If Fitzgerald can play until his late 30s, maybe 40, he won't get to 200, but has a legit shot at somewhere around 180.
If AJ stopped playing right now, he'd be in Sterling Sharpe territory I think. Sharpe was the 2nd best WR in the game behind Jerry Rice (Sharpe's career cut short with a neck injury), and he's not in the hall.
Yea it seen like a lot of people are for getting about Moss. His stats over his career are crazy. I believe he has 10 season with 10 or more TDs if anyone has a chance at catching Rice its Moss.
While I think Andre Johnson is consistently a top 1-2 WR year in and year out, stats like the ones given in the OP are more or less pointless. You can make a lot of comparisons that don't really matter as long as you have the right cut-off points. Also, if anything, these stats actually shows why Jerry Rice is the by far the best receiver in the history of the NFL. Remember that he did it in the days when defenses were actually allowed to do stuff to a wideout.
Calvin Johnson would agree that if he had a good QB that could get him the ball he would have no problem showing why hes the best receiver it the NFL.
Having a good QB definitely helps... A LOT. Andre pre-Schaub: 65 ypg. 0.28 TD per game Andre post-Schaub: 97 ypg(up 50%). 0.76 TD per game(up 170%) And note that post-Schaub stats include stats where Schaub was injured. But I'm too lazy to go into individual game logs. Still, AJ was definitely not putting up "best in the NFL" type stats until Kubiak and Schaub came in to utilize him more aptly. And even then, AJ is somewhat limited because Schaub isn't the best deep ball passer around.
I'm from Detroit and they are my other team opposite of the Texans but this simply isn't true. AJ and Fitz are both above CJ right now. We'll see as his career unfolds but he isn't there yet
Ziggy and Scarface, As you guys know, the stars have to really line up right for a player to last that long in the NFL. The everpresent chance of injury is always there. Cumulative effects of playing this long are exponentially multiplied in this day of bigger, faster, PED loaded players. There is also the matter of a player being in the right situation. ie team with healthy,producing QB and great offense. And how about the natural dropoff when players start to hit the wall? True, there are the great,disciplined ones who manage to navigate their way through, but it's the exception not the rule. Andre IS an amazing specimen and a great football player. Perhaps, as others mentioned, if he had come into the League and been immediately plugged into a bigtime offense things would be different. As is, he's the cream of the crop now and I'm proud to have him as a Texan. But, as previously mentioned, Rice's touchdown mark is one of those seemingly untouchable records and it is my take that Jerry is not only the greatest WR but most likely the greatest player of all time.
No shame in finishing 2nd to Rice in yards and TDs. Jerry was amazing, but he also was helped out by having two HOFers throwing to him in his prime, and also avoiding the injury bug seemingly his entire career (dude played until he went bald... that may never happen for a receiver ever again... with the possible exception of Derrick Mason)
nothing against young or montana, I loved watching both of them play, but it was nice for them to have a receiver turning five yard slants into 60 yard tds
I agree Johnson is the best WR in the NFL right now, so why do the Texans ignore him in the redzone? He still has yet to have a double digit TD year. To be considered one of the best all-time, you need to have some double digit TD years. With his size, it makes no sense as to why they don't look to him more in the redzone.
considering that 1) Carr was his QB early. 2) Also early on, the offense sucked and AJ was the only threat and thus targeted heavily. Recently, the offense is better but still, AJ is heavily keyed on. Also, consider that no one has respected the texans run game in the redzone It will be interesting to see what #s he puts up if our offense starts to routinely run the ball effectively and guys like jacoby, walter and OD keep burning defenses.
Be that as it may, it is very rare that a receiver would have two HOFers throwing him the ball for the majority of the prime of his career. That would be like a QB having two or three HOF receivers to throw the ball to for the majority of his prime. How often does that happen for a QB? My guess is not often.