Here's Why It's a Golden Age for NFL Wide Receivers
[Editor's note: The following article is from Athlon Sports' 2026 NFL Preview magazine. Order your issue online today, or grab a copy at newsstands and retail racks nationwide.]
Jaxon Smith-Njigba led the NFL in 2025 with 1,793 receiving yards, earning the Seattle Seahawks' third-year star a contract extension that makes him the highest-paid wide receiver in league history. Smith-Njigba's yardage total was the eighth-best single-season total ever - but he's far from alone when it comes to active receivers putting up video-game numbers.
Five active players own spots among the 10 best yardage seasons in NFL history. Two more are in the top 16. Pro Football Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson still owns the NFL record with 1,964 yards in 2012, but it feels like it's only a matter of time before we see the first receiver to crack 2,000 yards, and there are any number of active players capable of accomplishing that feat.
As late as Week 13 of last season, Smith-Njigba was on pace to break Johnson's single-season record and become the first 2,000-yard receiver. And while the Seahawks wideout still led the NFL in yards despite a late-season slowdown, Los Angeles Rams receiver Puka Nacua was not far behind. In fact, Nacua missed parts of three games due to injury and actually averaged nearly two yards more per game than JSN.
Johnson told Athlon Sports last season that he wouldn't be surprised to see someone break his record, sooner than later.
"If Puka has a great year with [Matthew] Stafford, he can," said Johnson. Fittingly, Stafford was Johnson's quarterback with the Detroit Lions when he set the single-season record - and he was the Rams quarterback when Cooper Kupp recorded the second-best yardage total with 1,947 yards in 2021.
Johnson also wouldn't be surprised if it's Smith-Njigba who breaks the record.
"If he can keep up what he's doing, he should have a hell of a career," Johnson said of JSN.
"Whoever does it, I hope it's not a one-off, somebody just comes and does it and doesn't do anything else," Johnson added. "I hope it's somebody like a Puka or one of these guys … somebody that's been doing it that has a track record."
Roster of elite receivers
Of course, Nacua and Smith-Njigba are by no means alone among an elite group of active receivers. There's Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb, Amon-Ra St. Brown, A.J. Brown. Older veterans like Mike Evans and Stefon Diggs are still getting it done. Younger receivers like Tetairoa McMillan, Emeka Egbuka, Rome Odunze and Drake London are on the rise. Malik Nabers had a record-breaking rookie season in 2024 before before suffering a torn ACL and meniscus in 2025, so he's looking for a return to form.
Simply put, this is a golden age for wide receivers.
"I do believe it is," says Nate Burleson, a CBS Sports analyst and former NFL receiver who was a teammate of Johnson's when he set the record in 2012. "Receivers nowadays are more talented than ever before."
Burleson immediately brings up Jefferson and Chase. Jefferson was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 2020 and had 1,400 receiving yards as a rookie. In 2021, he did even better with 1,616 yards and 10 touchdown catches. But he shared the spotlight with Chase, his former LSU teammate, who was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in '21 and recorded 1,455 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns as a rookie.
"Those two dudes are just so dominant," says Burleson. "It's funny that they were teammates at one point. But I just feel like this new wave of wideouts, it brings a smile to my face because you're seeing all shapes and sizes, all forms."
When Jefferson and Chase put up those eye-popping yardage totals five years ago, they actually took a back seat to another wideout. Kupp had 1,947 receiving yards for the Rams that season - also tallying 145 catches and 16 touchdowns to record the receiving triple crown. Two other pass-catchers that season topped 1,400 yards: Davante Adams (1,553) and Deebo Samuel Sr. (1,405).
Since 2020, 15 different players have had at least 1,400 receiving yards in a season (including tight end Travis Kelce). Jefferson has done it four times, Chase three. Six other players - Adams, Tyreek Hill, Stefon Diggs, Brown, Nacua and St. Brown - have done it twice.
More importantly, these receivers aren't just putting up big numbers. They're putting up wins. After Smith-Njigba and Nacua combined for 3,508 receiving yards, both ended up in the NFC Championship Game. The Seahawks, of course, won that matchup and then destroyed the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX.
"I just feel like the good teams will have a really good wide receiver on their squad," says Burleson. "I just feel like this golden age proves that you can have a superstar wideout and win. For a long time, you couldn't do both."
Impact of seven-on-seven football
Wide receivers are faster and more athletic than ever, but Burleson points to another reason why there are so many elite wideouts in today's game.
"There's a lot you can attribute it to," he says. "It could be the coaching, the training, the success in high school and college. But I think you got to draw it back to these seven-on-seven leagues. And I don't know if every guy has participated in it, but seven-on-seven is just route-running. It's all route-running.
"That's all there is, is route-running. So, for example, a guy like me who played on teams that ran the ball up until I went to college, I started to become a better wide receiver the moment I stepped foot on campus my freshman year of college. There are some of these young guys that were good route-runners in the fifth grade. So that amount of time of just working on the nuances of the position, it really just proves to be the most beneficial thing for these young players once they get into the league."
On the other hand, as much as today's receivers benefit from seven-on-seven experience, they also have fully taken advantage of NFL rules that make it much harder for defenses to cover them. Any former receiver who had to deal with bump-and-run coverage will tell you they had it much tougher.
"Those guys were getting harassed off the line of scrimmage," says Burleson. "You could knock their block off if they were running blindly across the field. When the ball's in the air, you can clip them, flip them, hit them, grab them. I'm not saying pass interferences didn't exist or those penalties didn't exist then, but you could be a lot more physical back in the day. Now, you have to give a guy room off the line of scrimmage.
"You can't really grab and pull and yank on them, or that flag is going up. Off the top of the route, sneaking, grabbing the hips and the jersey, they keep an eye on it now, but back in the day, they could care less."
There's more freedom in route- running now, which just makes it easier to play the game. Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice - perhaps the greatest ever to play the position - agrees.
"If a receiver can't run a route on a guy that's eight yards off and no hard bump-and-run and stuff like that, then that individual shouldn't be a receiver," says Rice. "So things are a little bit, I'm not going to say easier, but you have more freedom coming off the line of scrimmage now."
That said, Rice does recognize that there are many great receivers playing today. While younger guys like Smith-Njigba and Nacua are coming on strong, Rice still thinks Jefferson is the best receiver in the NFL today.
"The number one is Justin Jefferson," he says. "Because he can do it all. You know, he can strike deep, he can go across the middle, he can catch the ball in stride, all of those things, and he just looks like there's no effort out on the football field. Like he's just out there running, and everything is so precise. But there are a lot of receivers that are getting it done underneath, like Puka. You know, those types of guys."
Jefferson is entering his seventh season in the NFL. He has stayed healthy for much of his career, which is why he already has 579 catches for 8,480 yards. Still a long way to go to catch the GOAT - Rice holds the all-time receiving triple crown records with 1,549 receptions for 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns (41 touchdowns more than Randy Moss, who's second on that list). Of course, Rice played 20 seasons. And while it's not fair to expect anyone to play 20 years, Rice wants to see today's wideouts have a little more sustained success before crowning them.
"I base everything off longevity," Rice says. "I don't base everything off these guys, you know, having success so early and putting up great numbers. I want to see that sustainability."
Jefferson has had more sustained success than some of the other elite receivers in today's game, and what's amazing is that he's done it with a number of different quarterbacks. Assuming free-agent signee Kyler Murray takes over the job from J.J. McCarthy in 2026, Minnesota will have its fourth starting quarterback in the past four seasons. And that could be big news for Jefferson.
"I think he's going to have an amazing year with Kyler Murray," Burleson says. "I think Kyler Murray is going to take that starting position."
Jefferson's 1,048 receiving yards last season were the lowest total of his career - yet he was still one of 19 wide receivers with at least 1,000 yards. Amazingly, that's the lowest total of 1,000-yard receivers since 2020.
Burleson is quick to note that every era has had its share of all-world receivers - Rice, Moss, Terell Owens, Johnson. But it's hard to compete with how stacked the current crop of elite receivers has been.
"There are just so many good receivers in the NFL right now," he says.
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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 4:35 AM.