bills3Peerless Price55895730
2001Detroit Lions2Johnnie Morton771154422

One of the things that strikes me from the table is just how lousy things have been in Detroit this century. That team has won 3 or fewer games seven times in the last 21 years. That's terrible, and two more times than the 2nd-worst team, Jacksonville.

Anyway, if we think we can identify who the league's worst teams will be this year -- Atlanta, perhaps, and I suspect Chicago will be in the discussion -- I'd contend there's no reason why they can't have at least a top-30 wide receiver, let's say Drake London or Darnell Mooney. Recent history suggests a 50-50 shot. Top-15 a lot less likely, but there's no chance of either of those guys being selected that early anyway. I don't plan to shy away from wideouts on teams I think will be lousy.

--Andy Richardson

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