5 wideouts who will break Calvin Johnson's single-season receiving yards record

Just because he feels his name will be erased over time in the records books doesn't mean Calvin Johnson wasn't an all-timer. I know for a fact he is. I remember him absolutely thriving playing for Chan Gailey at Georgia Tech before having a brief, but brilliant NFL career with the Detroit Lions. He may have retired way too early, but Johnson did set a few records, including a receiving yards one.

Back in 2012, Johnson set a single-season record for most receiving yards with 1,964. The Lions may have been terrible, but it was still great to see Johnson have such a great connection with his borderline hall-of-fame quarterback Matthew Stafford. Even during some of those bleak years in Detroit, you could always count on Stafford finding Johnson for big gains down the field.

When speaking with Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Johnson has accepted the fact that the NFL record he has held for over a decade now is bound to be broken at some point down the line.

"I mean, it's bound to fall at some point the way it's going, so it is what it is. I held it down, I don't know even know how long, over a decade now."

Since Johnson retired, the NFL regular season has been extended by one game. Going from 16 to 17 may not seem like much, but we have seen games where wide receivers can go off on a tear. Should a star wide receiver do what Julio Jones did in his prime and have a career day with some absurd 300 receiving yards, yes, that may play a part in Johnson's single-season record being a thing of the past.

Here are five active NFL wide receivers I think have an outside chance at breaking his all-time mark.

5. Dallas Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb

Five is a good number, and I settled on Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb as my final contender of who I think could break Johnson's record. There are a couple of factors that lead me to believe that I think he can do it. The first is he is a bona-fide No. 1 receiver playing on a team that will probably have something to play for every Week 18 in the regular season, or as long as he is in Dallas.

The second is Lamb's pass-catching abilities usually allow him to have big gains in a hurry. And finally, I think he is going to be a featured component in any offense he plays in for the next five years or so. He is just now entering his prime. Whether he is catching passes in Dallas long-term remains to be seen. Regardless, Lamb has the skills required to get beyond the 1,964-yard threshold in front of him.

My biggest reservation towards him being the guy has everything to do with Dallas' chaotic nature.

4. Detroit Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown

Wouldn't it be amazing if the new star wide receiver for the Lions breaks the greatest wide receiver in Lions history's record? That could be in play potentially even this season for Amon-Ra St. Brown. He has quickly established an incredible rapport with his quarterback Jared Goff like Johnson did with Stafford over a decade ago. The biggest difference now is that the Lions are a complete juggernaut.

Besides him being arguably the least talented wide receiver potentially in the running for this, in my eyes at least, the other factor holding St. Brown back is that Detroit may look to run out the clock with well-designed runs late in games. Simply put, there may not be the empty-calorie nonsense yardage readily available for him because this current iteration of the Lions is not ever going to be down big.

Another thing of note is this is almost certainly Ben Johnson's last year as their offensive coordinator.

3. Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson

Why not Justin Jefferson? He is the most highly-compensated wide receiver in the game today. Like Johnson, Lamb and to some degree St. Brown, he is a bona-fide No. 1 option. While he may have been a No. 2 to former LSU teammate Ja'Marr Chase in college, Jefferson is the type of explosive wide receiver you can build your team around. My biggest concern for him would be quarterback play.

For as much as I think J.J. McCarthy can be a long-term solution for the Minnesota Vikings, he didn't exactly throw the ball a ton during his three years at Michigan. In time, I feel he can be a great distributor of the football like his predecessor Kirk Cousins was for years in the Twin Cities. Had Cousins been allowed to finish out his pro career in Minneapolis, I may have had Jefferson first in this.

Jefferson is young enough and great enough already to give himself plenty of bites at the apple here.

2. Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase

I just mentioned his former LSU teammate, so why would I not end up mentioning Ja'Marr Chase in this hypothetical? The Cincinnati Bengals may be running out of time to go out and win a Super Bowl, but you better believe Joe Burrow is going to want to hit his favorite receiving target over and over and over in stride. For as long as Burrow can walk, he is going to be throwing passes Chase's way.

Besides the fact that the Bengals just might be good whenever Burrow is healthy, I could also see a scenario in which they could pull back a bit as a franchise and will have to resort to trying to win games late by throwing a bunch. Given how strong Burrow and Chase's connection is, there is no telling how many yards they could throw for in a 17-game season. This all comes down to Burrow.

The other thing to keep in mind is that Brian Callahan is no longer their star offensive coordinator...

1. Miami Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill

As strange as it sounds, the most logical answer here to break Johnson's all-time mark is the No. 1 receiving option for the Miami Dolphins, Tyreek Hill. Although he has plenty of other great pass-catchers around him, nobody possesses his type of breakaway speed. It is the type that will take a simple 10-yard completion out of Tua Tagovailoa's left hand and transform it into a 75-yard score.

Under Mike McDaniel, Miami is the perfect type of good to achieve breaking this all-time mark. They will be winning a lot of games with plenty to play for down the stretch, but never quite good enough to be in a favorable position to rest its best players. While it remains to be seen how gracefully Hill's illustrious career ages, I have a hard time seeing him being unable to run like a gazelle pushing 40.

Time and opportunity are on Hill's side to be my best pick to break Johnson's all-time mark one day.