Best quarterback/wide receiver duos in NFL history
By Staff
4. Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin
Of course, some of the credit has to go to Jimmy Johnson for drafting this duo, but let’s give most of the credit to the players themselves. After all, players win games.
Johnson spent his No. 11 overall pick in the 1988 NFL Draft on Michael Irvin out of Miami, but Steve Pelluer was not the right quarterback for the job. Irvin only had 32 catches with five touchdowns as a rookie.
That’s when Johnson selected Troy Aikman with the first-overall pick in the 1989 NFL Draft, and the the Super Bowl core of the Dallas Cowboys started to take shape.
In 1989, Johnson famously traded star running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings and acquired a sea of draft picks — one of which he used to take Emmitt Smith. And with that trade, Aikman and Irvin were given the wiggle room to start stretching the field vertically.
Aikman threw for more than 2,500 yards in 1990 and 1991 while Irvin brought in 19 touchdowns and went for 1,936 receiving yards. The hinges came off the door in 1992, though, and the duo became a legitimate threat in the NFL.
The Cowboys would go on to win their first of three Super Bowls in 1992 behind 23 passing touchdowns and 3,445 yards from Aikman. Irvin caught 78 passes for 1,396 with seven touchdowns.
In 1993, Irvin mirrored his statistics while Aikman’s touchdowns dropped to 15, but the Cowboys won their second-straight Super Bowl.
Part of the trouble was Smith taking touches away from them, but the Cowboys still found a way to air it out every now and then.
Johnson would eventually leave, but the combination of Aikman and Irvin was already lethal. Dallas won its third title in four years in 1995.
Irvin retired in 1999 with 67 receiving touchdowns — 49 of them came from Aikman. As for Aikman, he retired a year later with 165 passing touchdowns.
Aikman and Irvin didn’t break records as a duo, but they won rings together — probably a better result if you ask them. Their best statistical year was 1995. Aikman threw for 3,304 yards and 16 touchdowns while Irvin hit career highs in receptions (111), receiving yards (1,603) and touchdowns (10).
Aikman and Irvin both were elected into the Hall of Fame in 2006 and 2007 respectively.