Footballville has the top 20 receivers of the 21st century, and while I don't know if I'd put Chad on here, it's nice to see that two Bengals made the list with him and AJ!



Picture switching Dalton and Palmer and ask if Chad even makes this list if he has Dalton throwing him the ball.  How much higher would AJ be if he had Palmer throwing him the ball?  #4 maybe?

Thoughts?!

You don't know if you'd put Chad in there?

I don't know if it's recency bias or what, but Chad Johnson was a more dominant receiver in his prime than AJ Green. If you look at the numbers he put up, and when he he did it, there's no question he had the better Bengals career.

Chad not only played a decade earlier when passing numbers were lower, he did it against a better division in terms of defense. That's not to say that Pitts and Balt still haven't had decent defenses this last decade, but Chad was going up against the Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, and James Harrison and Troy Polumalu lead defenses of the decade prior.

Chad was an elite, top 5 receiver for like 4 or 5 straight years numbers wise. I think AJ Green has finished top 5 in yardage maybe only once or twice.

(03-11-2021, 02:49 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: Footballville has the top 20 receivers of the 21st century, and while I don't know if I'd put Chad on here, it's nice to see that two Bengals made the list with him and AJ!



Picture switching Dalton and Palmer and ask if Chad even makes this list if he has Dalton throwing him the ball.  How much higher would AJ be if he had Palmer throwing him the ball?  #4 maybe?

Thoughts?!

I would say almost all of them are deserving of being on the list. People can easily argue the order though.
I had to do a double take when I saw TY Hilton though.
I'd probably put Roddy White over Hilton, and probably Santana Moss, Wes Welker, and even Demaryius Thomas too.

(03-11-2021, 02:55 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: You don't know if you'd put Chad in there?

I don't know if it's recency bias or what, but Chad Johnson was a more dominant receiver in his prime than AJ Green.  If you look at the numbers he put up, and when he he did it, there's no question he had the better Bengals career.

Chad not only played a decade earlier when passing numbers were lower, he did it against a better division in terms of defense.  That's not to say that Pitts and Balt still haven't had decent defenses this last decade, but Chad was going up against the Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, and James Harrison and Troy Polumalu lead defenses of the decade prior.

Chad was an elite, top 5 receiver for like 4 or 5 straight years numbers wise.  I think AJ Green has finished top 5 in yardage maybe only once or twice.

Good points.  I guess I'm just still salty about the end of Chad's career with his trade demands and all that.

(03-11-2021, 02:49 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: Picture switching Dalton and Palmer and ask if Chad even makes this list if he has Dalton throwing him the ball.  How much higher would AJ be if he had Palmer throwing him the ball?  #4 maybe?

Chad put up 1,355 yards and 10 TD's with Jon Kitna as his QB in 2003.

AJ Green only went for more yards than that once in his 9 year career.  He only had more TD's (11, only one more) twice in his 9 year career.

He did all of this despite the passing numbers in 2003 being dwarfed by the passing numbers of the 2010's, and despite playing against historic level defenses in Pittsburgh and Baltimore in the 2000's.

IMHO, Chad > AJ.

I think both AJ and Chad are worthy of being on the list. They were both great WR's, and AJ did it with a slightly above average QB. Green made Dalton a better QB no doubt. Chad was amazing but let the Ocho thing get to his head a bit at the end of his career. If either player did what they did on bigger name teams, they would both be talked about more as future HOF WR's.

Chad's better than Reggie Wayne.

Already the list is dogging a Bengal

oh, and I respect Derrick Mason, but he is in NO WAY better than AJ Green

Also, TY Hilton and Donald Driver over Anquan Boldin? This list is horrid

There are 3 bengals on that list

I cannot believe they have Reggie Wayne ahead of Marvin Harrison.

Harrison played in 21 less games and has 46 more TD's than Wayne. And if you think it's a yardage thing, it's not. Harrison has (slightly) more yards too (14,580 for Harrison vs. 14,345 for Wayne)

The only explanation I can come up with is that Harrison's spent his few first few years in the league in the 90's. But that's a tough sell because so did Randy Moss and TO, who are both ranked accordingly.

Calvin Johnson over Moss

(03-11-2021, 02:49 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: Footballville has the top 20 receivers of the 21st century, and while I don't know if I'd put Chad on here, it's nice to see that two Bengals made the list with him and AJ!



Picture switching Dalton and Palmer and ask if Chad even makes this list if he has Dalton throwing him the ball.  How much higher would AJ be if he had Palmer throwing him the ball?  #4 maybe?

Thoughts?!

maybe not since Dalton throw more TDS than Palmer per season... also think about it this way.. would AJ be higher if he had a WR like TJ to play along side for his career?

(03-11-2021, 02:49 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: Footballville has the top 20 receivers of the 21st century, and while I don't know if I'd put Chad on here, it's nice to see that two Bengals made the list with him and AJ!



Picture switching Dalton and Palmer and ask if Chad even makes this list if he has Dalton throwing him the ball.  How much higher would AJ be if he had Palmer throwing him the ball?  #4 maybe?

Thoughts?!

chad lead the AFC 5 years in a row i think thats enough to make this list.

Glad to see Tory Holt near the top.

No one ever mentions him when talking about great WRs but he put up incredible numbers.  Over an 8 year span he AVERAGED 94 rec for 1384 yds and 8 tds.  And that streak started over 20 years ago ('00-'07) when passing numbers were way down from what they are now.

Over the first full decade of the 21st century ('00-'09) Holt had more receptions (868) and receiving yards (12,594) than any player in the league

(03-11-2021, 02:55 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: You don't know if you'd put Chad in there?

I don't know if it's recency bias or what, but Chad Johnson was a more dominant receiver in his prime than AJ Green.  If you look at the numbers he put up, and when he he did it, there's no question he had the better Bengals career.

Chad not only played a decade earlier when passing numbers were lower, he did it against a better division in terms of defense.  That's not to say that Pitts and Balt still haven't had decent defenses this last decade, but Chad was going up against the Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, and James Harrison and Troy Polumalu lead defenses of the decade prior.

Chad was an elite, top 5 receiver for like 4 or 5 straight years numbers wise.  I think AJ Green has finished top 5 in yardage maybe only once or twice.

Yeah, I think some people just remember the Ochocinco, and forget that Chad was legitimately the best WR in the NFL for a 3 year span, and Top-3 for a 5-6 year span, and did it against HoF defenses.

I have always said that AJ is one of the best Bengals of all time, but he's only the 2nd best Bengals WR of all time. Chad was legit elite.

(03-11-2021, 02:56 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I would say almost all of them are deserving of being on the list. People can easily argue the order though.
I had to do a double take when I saw TY Hilton though.
I'd probably put Roddy White over Hilton, and probably Santana Moss, Wes Welker, and even Demaryius Thomas too.

Yeah, it's weird to see TY Hilton on there, and my two biggest snubs actually aren't on your list.

Anquan Boldin
Brandon Marshall

Marshall has multiple 1,500 yard seasons, and put up 1,200+ yards (and was a Pro Bowler) with 4 different teams. He did it with Jay Cutler, Matt Moore, and Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB.

Boldin is 9th all time in receptions and 14th all time in receiving yards. He played in 15 postseason games (12 of them while 30+ y/o) and put up 70/1,057/8. He basically single-handedly carried the Ravens offense to a SB win by just wanting to catch Joe Flacco's jump balls more than the defense wanted to intercept them. He's also one of the toughest guys around when he needed 7 plates and 40 screws to put together his broken face, and only missed 2 games before coming back.

(03-11-2021, 03:18 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: Chad's better than Reggie Wayne.

Already the list is dogging a Bengal

oh, and I respect Derrick Mason, but he is in NO WAY better than AJ Green

Also, TY Hilton and Donald Driver over Anquan Boldin? This list is horrid

(03-11-2021, 03:25 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: I cannot believe they have Reggie Wayne ahead of Marvin Harrison.

Harrison played in 21 less games and has 46 more TD's than Wayne.  And if you think it's a yardage thing, it's not.  Harrison has (slightly) more yards too (14,580 for Harrison vs. 14,345 for Wayne)

The only explanation I can come up with is that Harrison's spent his few first few years in the league in the 90's.  But that's a tough sell because so did Randy Moss and TO, who are both ranked accordingly.

People put too much weight on bulk career stats. At their peaks, you are taking Harrison over Wayne. You are also taking peak Chad over Wayne and Hines Ward. Ward usually wasn't even the lead dog on his own team. That honor usually went to the likes of Plaxico Burress, Santonio Holmes, Mike Wallace, etc. Meanwhile Chad was leading the conference 4 straight years.

I also agree with Frank Booth on Anquan Boldin. In his prime he was right there with Larry Fitz...and definitely better than guys like Hilton and Driver.

Edit: I just realized this isn't the NFL films list (which had Hines ahead of Chad), and I can't click the link, so I don't know if this publication did the same. Either way, Chad is constantly disrespected, and these lists are all filled with stupid takes.

(03-11-2021, 04:13 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Yeah, I think some people just remember the Ochocinco, and forget that Chad was legitimately the best WR in the NFL for a 3 year span, and Top-3 for a 5-6 year span, and did it against HoF defenses.

I have always said that AJ is one of the best Bengals of all time, but he's only the 2nd best Bengals WR of all time. Chad was legit elite.


Yeah, it's weird to see TY Hilton on there, and my two biggest snubs actually aren't on your list.

Anquan Boldin
Brandon Marshall

Marshall has multiple 1,500 yard seasons, and put up 1,200+ yards (and was a Pro Bowler) with 4 different teams. He did it with Jay Cutler, Matt Moore, and Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB.

Boldin is 9th all time in receptions and 14th all time in receiving yards. He played in 15 postseason games (12 of them while 30+ y/o) and put up 70/1,057/8. He basically single-handedly carried the Ravens offense to a SB win by just wanting to catch Joe Flacco's jump balls more than the defense wanted to intercept them. He's also one of the toughest guys around when he needed 7 plates and 40 screws to put together his broken face, and only missed 2 games before coming back.

I figured I missed some guys when I skimmed through the all-time receivers list.
Definitely Boldin and Marshall for sure.

(03-11-2021, 02:55 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: You don't know if you'd put Chad in there?

I don't know if it's recency bias or what, but Chad Johnson was a more dominant receiver in his prime than AJ Green.  If you look at the numbers he put up, and when he he did it, there's no question he had the better Bengals career.

Chad not only played a decade earlier when passing numbers were lower, he did it against a better division in terms of defense.  That's not to say that Pitts and Balt still haven't had decent defenses this last decade, but Chad was going up against the Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, and James Harrison and Troy Polumalu lead defenses of the decade prior.

Chad was an elite, top 5 receiver for like 4 or 5 straight years numbers wise.  I think AJ Green has finished top 5 in yardage maybe only once or twice.

Rep my dude, great take on Chad Johnson.

(03-11-2021, 04:07 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Glad to see Tory Holt near the top.

No one ever mentions him when talking about great WRs but he put up incredible numbers.  Over an 8 year span he AVERAGED 94 rec for 1384 yds and 8 tds.  And that streak started over 20 years ago ('00-'07) when passing numbers were way down from what they are now.

Over the first full decade of the 21st century ('00-'09) Holt had more receptions (868) and receiving yards (12,594) than any player in the league

Tory Holt is beyond underrated. For 2 reasons

One, after the Kurt Warner years, the Rams were BAD. They made the playoffs once with Bulger but that was it.

And 2, the St.Louis Rams were smaller market

(03-11-2021, 03:38 PM)J24 Wrote: Calvin Johnson over Moss

No way. This is no disrespect to Calvin, but the only WR in NFL history I am taking over Randy is Rice. Randy, at his peak, is the second most dominant WR in NFL history, though you can argue T.O.

Calvin is one of the biggest NFL freaks to play WR, but Randy was still on another level than him during his prime.

(03-11-2021, 02:49 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: Footballville has the top 20 receivers of the 21st century, and while I don't know if I'd put Chad on here, it's nice to see that two Bengals made the list with him and AJ!



Picture switching Dalton and Palmer and ask if Chad even makes this list if he has Dalton throwing him the ball.  How much higher would AJ be if he had Palmer throwing him the ball?  #4 maybe?

Thoughts?!

Are you impling green is better than johnson?

Dude you don't remember how good he was.  That guy was freaking awesome.  Aj was good but not that good.  Chad was next level.