Here we are with 50 football facts – round two. The material below isn’t meant to convince you of anything. It’s not presented to make a case for or against any player or coach.
What these facts are meant to do is get you thinking. To stir the big pot that is your proverbial noodle. With any good dish please take these facts with a grain, or pinch, of salt.
As a matter of fact, a great man once said,
“There are three types of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.”
Without further ado, on to the main course.
Justin Herbert has the most passing yards of any QB in their first two seasons
Justin Herbert has the most passing touchdowns of any QB in their first two seasons
Joe Burrow has the highest completion percentage for any QB in their first two seasons (minimum 25 games played)
Dak Prescott has the highest completion percentage of any QB in their rookie season (minimum 10 games played)- Mac Jones has the second
- Davis Mills has the third
- Justin Herbert has the fourth
Austin Ekeler had 206 carries last year, his second highest total in a season was 132 in 2019
In 2021 Ekeler had 276 touches, his second highest was 224 in 2019
Ekeler has 21 rushing touchdowns in his career- He had 12 rushing touchdowns in 2021
Ekeler has 24 receiving touchdowns in his career- In his last two seasons playing at least 16 games he has 8 receiving touchdowns
Austin Ekeler is second in NFL history for receiving touchdowns by a running back in their first 5 seasons- Alvin Kamara is eighth with 20
- Christian McCaffrey is 13th with 17
Since 2014 the lowest any quarterback with 500 or more rushing yards in a season (minimum 14 games) has finished is QB17
Lamar Jackson is the only quarterback in the history of the NFL to have multiple 1,000+ rushing yard seasons- He did it in 2019 and 2020
- He was on pace to do it again in 2021 even if the season was 16 games
Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts are the only active quarterbacks to rush for 10+ touchdowns in a season- The most touchdowns Lamar Jackson has rushed for in a season is seven
- The most touchdowns Josh Allen has rushed for in a season is nine
Lamar Jackson has the top three seasons for rushing attempts by a quarterback
In nine full games played in 2021, Justin Fields was on pace for 685 rushing yards for an entire season- Over his final 6 full games played in 2021, Fields was on pace for 958 yards rushing
Through 14 weeks in 2021 Joe Burrow averaged 21.59 points, which would have resulted in 345.44 points in 16 games, and a QB11 finish
Burrow averaged 44.47 points in weeks 16 and 17- Burrow finished with 391.2 points in 16 games in 2021 and finished QB7
Russell Wilson, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes all have as many or more QB1 finishes than Tom Brady
In the 19 seasons where he has played at least 15 games Tom Brady has finished as QB1 once and has finished as QB2 once- He has never finished below QB15 since 2001 when he finished QB20
In the 11 seasons he played at least 15 games Aaron Rodgers has finished QB1 three times and QB2 four times.- He has never finished below QB9
DJ Moore is the only receiver in 2021 to be targeted more than 145 times and not finish in the top 10 in points scored for wide receivers- He was targeted 163 times, fifth most in the league in 2021
Moore had 93 receptions and a catch rate of 57.1 percent in 2021- He was the only receiver to not have 100 receptions with more than 145 targets in 2021
Hunter Renfrow had 103 receptions in 2021 on 128 targets- His catch rate was 80.5 percent
The most targets by any player with a higher catch rate than Hunter Renfrow in 2021 was 12 targets
For the first time in his career Mike Williams was targeted more than 90 times in a season
In 2021 Mike Williams was targeted 129 times and finished as WR12- Williams had 76 receptions for a catch rate of 58.9 percent in 2021
Deebo Samuel finished as WR3 with 120 targets in 2021- He need the help of 365 yards rushing and 8 rushing touchdowns to do so
Mike Evans finished as WR9 with 114 targets in 2021- He had 10 yards rushing and 0 rushing touchdowns
Deebo Samuel had 1405 yards receiving on 77 receptions for 18.3 yards per catch in 2021- The most receptions by any player with a higher average yards per catch than Samuel in 2021 was 24
Eight out of the top 24 receivers in points scored in 2021 were in their first or second season- Five of the top 24 scoring wide receivers in 2021 were in their third year
In 2021, Zach Ertz averaged 5.2 targets, 3 receptions, 33 yards receiving, and 0.5 touchdowns per game with Philadelphia. He averaged 7.4 targets, 5.1 receptions, 52.2 yards receiving, and 0.27 touchdowns per game with Arizona- At that pace with Arizona he would have finished with 125 targets, 87 receptions, 887 yards receiving, and 5 touchdowns
In the five years Doug Pederson was head coach of the Eagles, a tight end led the team in receptions and receiving yards in four years- In three of the five years a tight end also led the team in targets and receiving touchdowns
- In the one season where a tight end did not lead at least three receiving categories the top two tight ends on the team played in 11 games each
Evan Engram finished as a top five tight end in the only season he was targeted at least 110 times- In the four seasons Ertz was healthy when playing for Pederson he was targeted 110 times or more in a season three times
In the those three seasons Ertz finished as TE4, TE2, and TE3 respectively
In 2019, 2020, and 2021 the slot receiver in Brian Daboll’s offense was targeted the second most on the team- 106 was the lowest amount of targets for the slot receiver in these three years
In the three season James White played 15 games or more he finished RB26, RB6, and RB18
In his career in seasons he played at least 14 games James White averaged 5.5 targets, 4.1 receptions, 35.5 yards receiving, and 0.28 touchdowns per game- This is a 17 game pace of 93.5 targets, 69.7 receptions, 603.5 yards receiving, and 4.8 touchdowns
The last time a team had 3 players with more than 1,000 yards receiving in the same season was in 2008 by the Arizona Cardinals
There were five teams in 2021 with two players with 1,000+ yards receiving- Kansas City Chiefs – Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce
- Cincinnati Bengals – Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins
- Baltimore Ravens – Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown
- Los Angeles Chargers – Mike Williams and Keenan Allen
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Chris Godwin and Mike Evans
In the 2017 NFL draft three tight ends were drafted in the first round- 19th O.J. Howard
- 23rd Evan Engram
- 29th David Njoku
Since 2016, when speed started being recorded in the NFL, the fastest recorded speed was 23.24 mph by Tyreek Hill- The second fastest speed is 23.09 mph by Raheem Mostert
- Hill and Mostert are the only two players to be recorded at 23 mph or faster
In 2021 Jonathan Taylor had the fastest recorded speed at 22.13 mph- He also had the fourth and fifth fastest speeds
Jaylen Waddle had the seventh fastest speed at 21.8 mph in 2021
Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are the fastest starting wide receiver duo in the NFL according to recorded speeds
103 wide receivers have been drafted in the first round since 1994. 11 of them have had 1,000 or more yards receiving in their rookie season
38 wide receivers have been drafted in the first round of the NFL draft since 2014- 12 of them were drafted in the top ten picks
Of the 33 wide receivers drafted in the first round between 2014 and 2021, 15 have had 1,000 or more yards receiving in at least one season- Six out of the ten wide receivers drafted in the top ten in these years have had at least 1,000 yards or more receiving in at least one season
- Six of the ten have finished as a WR2 or better in at least one season
- Four of the ten have finished as a WR1 at least one time in their career
Alvin Kamara has the most total touchdowns from scrimmage of any player since 2017 with 67- Todd Gurley and Derrick Henry are tied for second with 63
- Davante Adams is fourth with 57
- Melvin Gordon is fifth with 55
The Patriots are running a new base offensive system for the first time since the year 2000- They are moving from Erhardt-Perkins (modified into the Air Erhardt version) to a Mike Shanahan West Coast based system.
- The 49ers, Rams, Packers, Falcons, Dolphins, Vikings, Bengals, and Dolphins also run versions of this offense
- The 49ers, Rams, Packers, Falcons, Dolphins, Vikings, Bengals, and Dolphins also run versions of this offense
Keenan Allen and Ja’Marr Chase tied for league lead in dropped passes in 2021 with 9 dropped passes- DJ Moore and Deebo Samuel tied for third with eight dropped passes
- Robbie Anderson was fifth with seven dropped passes
- Saquon Barkley, Marquise Brown, Chase Claypool, Jared Cook, Austin Ekeler, Najee Harris, Tyreek Hill, Justin Jefferson, Alvin Kamara, and Jaylen Waddle tied for sixth with six dropped passes
In 2021 the Chargers led the league in most dropped passes as a team with 33- The Panthers were second with 28
- The Steelers were third with 27
- The Raiders, Jets, and Jaguars tied for fourth with 25
- The Rams, Dolphins, and Buccaneers tied for seventh with 24
- The Giants were tenth with 23
Now that you have finished consuming these facts I hope you feel full, even a little bloated with knowledge. Maybe you got the sweats a little bit from all the facts that you gorged on. That’s ok, it’s food for thought and you can never have too much of that.
Additional Information
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A fantasy football degenerate with an extreme love for the game. The only position Sam has ever played in any form of competitive football is armchair quarterback.
An affinity for football and watching games together was a part of growing up for him and his three brothers. 30 plus years as a Vikings fan has made him a glutton for punishment and a believer that he can do something his hometown team can’t, put together a championship roster.
Now 22 years into his fantasy football general manager career he is here to offer insight, advice, and the same hope for championships that he desperately clutches to for his Purple People Eaters.
