Since 2010, there have been four new additions to the top WR fantasy football seasons of all time. Which superstars of the position make the list twice, and which legend graces the list three times? Let’s take a look at the top WR fantasy performances of all time from a single season.
Top WR Fantasy Football Seasons of All Time
As you may expect, the explosion of the passing game in the last 25 years has seen 70% of this list made up of performances during that time. However, one WR’s performances transcended his era of the game, and he remains on this list three times.
Unsurprisingly, this list is entirely made up of performances from 16- or 17-game seasons. However, prior to that date, there were several incredible performances by receivers.
To include those performances, points per game (PPG) is a better measure. But the main list that gets discussed is total points, so that is what we will break down here. At the bottom of the article, you can find the top fantasy seasons by a WR of all time in terms of PPG.
10) Jerry Rice | 253.6 Fantasy Points
The impact Rice made in the NFL has never been in question, and that is reflected in the amount he makes it onto this list of top WR fantasy football performances. After being drafted in 1985, Rice scored double-digit touchdowns in nine of his first 11 seasons. It is his fifth season in 1989 that we encounter first on this list.
In 1989, Rice led the league in both touchdowns and receiving yards. It was the second time in his career that he had achieved both of those feats in the same year. His 1,483 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns saw him top 250 fantasy points for the season.
9) Isaac Bruce | 257.8 Fantasy Points
In all the years Isaac Bruce played in the NFL, things never got better from a fantasy perspective than his second season. That 1995 campaign saw him find the end zone 13 times, with 1,781 receiving yards, for 257.8 fantasy points.
8) Antonio Brown | 257.9 Fantasy Points
It is actually somewhat of a surprise that we only see Antonio Brown on this list once. When you look at the PPR leaderboard, he appears twice, both inside the top five. In non-PPR scoring, Brown’s best season came in 2014, when he had a league-leading 1,698 receiving yards. Brown also added 13 scores to top Bruce’s season by 0.1 fantasy points.
7) Jerry Rice | 258.8 Fantasy Points
The second appearance for Rice on this list is from his second season in the league. Rice had 15 receiving touchdowns, adding 1,570 yards on 86 receptions. Now, for those of you doing the maths at home, we are still a little short. That is because Rice also rushed for 72 yards and found the end zone a 16th time.
6) Deebo Samuel | 262 Fantasy Points
This is the first of two appearances from 2021 on this list of top fantasy football seasons by a WR of all time. Deebo Samuel’s appearance here is intriguing because it is not achieved in the same way as others on this list. The blueprint for this list is 1,000-plus receiving yards and double-digit receiving touchdowns.
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While Samuel had the receiving yards (1,405), he only had six receiving touchdowns. However, he added 365 rushing yards and eight rushing TDs on 59 carries. He ended the year with 136 touches (77 receptions) for 1,770 yards and 14 total touchdowns.
5) Calvin Johnson | 263.2 Fantasy Points
Much like with Brown, it is somewhat surprising that Calvin Johnson only made this list once. Johnson posted incredible numbers during his career, but 2011 was the only season he put it all together for a truly dominating campaign.
In that season, he posted 1,681 receiving yards on 96 receptions, adding 16 touchdowns. While Johnson had more dominant seasons yardage-wise, with one of those coming the year after in 2012, but for fantasy managers, it never got better than 2011.
4) Randy Moss | 265 Fantasy Points
Now we embark on the Randy Moss section of our list of top WR fantasy performances in a single season. The five-year stretch of Moss’ career between 2003 and 2007 was intriguing. He played for three different teams and struggled by his high standards in two of them. Either side of that run, he produced two seasons that make this list.
The first came in 2003 with the Vikings. Moss’ career saw him start with six-straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons and five double-digit touchdown campaigns. However, he peaked in 2003 with 1,632 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns — both were either career-highs or tied for career-highs at the time.
3) Randy Moss | 287.3 Fantasy Points
In 2007, Moss would arrive in New England and, with Tom Brady, put together one of the most eye-catching wide receiver performances of all time. While he would fall short of his career-high in receiving yards with 1,493, Moss would reel in 23 touchdown passes. He was one touchdown short of taking the top spot on this list at the time from Jerry Rice.
2) Jerry Rice | 292 Fantasy Points
In his 10th season, Rice produced the very best of his career from a fantasy perspective. His 292 fantasy points were made up of 1,848 receiving yards, a career-high, and 15 receiving touchdowns from 122 receptions. He topped that off with 36 rushing yards and a touchdown to see him as one of only two WRs to top 290 fantasy points.
The performance in Week 16 of 289 yards and three touchdowns on 14 receptions will likely live long in the memory of fantasy managers. That outing won many people their fantasy championships. It is also the fifth-best single-game fantasy performance by a WR. Rice’s 1995 season sat atop this list for 26 seasons.
1) Cooper Kupp | 294.5 Fantasy Points
Cooper Kupp is the WR who finally dislodged Rice atop the list of all-time top fantasy football performances in a single season. However, it took Kupp all 17 games of the newly expanded season to do so. Kupp’s Week 18 performance of 136 total yards and a touchdown gave him the 19.6 fantasy points required to jump from third on the list to the top.
Kupp finished the season with the triple crown of receiving statistics. His 145 receptions, 1,947 receiving yards, and 16 receiving touchdowns all led the league. Kupp averaged 114.5 yards per game and caught an impressive 75.9% of his 191 targets.
Top WR Fantasy Football Seasons on a Per-Game Basis of All Time
*minimum 10 games played — Wes Chandler’s performance from the 1982 strike-shortened season is included here as he played in eight of the nine games that the Chargers played that season.
10) Gino Cappelletti, BOS | 17.44 PPG (1964)
9) Charley Hennigan, HOU | 17.61 PPG (1961)
8) Randy Moss, NE | 17.96 PPG (2007)
7) Lance Alworth, SD | 18.01 PPG (1964)
6) Don Hutson, GB | 18.03 PPG (1944)
5) Jerry Rice, SF | 18.25 PPG (1995)
4) Don Hutson, GB | 18.72 PPG (1943)
3) Wes Chandler, SD | 20.05 PPG (1982)
2) Jerry Rice, SF | 20.74 PPG (1987)
1) Elroy Hirsch, LAR | 20.98 PPG (1951)
Top PPR WR Fantasy Football Seasons of All Time
10) Michael Thomas, NO | 374.6 (2019)
9) Julio Jones, ATL | 375.1 (2015)
8) Randy Moss, MIN | 376.0 (2003)
7) Isaac Bruce, STL | 376.8 (1995)
6) Marvin Harrison, IND | 384.2 (2002)
5) Randy Moss, NE | 385.3 (2007)
4) Antonio Brown, PIT | 386.9 (2014)
3) Antonio Brown, PIT | 388.2 (2015)
2) Jerry Rice, KC | 414.0 (1995)
1) Cooper Kupp, LAR | 439.5 (2021)
