08-31-2020, 06:16 PM
(08-31-2020, 05:47 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Sorry man, but it's not happening. Might as well accept it now. It was possible before, but the injuries the last couple years sealed it.
He'll simply never be able to statistically rise to/above the level of his peers of the era...
16 Years
L Fitzgerald: 1,378 catches/17,083 yards (12.4 AVG)/120 TDs ... Pro Bowl x11, All-Pro x1
14 Years
A Johnson: 1,062 catches/14,185 yards (13.4 AVG)/70 TDs ... Pro Bowl x7, All-Pro x2
R Wayne: 1,070 catches/14,343 yards (13.4 AVG)/82 TDs ... Pro Bowl x6, All-Pro x1
A Boldin: 1,076 catches/13,779 yards (12.8 AVG)/82 TDs ... Pro Bowl x3, All-Pro x0
13 Years
B Marshall: 970 catches/12,351 yards (12.7 AVG)/83 TDs ... Pro Bowl x6, All-Pro x1
12 Years
D Jackson: 598 catches/10,420 yards (17.4 AVG)/55 TDs ... Pro Bowl x3, All-Pro x0
11 Years
R White: 808 catches/10,863 yards (13.4 AVG)/63 TDs ... Pro Bowl x4, All-Pro x1
10 Years
A Brown: 841 catches/11,263 yards (13.4 AVG)/75 TDs ... Pro Bowl x7, All-Pro x4
9 Years
AJ Green: 602 catches/8,907 yards (14.8 AVG)/63 TDs ... Pro Bowl x7, All-Pro x0
J Jones: 797 catches/12,125 yards (15.2 AVG)/57 TDs ... Pro Bowl x7, All-Pro x2
C Johnson: 731 catches/11,619 yards (15.9 AVG)/83 TDs ... Pro Bowl x6, All-Pro x3
8 Years
TY Hilton: 552 catches/8,589 yards (15.6 AVG)/45 TDs ... Pro Bowl x4, All-Pro x0
7 Years
D Hopkins: 632 catches/8,602 yards (13.6 AVG)/54 TDs ... Pro Bowl x4, All-Pro x3
6 Years
O Beckham: 464 catches/6,511 yards (14.0 AVG)/48 TDs ... Pro Bowl x3, All-Pro x0
M Evans: 462 catches/7,260 yards (15.7 AVG)/48 TDs ... Pro Bowl x3, All-Pro x0
4 Yards
M Thomas: 470 catches/5,512 yards (11.7 AVG)/32 TDs ... Pro Bowl x3, All-Pro x2
T Hill: 281 catches/4,115 yards (14.6 AVG)/32 TDs ... Pro Bowl x4, All-Pro x2
...this post turned out to be way more research/work than I originally anticipated. The point being that when it comes time to compare him to the other great WRs of his time, AJ Green will statistically come up lacking. It was already a slight issue before the injuries, but losing 29 games over the last 4 years pretty much put a nail in that coffin. Age 32-36 he would have to put up at least 1k yards each year (which is more than he's averaged so far in his first 9 years) to even keep himself in the conversation and I don't even know if that'll be enough the way that Hopkins/Evans/Thomas are racking up stats behind him and the fact that he'll always be compared to Julio Jones since they were two picks apart yet Julio has over 3k yards more in the same time already.
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ALL THAT SAID... I still full agree with your response. AJ Green starting rather than Damien Willis is about as huge of an upgrade as you possibly can get. That's like Whit instead of Ogbuehi.
GREAT work. Always appreciate a well researched post.
I'm with you. I think he needs an absolute minimum of 13,000 yards to be in the discussion.
Considering Chad Johnson has over 11,000, and he came up a full 10 years behind AJ (before passing and receivers totals skyrocketed), then I think AJ will need to move well past that benchmark.
I think the chances of AJ tagging on another 4,100 yards is pretty slim. And without a ring, a Superbowl MVP, or any of that, he's really going to have a tough time seperating himself from the pack.
PS I'll get flamed for this, but whatever. If AJ ends up where I think he will (10,000-13,000 yards) then I think you can easily argue that Chad had a better career, given their respective eras.
