Greatest TD-catching receivers

With 23 TD catches in 16 games during the 2007 season, Randy Moss joined Green Bay legend Don Hutson as the only two receivers in history who averaged more than 0.8 TD catches per game.

 

It's a pretty select crew.

 

As Cold, Hard Football Facts readers know, former Green Bay star Don Hutson is the most dominant receiver in the history of the NFL – that's right, even more dominant than Jerry Rice. (Hey, there's a reason Hutson made the All-Time 11).

 

Further proof of his dominance is found when we look at the list of most productive TD-scoring wideouts in NFL history. Hutson stands all alone at No. 1, a long distance ahead of second place, after averaging 0.853 TD catches per game over the course of his career (116 games, 99 TD catches).

 

Here's a look at the 30 most prolific TD-catching wideouts in NFL history, based upon per game production. (You can also click here for a sortable spreadsheet listing all 45 players with 80 or more career TDs.)

 

A couple things jump out, besides Hutson's numbers, which continue to stand the test of time.

 

The first is Art Powell, the forgotten AFL superstar who absolutely shredded defenses in the 1960s and probably belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 1960 with the N.Y. Titans (later the Jets), he and Don Maynard formed the first WR tandem to each surpass 1,000 yards receiving in a single season. He went to the Raiders in 1963 and was absolutely brilliant under head coach Al Davis. He caught 73 passes for 1,394 yards (17.9 YPC) and 16 TDs in 14 games that season. He averaged 22.26 yards per catch in his 10-year career. Nobody today comes close to that mark.

 

The other is Tommy McDonald. The diminutive wideout (5-9, 176 pounds) played in the NFL from 1958 to 1968, mostly for Philadelphia. He's second only to Hutson in career TD receptions among receivers who spent their entire career in the pre-Live Ball Era NFL. To put his career into perspective, he caught in 152 games as many TD passes as Andre Rison (84) did in 12 years and 184 games in the modern NFL (1989-2000).

 

McDonald's 84 TDs came on just 495 career receptions and he averaged 17.0 yards per catch. Rison, playing mostly in quick-pass offenses, caught 743 balls and averaged just 13.7 yards per catch.