Every NFL franchise's greatest wide receiver ever
Wide receiver has quickly become the second most important position on the field. Looking back, who was the best for each franchise's history?
By Nick Villano
Chicago Bears
Alshon Jeffery
This one was really hard. The Chicago Bears famously haven’t had a lot of great offensive players, with their best quarterback being Jay Cutler. Walter Payton is one of the best of all time, but he’s clearly an outlier. When looking at wide receivers, there’s just not much to take from. Johnny Morris and Harlon Hill are from the pre-Super Bowl era of football. Brandon Marshall was decent in more modern times. Allen Robinson was a more recent receiver who had a major impact. Heck, DJ Moore is already on this list after one season.
We’re going to go with Alshon Jeffrey for his incredible peak. In five seasons in Chicago, Jeffrey had more than 4,500 yards. It’s not the best stats you’ll see on this list (honestly, probably one of the worst), but we’re including a paltry rookie campaign here.
In his second season, Jeffrey went insane. He had more than 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns on a ridiculous 148 targets. The Bears were great on offense that year, maybe the best Bears offense of all time. They had Cutler under center, Matt Forte in the backfield, and Marshall and Jeffrey catching balls. Still, Jeffrey came out of it the star, and the Bears were able to trade Marshall away because of his ascent.
Despite just 63 games in Chicago, he’s third in franchise receiving yards. Only Marshall had more yards in a single season, and he needed 44 more targets to beat him by 80 yards. Jeffrey was amazing for his Bears years before moving on to Philadelphia where he kept producing for a few more years before his retirement after the 2020 season.