I have my doubts. Largely because Jerry played for 20 seasons at a position you just don't see that happening at in current times. However, with the addition of a 17th game in a pass happy league here are some active players that may have an outside shot (at the yards atleast). I doubt anyone touches 197 td's at wr though. Plus so much of it has to do with getting consistent qb for years on end.
Jerry Rice 303 games/22,895 Yards (75.56 ypg)/197 Tds
Active Players With An Outside Chance
1. Davante Adams 133 games/9,637 yards(72.45 ypg)/87 Tds
2. Stephon Diggs 119 games/8,812 Yards(74.05 ypg)/59 Tds
3. Tyrek Hill 108 games/8,340 Yards(77.22 ypg) /64 Tds
4. Justin Jefferson 50 games/4,825 Yards(96.5 ypg)/25 Tds
It will be hard for anyone to play as long and as great as Rice did. But it's definitely possible. Justin Jefferson is on quite the pace so far, maybe he's the guy.
Only needs to average 1500 yards for the next 12 seasons? LOL. Good luck with that.
108 Games/9072 yards(98.23 ypg)/93TDs
The two active guys closest on the receptions list, Julio Jones and DeAndre Hopkins, are both looking fairly washed up already. The only WR within 400 receptions of Rice's 1549 is Fitzgerald. The only ones within 45 TDs of his 197 are Moss with 156 and Owens with 153. Finally, Rice has a margin of *5400 yards* on the alltime yardage list. Julio Jones, the only active player in the top 35, is almost 10,000 yards behind Rice.
It is amazing what Rice did under the old rules.
It will take the special person in a special situation, but never say never with a record. Unless it's Cy Young's Wins total or something that the modern era simply eliminates from being possible.
And Gordie Howe's records were considered the same way before Gretzky. That's why I didn't flatly say "no".
But I do seriously doubt it.
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He'll only be 24 this upcoming season, needs to average 1,506 yards to edge him for another 12 years. He's coming off an 1800 yard season. To get past the TD mark, he'll need to average slightly more than 14.3 TDs over that span. Need to enjoy both health and longevity, but it's possible. The TD mark is probably tougher, but both are really tough benchmarks.
Only needs to average 1500 yards for the next 12 seasons? LOL. Good luck with that.
He'd need a lot of seasons well north of that number to factor in some statistical regression in the later part of his career.
Absolutely, it's a very low probability. If I could pick one player playing today that has at least a 1% chance (probably less), it's Jefferson. Adams, Hill, and Diggs are all too old. Diggs would have to play to 40 years old and average 1,173.58 yards to catch him. Even if he plays until 37, he'd need to average 1,564 yards, and that's a mark he's never surpassed. He'd need to average 13.55 TDs to 37, or 10.17 if he plays until 40. Diggs has one season in which he's surpassed 10 TD receptions. Hill is about the same age as Diggs. His game probably won't age well into his mid 30's.
Davante is too old. He's already 30 and not even close to halfway there on either of those numbers.
So even if someone did manage to play the amount of years or even less with higher production hard to see another team emulating all the pieces needed to give someone a chance and it today's environment I don't see that happening.
He's the WR GOAT.
And I didn't even mention the physical talent it would take...
Someone raised another very interesting point above. The money is today's game is so much greater than Rice's era. And it's going to continue to grow. So why keep taking hit after hit after hit when you can cash out early and be set for life many times over...
Even with today's inflated stats (and to be fair, Rice's stats were inflated a bit because of the WCO) it would be difficult to keep up the pace season after season.