TL;DR: This article explores at which ages NFL wide receivers have their most productive seasons. Depending on what you want/need out of them, they really dont decline until theyre 33 years old. Please tell me youre going to stop selling wide receivers when they hit the age of 28 now. Wide receivers dont decline after 28 years old from a fantasy perspective. His 2.89 receiving yards per route run trailed only George Kittle at the tight end position in 2019, and he was one of three qualifying tight ends to put up an average depth of target of 11 yards or more, joining Jared Cook and Mike Gesicki. The years sampled were 2011-2020 for the wide receiver position only. The types of wideouts who we used to expect to get 14 seasons, then 11-12 seasons, now look to be getting at most eight or nine seasons. He turns 32 in November. Moore has earned 62 targets on slant and in-routes since 2018 (fourth most in NFL), and his 94.9 receiving grade on those routes trails only, . As you can see, the prime age for a receiver to finish top-five at his position is at 29 years of age. Moore has earned 62 targets on slant and in-routes since 2018 (fourth most in NFL), and his 94.9 receiving grade on those routes trails only Deandre Hopkins and Michael Thomas. Modern NFL nose tackles are rarely anything more than space-eaters and early-down run-stuffers. Mike Tagliere is a featured writer at FantasyPros. Mecole Hardman, Chiefs. 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. From the data above on average 96.1 wide receivers per year played in the NFL between the ages of 25-29. He's coming off a season that saw him notch 1,138 yards and six touchdowns. When will Rams pick center of the future? 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? If youre in a dynasty league and nobody wants those players, take advantage of that. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Speaking to Giants fans during a question-and-answer telephone session at the NFL scouting combine on Tuesday, general manager Joe Schoen said the 29-year-old receiver recently was informed of the decision. Entering his age 37 season, Rodgers is still going strong in Green Bay. TL;DR: This article explores at which ages NFL wide receivers have their most productive seasons. To be clear, Im not telling you a wide receivers body doesnt start breaking down or fatiguing once he gets to a certain age (believe me, that starts before 28 years old), but it doesnt mean they cant produce more fantasy points per game with the experience theyve gained over the years. youngest active wide receivers in the NFL. I cant tell you how many times Ive heard wide receivers start to decline around the 28-year-old mark, and many in the dynasty industry think you should consider selling before the cliff. And while much of what we do here at PFF heavily factors positional value, this list does not. But maybe the next generation of 30+ receivers was just starting to come into their own in 2017. From a talent standpoint, the NFL is in a good place. As I do these studies annually, the average age becomes younger each season. What would they have to gain by telling you a player falls off a cliff at a certain age? This is a good time to remind everyone that JuJu Smith-Schuster is just 23 years old (will be 24 late this year). When you breakdown the production 25-29 vs. 30-34 wide receivers age 30-34 still produce at just over 92% in points and PPG vs. their late 20 counterparts. 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? Emailed daily. You don't currently have any notifications, Dont give up on Julio Jones just yet, dynasty managers. The catch seen around the world. 1 receiver in Minnesota this year after the team traded Stefon Diggs. One of those things was the age that fantasy players stop producing. Surely these players would be valuable for many more seasons to come, if history was any indication of what we could expect in the future. Heyward is entering his age 31 season. 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. Do you expect Justin Jefferson to be capable of starting for the Vikings in 2033, when he will be 35? Wide receivers dont necessarily have to be straight speed demons although it certainly doesnt hurt if theyre blazing fast. Overall, only a few wide receivers make it to age 35 let alone reach 100 targets at that age. Green, draft JaMarr Chase, get younger, healthier, and richer, The Giants sign Kenny Golladay and the Ravens add Sammy Watkins, but this doesnt prevent either team from drafting a wide receiver in the first round this year; which was smart because Golladay and Watkins do seem a lot older than their counterparts and theyve got a ways to go before turning 30. : #CINvsDEN -- Sunday 4:05pm ET on CBS : NFL app pic.twitter.com/znDCkg1M0r. 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. Tight Ends. Adams has earned grades of 75.0 or higher as a run defender, tackler, pass-rusher and coverage defender in each of the past two seasons at times even serving as the Jets best edge rusher. Are you looking to contact Customer Support about a subscription or account related question? Again, age-33 is the end for a wide receivers WR1 days, as just two of 56 wide receivers were able to finish as a WR1. Jones is already a five-time Pro Bowler, and he led the NFL with 136 receptions in 2015. Its tough to get into elite territory, and Im sure many would take WR1 production, right? Well go position-by-position to answer that question, as it varies. Williams has very quietly played like one of the best safeties in the NFL over the last three seasons. The only way to test whether this was true was to go through a large sample size of data. Then last season, at 31, Julio started to show signs of decline with the Falcons. grades of 75.0 or higher as a run defender, tackler, pass-rusher and coverage defender in each of the past two seasons, Bosa did things as a rookie that we havent seen since the PFF era began in 2006, 89.8 overall grade in 2019 ranked third among all edge defenders, graded above 70.0 in each of his first four NFL seasons and is coming off back-to-back years with pass-rushing grades above 87.0, 31 missed tackles forced after the catch led all NFL players by eight, 84.4 overall grade ranked sixth at the position after landing in Pittsburgh prior to Week 3, put up three consecutive seasons with overall grades of 73.0 or higher on 750 or more defensive snaps, His two-year contested-target percentage and forced incompletion rate both rank among the top 10 players at the position, 8.9 yards after the catch per reception led all wide receivers, Expect big things from McLaurin next year, the best edge defender prospect that PFF has scouted since 2014, Young was the second prospect he felt comfortable calling a future Hall of Famer coming out of college. The first- and second-year wide receivers in particular have great upside for their current ADP . Brown quickly showed he was already one of the better receivers in the league in that regard as a rookie in 2019. Kupp has a salary cap hit of $18.3 million next season and he isnt going anywhere. Is there a player falling down draft boards due to his age and perceived drop-off? 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? But then, turning 30 was not necessarily even the really big concern for a wideout then. The do-everything linebacker has only one Pro Bowl to his name, but he's recorded over 100 tackles in all but one of his eight NFL seasons. Dunlap has been one of the more overlooked defensive linemen in the league for much of his 10-year career in Cincy. Ill use a combination of FootballOutsiders DYAR (Defense-adjusted Yards Above Average) and regular yards to include eight more players and their current age: While we can quibble of the names who are on and the ones who are not (Marquise Brown, Michael Pittman, DK Metcalf, Tee Higgins, Darnell Mooney, A.J. The average NFL career for a wide receiver is. 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. Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones is still one of the best. His PFF grade ranks fourth at the position since 2017, and hes been the eighth-most valuable safety in the league by PFF WAR over that same three-year stretch. He appeared in 16 games, catching 34 passes for 571 yards. Are you going to stop selling wide receivers when they hit the age of 28 now? Suttons 83.1 PFF grade was a top-10 mark at the wide receiver position in 2019. If this chart wont convince you, nothing will. 3 receiver in Las Vegas, but he had a really solid year in 2021 for the Raiders. 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. Thats because normal people are using their brains and the brains go History says X, Y, and Z! But history doesnt help us here because the playbook for how teams should handle receivers as they get closer to 30 is changing every week. 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. To be as dominant as Nelson has been at his age is a rarity in the NFL. Its tough to get into elite territory, and Im sure many would take WR1 production, right? 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