Getty Image / Thearon W Henderson
When you ask football fans who the greatest wide receiver to ever play the game, you generally get one of two answers.
That person will either name Jerry Rice or Randy Moss the wide receiver GOAT.
There are cases to be made for both men. The two legends were both dominant throughout long careers and hold a number of NFL records.
One name you won’t hear a whole lot of in the greatest ever debate is Antonio Brown.
While he was also a nightmare for opposing defenses at his peak and put together some huge seasons, his career ended up getting derailed by off-field issues before he could really put himself in that conversation.
It seems that didn’t factor in to the decision when DK Metcalf was asked about his top 5 receivers in NFL history.
During an appearance yesterday on the “All Things Covered” podcast, Metcalf named Antonio Brown the best receiver in history.
.@ATCoveredPod full episode https://t.co/cqxD2GfS5f#Seahawks pic.twitter.com/bIJo2lLM7M
— Bryant McFadden (@BMac_SportsTalk) July 12, 2023
That isn’t the end of the bad picks on this list. The rest of the list had Randy Moss 2nd, Terrell Owens 3rd, Jerry Rice 4th, and Julio Jones 5th.
I’m not sure how it’s possible to look at Jerry Rice’s career and say that there are 3 wide receivers that have been better than him.
Despite playing in a much less pass-happy era of football, Rice holds the career records for catches, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. He also held the single-season receiving record for almost 20 years before it was broken by Calvin Johnson, who is surprisingly absent from this list.
If you look at the best seasons of their career, Rice is better. If you look at the totality of their careers, Rice is better. Rice has more rings. Rice has a ton more records.
At the end of the day, it’s just hard to see how DK Metcalf could believe that Antonio Brown is the best receiver in history and that Jerry Rice is 4th.