Over the years, there have been many great wide receivers in the NFL, and then there has been Jerry Rice.
Rice, who played most of his 20-year career with the San Francisco 49ers, was in a class by himself for many reasons, and he is therefore considered by far the greatest wide receiver of all time.
October 13 is his 61st birthday, and the NFL Legacy Twitter account took the occasion to honor Rice’s phenomenal career.
HBD to the greatest WR of all time: @JerryRice pic.twitter.com/60dExgTTWc
— NFL Legacy (@NFLLegacy) October 13, 2023
Fans on Twitter joined in wishing Rice the best.
The ! HBD!!!!
— dunny28.eth (@Dunny28_) October 13, 2023
We’ll never see this level of skill, toughness and LACK of ego in the WR position again. Forever the
— M1ke Samuels (@MikeInHIDEF) October 13, 2023
Rice was the No. 16 pick in the 1985 NFL Draft by the 49ers, and it was a pick they traded for because they badly wanted him and wanted to prevent the Dallas Cowboys, who had the No. 17 pick, from snagging him.
San Francisco had just won the Super Bowl, and head coach Bill Walsh saw him as the deep threat they lacked in their offense.
Rice had a modest (by his standards) rookie season, but he exploded in 1986 with 1,570 yards and 15 touchdowns, and then came his 1987 campaign, where he put up 1,078 yards and a beastly 22 touchdowns in just 12 games.
The Niners won the Super Bowl in the 1988 and 1989 seasons, and he was the MVP of Super Bowl XXIII with 215 yards and a touchdown on 11 catches.
By the early 1990s, most had regarded him as the greatest wideout ever, but he wasn’t exactly done yet, as he won another world championship in the 1994 campaign while scoring three touchdowns in that year’s Super Bowl.
Rice retired with 13 Pro Bowl selections and two Offensive Player of the Year awards, and he is by far the NFL’s leader in career receiving yards and total touchdowns.
This fan pointed out just how much of a lead Rice has in career receiving yards and touchdowns.
The gap between Jerry and the guy who is #2 in receiving TDs bigger than the gap between the guy at #2 and the guy at #7.
The gap between Jerry and the guy who is #2 in receiving yards is bigger than the gap between the guy at #2 and the guy at #28!
Best offensive player ever.
— SantaMonicaMM (@SantaMonicaMM) October 13, 2023
The wideout was also ridiculously consistent, as this fan pointed out.
Jerry’s streak of consecutive games with a reception was longer than the entire career of Randy Moss
— Eric McClung (@ericmcclung) October 13, 2023
At the very least, it will be many decades before football sees another player as great and as dedicated as he was.
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