We only really have one season to go off with James as he missed most of 2019 with injury, but he did exactly what we expected him to do in that 2018 rookie season coming out of Florida State. McLaurin entered the NFL landscape last season as an older rookie a third-round pick with limited expectations. Patrick Peterson, CB, Cardinals. Wide receivers dont necessarily have to be straight speed demons although it certainly doesnt hurt if theyre blazing fast. Entering his age 37 season, Rodgers is still going strong in Green Bay. PFFs lead draft analyst Mike Renner said that Young was the second prospect he felt comfortable calling a future Hall of Famer coming out of college, joining only Quenton Nelson. Some will say that its skewed results due to the players who are still playing at that age are likely top-notch, but you mustnt forget that we removed all players with less than 50 targets from every age. Here's a look at the 30 best NFL players in their 30s heading into the 2020 season. Going into the 2021 season, PFF ranked the top-32 wide receivers in the NFL and I want to highlight some of those names with updates on how their 2021 season is going: Of the 15 wide receivers on PFFs preseason list from this year who were over or nearing 30 (Davante Adams was ranked first and coincidentally today is his 29th birthday), I would argue that at least 12 have been disappointing for one reason or another. AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, (select parishes), MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY, CA-ONT only.Eligibility restrictions apply. This chart should help identify which players offer the most stability to fantasy rosters and what should be considered startable years of a wide receivers life. If you dont know what I mean, Im talking about a stereotype thats associated with fantasy players in which you dont particularly believe to be true. Jones Perkins Taylor Simmons Warfield Haffner Biletnikoff Pitts Garrison Mitchell Washington Twilley Briscoe Myers Bell Moses Van Heusen Beirne Doughty Miller Lewis Rucker Taylor Joiner Hill. Jones, who turned 30 in the offseason, has been an All-Pro in two of the last three seasons and has double-digit sacks in six of the last seven years. Jackson still wasnt a beacon of accuracy, but when you bring the dynamic ability he does as a runner, that simply doesnt matter as much. Julio Jones hamstring falling off the bone like perfectly cooked BBQ this season. He had a league-leading 159 tackles last year and is entering his age 30 season. Depending on what you want/need out of them, they really dont decline until theyre 33 years old. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Williams has very quietly played like one of the best safeties in the NFL over the last three seasons. The average NFL career for a wide receiver is. Are you looking to contact Customer Support about a subscription or account related question? This doesnt look anything like the running back chart. 5. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) The New York Giants have told wide receiver Kenny Golladay he will be released after two horrible seasons. In his first season with New England, Bourne caught 55 passes for 800 yards and five touchdowns in 17 games. Unlock all tools and content including Player Grades, Fantasy, NFL Draft, Premium Stats, Greenline and DFS. There are sure to be outliers, but again, do not unload wide receivers who are 28- or 29-year-old studs. The Rams drafted Van Jefferson in the second round in 2020 and have already gotten a taste of how the offense can operate with him starting over Woods; it would be surprising if the team sees Woods as a $15 million receiver coming off of ACL surgery. Nelson was about as easy an NFL projection as you can get coming out of Notre Dame, and its no surprise that he has wasted no time in cementing his spot as one of the best guards in the NFL. NAME GP REC TRG REC YDS AVG REC YDS/G REC TD RUSH YDS ATT YPC RUSH YDS/G RUSH TD; Don Hutson: 6: 55: 963: 17.5: 160.5: 12: Jim Benton: 5: 34 . The Giants are releasing wide receiver Kenny Golladay, The Post's Paul Schwartz confirmed. He led the league in passing during 2018 and is in his age 38 season. There are certain topics that come up throughout a fantasy owners life cycle that force him to question everything hes heard. For more from Mike, check out hisarchiveand follow him@MikeTagliereNFL. This was a no-brainer there is no quarterback in the NFL teams would rather have moving forward than Mahomes. He's consistently been a winner, with a career 86-41-1 regular season record and two Super Bowl appearances in eight seasons. He turns 32 in November. Slot vs. *T.Y. Certain kinds of pick routes, in which receivers get in the way of DBs while the balls in the air, are illegal. You can drop this number down from 1,000 yards to 800 yards and it really will not make much of a difference. One question to ponder is where Kupp will be ranked in two years; another is whether or not the top-ranked player in two years is even in the NFL yet. If this chart wont do it, nothing will. Peterson is coming off the worst year of his career at age 29, but hopes the transition to his 30s holds a brighter future. Wide receivers dont necessarily have to be straight speed demons although it certainly doesnt hurt if theyre blazing fast. The percentage of accurate passes he received dropped from 61.4% in 2017 and 2018 to 50.8% in 2019. There have been trade talks and speculation surrounding Adams as he awaits a contract extension, but he deserves to get paid. If theres someone in your dynasty league who wants to sell a wide receiver because hes rebuilding, take advantage and buy wide receivers in the 27-30 age range. Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Deshaun Watson, Christian McCaffrey, Jamal Adams, Myles Garrett and Quenton Nelson are all 25 years old, making them ineligible for this list. Brown quickly showed he was already one of the better receivers in the league in that regard as a rookie in 2019. Even Stafford saw it happen when he played with perhaps the most respected wide receiver of the century. When drafting a player in the early rounds, you want to ensure they can not only live up to their draft position, but hopefully exceed it. The final question you need to ask yourself is 92% of Julio Jones better than 100% of Amari Cooper in the 4th round of your fantasy draft? The Falcons trade Julio Jones for a second round pick, draft Kyle Pitts, save a ton of money, The Bengals part with A.J. The only way to test whether this was true was to go through a large sample size of data. For truly elite (250+ PPR points) production, 68% of elite seasons are from players between the ages of 23-26, and 87% take place prior to a player turning 29. If theres one reason to sell, it should be when a wide receiver is 30 or 31 years old and youre not going to be competing for two years. Today, well talk about the wide receiver position. Not only does he produce the jaw-dropping, highlight-reel plays, but he is just about as good as anyone in the league at hitting the easy throws and limiting mistakes. That's because in his final season, 1995, he played one game for the Rams as a 41-year-old. He was arguably football's best tight end prior to retiring, with four All-Pro designations in nine seasons as a great receiver and elite blocker. Turning 29 has not been kind: Wide receivers showing rapid decline, Rams facilities given a D+ grade in NFLPA survey, In a recent NFLPA survey, the Rams facilities were given a D+ grade by the players. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. Then last season, at 31, Julio started to show signs of decline with the Falcons. Ive accumulated a 14-year sample size with only one requirement to be included. This is the list of rookies with receiving grades of 80.0 or higher on 250 or more routes over the past 10 years: Odell Beckham Jr., Keenan Allen, Michael Thomas, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Doug Baldwin and the two 2019 rookies A.J. He will be 34 before Week 1, and the new Raven has made three consecutive Pro Bowls, including two double-digit sack seasons in Jacksonville. It is also why a general manager drafts Van Jefferson, Tutu Atwell, Jacob Harris, and Ben Skowronek in a two-year span, likely followed by more receiver picks in 2022 and 2023. Cooper Kupp is the best wide receiver in the NFL this year. Football is a game mostly dominated by young players in their 20s, but many of the top players in the league are notable exceptions. Lattimore is part of the talented group of secondary players who were taken in the 2017 NFL Draft, and if you look back over his first three years in the NFL, his PFF grade of 84.9 ranks 10th at the cornerback position. Its a smaller sample size, sure, but seeing 34-year-olds posting top-24 numbers 38.9 percent of the time, the highest mark on the chart, it gives the older guys hope. As I do these studies annually, the average age becomes younger each season. When does a fantasy player stop producing like an elite option? Barring a dramatic turnaround in the next two months, Beckham should not be a priority free agent for the Rams or anyone else. The Spartans ranked. Probably by a lot. Together they're the longest-tenured Colts. . It would appear age doesnt make a whole lot of difference to wide receivers, though we do see the number ramp up from their age-21 to age-26 season, highlighting when most are at the tail end of their rookie contract. He has been the most valuable player at the position since stepping foot on an NFL field in 2017, and he has developed into one of the more dangerous threats in the league as both a runner and as a receiver out of the backfield. Our exclusive database, featuring the most in-depth collection of NFL player performance data. WRs who were 29 in 2017: Antonio Brown, A.J. Players who are getting close to that mark: Julio Jones (31) and T.Y. Updated September 08, 2021 The reality is that you cannot adjust this by any measure and suddenly find a bunch of super talented 29+ year old wide receivers who I managed to cherry pick out of this article. This Sundays game between the Rams and Vikings will feature the top two receivers in the NFL in receiving yards, each on one end of the twenties spectrum: Cooper Kupp has 1,625 yards at age 28, Justin Jefferson has 1,335 yards at age 22. Brandon Cooks already has an impressive 44 catches for 694 yards, a 15.8 yards per catch. After removing the players with less than 50 targets, were left with a total of 1,168 individual seasons, more than enough for a conclusion. Receivers arent allowed to push off defenders. Only five years ago, 26-percent of 1,000-yard receivers were at least 30 years old. Emailed daily. What wide receivers are 29 years old? This is much different than the running back chart youll see tomorrow. That elusiveness both as a runner and a receiver is what makes him so dynamic in open space and what earns him a spot on this list. Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Jameson Williams (1) runs onto the field with his teammates prior to the CFP National Championship college football game | Joe Robbins/Icon . Some of this downfall has to be attributed to injuries, which is part of getting older, but that only strengthens the point that wide receivers are getting pushed out of the league at an earlier rate than ever: one bad injury can end a career now, not necessarily because the tank is empty but because the team assumes less risk by replacing said veteran through the draftand the draft is not only more rich with wideout talent than ever, but teams are also looking for pass-catchers at tight end and running back more than previously. Thats where well start today, the wide receiver position. That mainly comes down to the fact that getting Chubb to the ground has been much easier said than done. Hes, been particularly dangerous over the middle of the field, . pic.twitter.com/WrhsYbFYCD. A couple of young receivers seem ready to explode! For those who suggest Julio Jones is worth just WR3/4 prices in dynasty, I suggest you stop thinking that now. Subscribe:Apple Podcasts|Spotify|Google Podcasts|Stitcher|SoundCloud|iHeartRadio. Since turning 30, Green has struggled to stay healthy and when hes on the field hes nowhere near the dominant presence he once was; even with a resurgence in Arizona this year, Green is still not one of the top 40 players at his position. As for those contributions on the ground, Jackson has no peers at the quarterback position. His 16 forced missed tackles after the catch were a top-five mark at the position, as well. Its hard to understate how impressive three consecutive seasons of 80.0 overall grades out of the gate is for a player like Garrett. However, the data says otherwise which means many people can find great value in both redraft and dynasty. Browns downfall began during the Steelers-Raiders-Patriots mayhem of 2019 and since then his numbers are: 14 games, 78 catches, 957 yards in three seasons. When I became a full-time analyst and had time to research things like this, I wanted to give you concrete answers. If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. Gambling problem? The idea is that if you give a 24-year-old and a 31-year-old the same number of targets, we want to know whos more likely to produce (its the 31-year-old). Gronk is set to come out of retirement to join the Bucs in 2020. 11 years ago today, DeSean Jackson walked it off with a punt return TD! Hutson Benton Ferrante Rucinski Dewell Kavanaugh Chipley Beals Jansante North Kutner Shaw Swiacki Fears Box Mote Nickel Taylor Hirsch Lavelli Mann Pihos Wilkins Soltau Hoffman. This slight dip in production followed by a stability period does show that wide receivers in their early 30s who are still producing at a high level probably have a few more years left in the tank. Consider not only the career lifespans of players like Rice and Moss, who we know transcend almost all other receivers to come along in the last 50 years, but also the likes of really really good wideouts like Reggie Wayne, Hines Ward, Donald Driver, and Derrick Mason: Before we even get to the modern era, Ill pose this question to you: Do you expect Cooper Kupp to play 14 seasons with the Rams? Related Questions. Upside is clearly ramped up for wide receivers from age 21 all the way up to age 27, with an odd dip at age 28, then the biggest number of them all at age-29, as a whopping 11.6 percent of 29-year-old receivers have finished top-five, more than three percent higher than the next best mark. The Steelers didnt have a first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but thats because they spent it on a 23-year-old safety whose 84.4 overall grade ranked sixth at the position after landing in Pittsburgh prior to Week 3. Of the 69 wide receivers to play at age 29, weve watched 11.6 percent of them finish as a top-five fantasy option, the highest mark on the chart, putting the idea that wide receivers fall off at age 28 to bed. Tate is out of the NFL this year, so his career ended at 32. Who could have had a better argument as the next Chad Johnson or a mini-me version of Terrell Owens? 2021 Projection: 29 receptions / 387 yards / 2 . NAME GP . Last season, Marvin Jones led all 30+ wide receivers with 978 yards. If there was ever a receiver in the last three years who you would expect to potentially meet the Randy Moss, Jerry Rice line, its Julio Jones. Rice caught 1,023 career passes after turning 30: Skip forward to 2009, a decade after the GSOT, when Game of Throws became Game of Thrones, elder statesmen wideouts were still able to thrive in the NFL. The 26-year-old has become one of the Patriots most-reliable receivers. Kelce's brother, Travis, gets most of the attention in this prodigious football family, but Jason could have a better Hall of Fame case at the moment. In fact, his 92.1 rushing grade over the last two years is the only mark above 90.0. 29 year old wide receivers in the afc. Theres a steady arc in the percentages, and its clear that a wide receivers prime is from age-25 through age-32. Media may earn a commission account related question as I do these annually. You looking to contact Customer Support about a subscription or account related question to understate how impressive three seasons. His 92.1 wide receivers that are 29 years old grade over the last three seasons the best safeties in way. 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