Better Group of WR's? (1995-2004 v.s 2016-Present) (Draft Class)

[jadillac]

I counted 11-12 named on the 1st list that "jumped" out at me. And about 10-11 on the 2nd list.

Tough choice.

The 1st list has the best, best players(Moss, TO etc). But the 2nd list has more lower tier guys that are better than the lower tier guys on the 1st list.

 

[BucciMane]

BTW, OP....I noticed Jimmy Smith isn't in your list.

He was a good WR.

He was drafted before 1995 five. I chose the 1995 date to give each side about ten years worth of WR's. I could have gone further back and done a third group where you'd have players such as Rice, Irvin, Carter, Bruce, T. Brown, and some others, but I don't think they'd have the same amount of talented depth during their era.

 

[BucciMane]

Hard to say.
The league is different today.

A lot of these speedsters in 2016 might have gotten crushed with the way defenses were allowed to hit you back in 1996. A lot of these specialists/slot WRs with careers today would end up destroyed like Wayne Chrebet was.
But at the same time, it's hard to imagine that physical specimens like Dez Bryant, Calvin Johnson and Julio Jones couldn't have been successful 20-25 years ago. They probably would have beasted in any era under any context.

And I don't think DBs or LBs were necessarily any stronger back then compared to today. Today's defenders are agile and strong as hell. But today's defenders aren't allowed to go at you the same way.

I don't think 2004 is the fairest cutoff.
Pretty much everything since 2000 or 2001 has been highly suspect if you're a QB or WR.

It's tough to find a perfect cutoff date because I was going strictly by draft year. It gets to complicated if I try and determine their primes and base it on that. Now, if I kept the draft year at 1995 and did the cutoff at 2000 or 2001, then the second group would get Fitzgerald, A. Johnson, Steve Smith, and OchoCinco. I think that would certainly turn the tables big time for those that would choose the first group. If I did that, then we'd have to go back to the 1990 draft to make the amount of years for each group fair, but the talent coming into the league at WR between those dates were not up to par with the years I chose.

 

[Alexander The Great]

somehow OP left off Jerry Rice, Cris Carter, and Tim Brown on the 1st group

 

[Remote]

It's tough to find a perfect cutoff date because I was going strictly by draft year. It gets to complicated if I try and determine their primes and base it on that. Now, if I kept the draft year at 1995 and did the cutoff at 2000 or 2001, then the second group would get Fitzgerald, A. Johnson, Steve Smith, and OchoCinco. I think that would certainly turn the tables big time for those that would choose the first group. If I did that, then we'd have to go back to the 1990 draft to make the amount of years for each group fair, but the talent coming into the league at WR between those dates were not up to par with the years I chose.

To me, there's a big difference in the NFL right around 2000-ish.

I mean the St. Louis Rams changed everything. That was 99, but still...
It took a while for the league to come around (still saw dominant Ravens and Bucs defense), but by the mid-2000s it was clear the league became way more passer friendly.

 

[BucciMane]

somehow OP left off Jerry Rice, Cris Carter, and Tim Brown on the 1st group

I should have included in the title instead of the first post, but those years are their draft class.

 

[Alexander The Great]

I should have included in the title instead of the first post, but those years are their draft class.

ahh, ok

 

[The God Poster]

Julio all time yards per game leader

That's more to do with the era tho