Top 10 Players With the Most NFL Catches in a Season

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It is very engaging to watch the NFL players catch the football in different ways. But, do you have knowledge about their catch record?

In case if you don’t have any idea about it, don’t worry as we bring you the list of top 10 players with the most NFL catches of all time.

Kyle Van Noy
Kyle Van Noy

You must already have a picture of your favorite player. Now, let’s see if your favorite one falls on our list or not.

Top 10 Players With Most NFL Catches in a Season

With the list of the 10 players with the most NFL catches, you can also get a picture of when and with which team those players made the most catches.

Further, the data of this list is outsourced from the Football Encyclopedia of Players.

Rank Player Rec Year Team
1. Michael Thomas 149 2019 New Orleans Saints
2. Marvin Harrison 143 2002 Indianapolis Colts
3. Antonio Brown 136 2015 Pittsburgh Steelers 
4. Julio Jones  136 2015 Atlanta Falcons
5. Antonio Brown 129 2014 Pittsburgh Steelers 
6. Stefon Diggs  127 2020 Buffalo Bills
7. Michael Thomas 125 2018 New Orleans Saints
8. Wes Welker  123 2009 New England Patriots
9. Herman Moore 123 1995 Detroit Lions
10. Cris Carter 122 1994 Minnesota Vikings

10. Cris Carter

In 1994, when NFL was celebrating its 75th Anniversary, Cris Carter of Minnesota Vikings rewrote the record book by beating the previous record of 112.

Carter completed the 1994 season with a record of most NFL catches, i.e., 122 catches for 1,256 yards and 7 touchdowns. 

Carter being the generous guy, he donated his team Jersey, helmet, pants, gloves, and ball to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

However, this wasn’t enough for him as he matched his output of 122 catches, registering his career’s best 1,371 yards and 17 touchdowns. 

9. Herman Moore 

The Detroit Lions had a tough start on the 1995 season. In their first four games, they were only able to secure one victory. However, they recovered from this, and out of the remaining twelve games, they scored a victory on nine games.

After winning the last seven games in a row, there wasn’t any other team that stood out as the Detroit Lions. 

Herman Moore.
Herman Moore. (Source: Facebook)

In this same season, Moore came up with a record-breaking and career-high most NFL catches of 123 on a single season. Though his target was 206, it was still the highest at that time.

That season’s catches weren’t the only record-breaker in his career, receiving a total of 1686 yards and 14 touchdowns; he was the goat at that time. 

Out of all the passes thrown at him, he caught 60% of them.

8. Wes Welker

Fourteen years after Moore’s record-breaking most NFL catches, Wes Welker did the same. With the same number of catches, 123 catches, Welker had a career-high, season-high 123 catches to his name. Receiving 1348 yards, this was also the most in his career.

Wes Welker was considered to be New England Patriots‘ best offensive player. Welker’s presence in the 2009 season made a big difference in the game.

Another reason for New England Patriots’ being such a unique team from other teams is because of Welker. Currently, Welker is working as the coach for the 49ers

7. Michael Thomas

Michael William Thomas Jr. is an American football star who plays for the New Orleans Saints. William Thomas holds the record for the most receptions by a player through his first five seasons. Thomas led the league in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

The year 2018 was ‘The year’ in his NFL career. In this year, Thomas made the most NFL catches of his career. He led the league with a score of 125 catches and receptions for 1,405 yards and 9 touchdowns. 

Breaking the previous Saints Franchise record of 1,399 yards set by Joe Horn in 2004, Thomas was named to his second straight Pro Bowl and named first-team All-Pro.

6. Stefon Diggs 

Currently playing for the Buffalo Bills, Stefon Diggs is a name well-known among many people. Drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 2015, Diggs played as a Viking until the 2019 season. 

In the first season of playing for the Buffalo Bills, he proved himself for being the most productive receiver in the league of the season 2020.

Steffon Diggs (Source: Instagram)
Stefon Diggs (Source: Instagram)

In fact, Diggs is the first player in the history of Buffalo Bills to lead the NFL in receptions and yards in a single season, with a score of 127 catches and 1,535 yards in receptions.

This was his career-high score in a single season. He also had eight receiving touchdowns this season which is tied for the second-highest in his career.

5. Antonio Brown

If you had followed up on the 2013 NFL, you might recall that during that season, Antonio Brown leading the NFL in True Receiving Yards felt a bit controversial at the time.

Well, for the 2014 season, there wasn’t any room for controversy because Brown did it again. He led the NFL in receptions and receiving yards, where he received a first-team All-Pro vote of 49 out of 50. 

Even though this score is not historically great (TRY standards). It was still the top performance done by any receiver in 2014.

In the same season, Brown led the NFL by successful 129 catches, 1,698 receiving yards, followed by a second in touchdowns. These achievements were new team records. After Roy Jefferson (1968), he became the first Steeler to lead the league in receiving yards.

Brown’s successful season earned him a third Pro Bowl selection. Also, he was ranked eighth by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2015.

To learn more about the 15 Best NFL Defensive Ends

4. Julio Jones 

Julio Jones (Full name: Quintorris Lopez “Julio” Jones Jr.) is a name that most of us know to be affiliated with Atlanta Falcons. Since Jones began his NFL career by playing for the Atlanta Falcons.

He played for the Falcons from 2011 season till 2020 season. It was only recently (6th June 2021) that he was traded to the Tennessee Titans. 

During Jones’s time with Atlanta Falcons in the 2015 season, he made a record-breaker in his NFL career. Ending the season with Atlanta Falcon’s highest receiving yard score of 1,871, his score came second-highest in NFL history, behind Calvin Johnson (1,964 receiving yards).

In the 2015 season, Jones did his most NFL catches with a record of 136 catches, tying with that of Antonio Brown.

Jones became the first wide receiver in the Super Bowl to lead the league in total yards from scrap. He was selected to the 2015 Pro Bowl, where he earned first-team All-Pro honors. Also, he was ranked as the eighth-best player on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016. 

3. Antonio Brown

After only a year later, Antonio Brown broke his own record of his most NFL catches 129 (2014) by 136 catches.

Finishing the season with a league-high reception of 1,834 yards followed by 10 takedowns, he set the record for most catches performed in a span of two years (2014 to 2015).  

Antonio Brown
Antonio Brown

Brown became the first receiver in NFL to have two games with 16 catches and with four games of at least 175 yards, all in a single season.

2. Marvin Harrison

Marvin Harrison is a former NFL player who played for Indianapolis Colts (1996-2008). Despite his retirement from the sport in 2009, Harrison was a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for 2014 and 2015. He was later elected in 2016. 

Although Marvin Harrison had a short career of only 13 seasons, he did break the NFL history by performing the most NFL catches ever to be performed in a season. His record-breaking catches of 143 stayed unbeatable for 17 seasons. 

Marvin Harrison‘s legendary score was only beaten in 2019, after 17 years. 

1. Michael Thomas

After breaking a career record of most NFL catches done in a season (2014), Michael Thomas broke his own record by successfully performing 149 catches.

This score was the most NFL catches ever performed in a single season.

Playing on behalf of the New Orleans Saints, Thomas finished the 2019 season with NFL’s highest, 149 catches by 1725 yards and 9 touchdowns.

For his performance, he was awarded AP Offensive Player of the Year 2020. Michael became the first wide receiver to win the award since Jerry Rice in 1993.

Conclusion

In the sport of the American football, it isn’t easy to pull off such feats. The achievements made by these legendary athletes are what one could only dream of. It is a feat achieved not only by dedication but by the combination of speed, agility, and athleticism.

The players listed here today are some of the best examples, who not only proved themselves but also to the entire NFL community that no records remain unbroken. 

We hope you enjoyed today’s listing on the 10 most NFL catches in a season.

Sanjib Sah
Sanjib Sah
Sanjib Sah is an engineer and content writer passionate about sports and athletics. With a background in engineering and a love for all things active, Sanjib brings a unique perspective to the world of sports writing. Whether he is covering the latest trends in sports technology or sharing tips on improving your game, Sanjib's words are always rooted in a deep appreciation for players' hard work and dedication everywhere. In his free time, you can find him hitting the courts or hitting the trails, always looking for new ways to challenge himself and improve his skills.

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