There has been no shortage of one-year wonders in NFL history, especially at the quarterback, running back and wide receiver positions.
Previously, we did lists on the biggest quarterback and running back one-year wonders in NFL history. It’s now time to address these 12 NFL wide receivers who performed like superstars for one season, but were mediocre at best the rest of the way.
Josh Gordon
You simply feel for Josh Gordon, who has worked tirelessly to get himself clean and healthy. It’s obviously very sad that he wasn’t able to stay on the field consistently throughout his playing career.
But he did win a Super Bowl 53 championship ring with the New England Patriots, and we all remember how explosive he was WHEN the ball was in his hands.
Gordon showed promise in his 2012 rookie year by recording 50 receptions for 805 yards and five touchdowns. But he kicked it into another gear in 2013, racking up 87 receptions for a league-leading 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns on a lousy Cleveland Browns’ team.
It looked like we had just seen the emergence of another elite NFL wideout who was just kicking off a Hall of Fame career… Unfortunately, a suspension limited him to five games in 2014, and he was banned for the entire 2015 and 2016 campaigns as well.
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Gordon showed signs of stardom again when he had 720 receiving yards and three touchdowns in 11 games during the 2018 season, but he stepped away late in the year to focus on his mental health. The Pats gave him a Super Bowl 53 ring for his contributions to the team, anyways.
But at the end of the day, we only got to see superstar Josh Gordon for one season back in 2013. Boy, was it ever a single-season for the ages, though.
Allen Hurns
Remember back in 2015, when the two Allens each posted over 1,000 yards receiving on a terrible Jacksonville Jaguars team? The two Allens, of course, were Mr. Hurns and Mr. Robinson.
But while A-Rob went on to enjoy more success with the Jaguars and later the Chicago Bears, Hurns was never the same after 2015. That year, Hurns had 64 catches for 1,031 yards and 10 touchdowns.
2015 was peak Allen Hurns, as it turned out. Over the next four years, his receiving totals were 477, 484, 295 and 416. He opted out of the 2020 season with the Miami Dolphins because of the COVID-19 pandemic and missed all of 2021 with a wrist injury.
Miami released Hurns in the 2022 offseason, and he went unsigned. While Robinson became a quality wide receiver in the NFL, Hurns went down in lore as a one-hit wonder.
DeVante Parker
The Miami Dolphins’ 2015 first-round pick has had an interesting career. He’s always had the
big-play ability, but Parker has only been a superstar for one season in his career. The other
years? He’s really been nothing more than a low-end number two or number three option in the
passing game.
After four inconsistent seasons to begin his career, Parker broke out in 2019 on a Miami team
that was basically trying to tank. He finished with 72 receptions for 1,202 yards and nine
touchdowns, memorably lighting up Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore in the Week
17 finale against the New England Patriots.
But that wasn’t a breakout year for Parker. It was “one-hit wonder” territory. He failed to hit the
70-catch mark in each of the next three years and fell below 600 yards receiving in both 2021
and 2022. And from 2020 to 2022, had just nine touchdowns — equaling the amount he put up
in 2019 alone.
Parker is still playing in the NFL, and he’s just 30-years-old. But based on what he’s done so far,
it’s unlikely we see the Pats wideout go off for another season or two in the twilight of his career.
Our money’s on Parker remaining a one-year wonder.
Kevin Curtis
Curtis showed promise for the St. Louis Rams in 2005 when he hauled in 60 receptions for 801 yards and six touchdowns. He fell back to earth with a mere 479 receiving yards in 2006 but still landed a multi-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2007 free agency.
Curtis made the Eagles look like geniuses in the first year of the deal, to say the very least. He finished the year as Philly’s top receiver, recording 77 receptions for 1,110 yards and six touchdowns.
Unfortunately, the injury bug quickly struck, derailing Curtis’ career. He was limited to 12 games over the next two seasons. In 2010, Curtis had to undergo testicular cancer but made a recovery and appeared in two games for the Miami Dolphins.
Curtis signed with the Tennessee Titans in 2011, but unfortunately suffered a broken hand before playing a game for them. Sadly, that was the end, as Curtis wouldn’t play in the NFL again.
Michael Clayton
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers used the No. 15 selection in the 2004 NFL Draft on the LSU wide receiver. Let’s just say his rookie year was beginner’s luck.
That year, Clayton racked up 80 receptions for 1,193 yards and seven touchdowns. It looked like the Bucs had a dangerous pass-catching duo to build around in Clayton and veteran mainstay Joey Galloway. However, that turned out to be far from the case.
Clayton endured the sophomore slump in 2005, recording just 32 receptions for 372 yards and zero scores. Unfortunately, a series of injuries limited him to just 22 games over the following three years.
Clayton’s last season with the Bucs saw him record just 16 catches for 230 yards and one touchdown. He signed with the New York Giants in 2010, and despite seeing very little playing time over the next two years, he did earn a Super Bowl 46 ring with the club in the 2011 season.
So hey, it could have been worse. Clayton technically went out on top as a Super Bowl champion!
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson — the football player, not the singer! — showed some promise over his first five years with the Cleveland Browns. Jackson crossed the 40-catch and 700-yard marks in the 1992, ‘93 and 1995 seasons.
But it was 1996 — the year the Browns relocated to Baltimore and became the Ravens — where Jackson really went off.
Jackson was must-see TV for the good folks of Baltimore, who were simply delighted enough just to have a football team back. Jackson caught 76 passes for 1,201 yards and 14 touchdowns, the latter of which tied Tony Martin of the San Diego Chargers for the NFL lead.
Jackson followed it up with 69 receptions for 918 yards and four touchdowns in 1997. Not bad, but not exactly superstar-level compared to what we saw in 1996, either.
In Jackson’s final season, he hauled in 38 receptions for 477 yards and zero touchdowns. The Seattle Seahawks signed Jackson in 1999 but wound up releasing him before the season started.
Steve Breaston
The Michigan product was a fifth-round draft choice of the Arizona Cardinals in 2007. Little did Arizona know that they had uncovered a hidden gem — at least for one year.
With Kurt Warner turning back the clock for an MVP-like season, the Cardinals’ offense emerged as a juggernaut in 2008. That year, Breaston, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin all crossed the 1,000-yard receiving mark. They were just the fifth trio to reach the feat, and to this day, they’re still the most recent to do it.
Breaston caught 77 passes in 2008 for 1,006 yards and three touchdowns. Arizona made a surprise trip to Super Bowl 43, where they fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers in an all-time classic.
Breaston would surpass 700 yards receiving for Arizona again in 2009 and 2010, and once more with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2011. But one-third of his career touchdowns came during that magical 2008 campaign. But he never came even close to 70-receptions or 1,000 receiving yards again after that.
Drew Bennett
Bennett was a decent depth receiver for the Tennessee Titans. Heading into 2004, he never topped 33 receptions or 504 yards in a season. Then he unexpectedly went off, out of nowhere, in his fourth season.
That year, Bennett racked up 80 receptions for 1,247 yards and 11 touchdowns. Only seven players finished with more receiving yards than Bennett.
But for whatever reason, Bennett just wasn’t able to come close to those numbers again even though he stayed healthy. He surpassed the 40-catch and 700-yard marks in 2005 and ‘06, but obviously those numbers weren’t close to the elite-level production we saw from Bennett in 2004.
In a surprise move, the St. Louis Rams handed Bennett a giant six-year deal worth $30 million in 2007 free agency. He wasn’t able to come anywhere close to living up to that deal, and a knee injury prompted him to retire in 2009, soon after signing with the Baltimore Ravens.
Patrick Jeffers
Jeffers won a Super Bowl 32 ring with the 1997 Denver Broncos in his sophomore season, albeit in a very small role. He joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1998 and finished the year with 18 receptions for 330 yards and two touchdowns.
The Carolina Panthers liked what they saw and handed Jeffers a one-year deal in 1999 free agency. The move paid major dividends right away, as Jeffers caught 63 passes for 1,082 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Unfortunately, Jeffers suffered a torn ACL in a preseason game and had to miss the entire 2000 season. He returned in 2001 but was limited to nine games, recording 14 receptions for 127 yards and zero touchdowns.
Jeffers was out of the NFL for good less than three years after piecing together one of the best single-season performances in Carolina’s young history.
Steve Smith
No, not the longtime Carolina Panthers’ star wide receiver. We’re talking about another Steve Smith, who played for the New York Giants from 2007 to 2010.
Many Giants fans best remember Smith for making that clutch 3rd-and-11 first down reception in Super Bowl 42, one play before Plaxico Burress’ game-winning touchdown. You kids may not know this, but Smith was actually a star for one entire season as well!
Smith emerged as the Giants’ leading receiver in 2009, recording 107 receptions for 1,220 yards and seven touchdowns. He even outperformed Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks, who would play prominent roles in the Giants’ Super Bowl 46 championship season.
Smith was limited to just nine games in 2010, however. He signed with the Eagles but was also limited to nine games that year, producing very little offensively. Smith saw limited playing time with the Rams in 2012, and was out of the league after that season.
At least he won a Super Bowl and experienced one season as a superstar before it was all over.
Braylon Edwards
Cleveland drafted Edwards third overall in 2005. He hit 800 receiving yards in 2006 and ‘08, but make no mistake, 2007 Braylon Edwards was something different.
That year, Edwards racked up 80 receptions for 1,289 yards and 16 touchdowns. Edwards and fellow one-hit wonder, quarterback Derek Anderson, led the Browns to a 10-and-6 record — but they just narrowly missed out on the postseason.
Everyone knows that Anderson wasn’t the same after that ‘07 campaign. And while Edwards was still fairly productive, he too was never the same.
He did haul in 53 catches for 904 yards and seven touchdowns with the New York Jets in 2010 – helping them to a second straight AFC Championship Game appearance. But Edwards became an afterthought with the San Francisco 49ers in 2011 and did little in 2012, which he split with the Jets and Seattle Seahawks.
2007 was not a breakout year for Edwards. It was a flash in the pan.
Terrelle Pryor
Pryor started out his professional career as a quarterback for the Oakland Raiders. But when that began to fall apart, Pryor decided to make the switch to wide receiver ahead of the 2015 season.
The Cleveland Browns picked Pryor off waivers from the Cincinnati Bengals in 2015. He saw little action that year but stayed on the roster in 2016. But what happened next was pretty unexpected for everyone.
Even on a league-worst Browns team that finished 1-and-15 on the year, Pryor went off with 77 receptions for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns. The former quarterback was Cleveland’s leader in all three of those receiving categories.
Pryor then signed with Washington following his career year, but injuries unfortunately began to pile up from there. He missed seven games in 2017 with an ankle injury and was released by the New York Jets in 2018 after suffering a groin injury.
Pryor spent two games with the Buffalo Bills but was subsequently released. The Jaguars later signed Pryor, but he never played a game for them and was out of the NFL by 2019.
Which wide receiver do you think is the biggest one-year wonder in NFL history?
