The best receivers in Washington franchise history

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June 30, 2025

by Steve Thomas

I’ve had some fun over the past three weeks examining the history of the Redskins Washington Football Team Commanders Washington franchise to determine the best players ever at various positions.  This week, I’m going to tackle the wide receivers.  There’s no question and no debate that Art Monk is the best receiver in Redskins history.  That part isn’t really at issue, at least in the hearts and minds of the fans who are old enough to have watched Monk play and experience his work ethic, class, and excellence, and was a key part of three Super Bowl champion teams.  For Redskins fans, nobody is realistically going to ever catch Monk.

What is a decent question to ask, though, is whether Washington’s current star receiver, Terry McLaurin, can eventually match some or all of Monk’s career statistics in Washington.  Specifically, the question of the day here is what it would take for Terry McLaurin to become Washington’s all-time leading receiver from a statistical perspective.  Of course, as of this moment, McLaurin isn’t signed beyond the 2025 season, but assuming that a deal eventually gets done, can McLaurin actually exceed Monk’s lofty statistical marks?  Let’s find out, along with learning a little bit about Washington’s best receivers in both franchise and NFL history.

Monk was drafted by Washington in the first round of the 1980 draft and spent a total of 16 seasons in the NFL, including two unfortunate seasons with the Jets and the Eagles in 1994 and 1995, respectively, which were his final two years in the league.  In total, he had 940 receptions for 12,721 yards, 13.5 yards per reception, and 68 touchdowns.  His total number of targets is not available because the NFL only started tracking that statistic in 1992.  In his 14 seasons with Washington, Monk had 888 receptions for 12,026 yards, 13.5 yards per reception, and 65 touchdowns.

McLaurin has been with Washington since 2019, which is 6 seasons, and has 460 receptions in 726 targets, for a 63.4% catch percentage, for 6379 yards, 13.9 yards per catch, and 38 touchdowns.

Receptions

McLaurin’s 460 receptions is currently 5th in team history.  The following chart shows the top 10 all-time by this measurement:

Name Years # Rec
Art Monk 1980 – 1993 888
Santana Moss 2005 – 2014 581
Charley Taylor 1966 – 1977 556
Gary Clark 1985 – 1992 549
Terry McLaurin 2019 – 2024 460
Ricky Sanders 1986 – 1993 414
Bobby Mitchell 1962 – 1968 393
Pierre Garcon 2012 – 2016 376
Michael Westbrook 1995 – 2001 277
Jamison Crowder 2015 – 2018, 2023 – 2024 246

Monk averaged 63 receptions per year over his 14 seasons with the Redskins.  In contrast, McLaurin has averaged almost 77 receptions per season.  This is very likely due to the massive changes in NFL offensive strategy since Monk retired, but it is what it is.  At this rate, McLaurin could catch Monk 5.5 seasons, which would be 2030.  McLaurin probably is going to sign a 4 year contract, not a 5 year extension with Washington (click here to read); plus, I think expecting a receiver in his mid-30s to maintain a 76 catch per season average seems far-fetched to me. As a result, realistically, this would mean that Washington would have to sign him to a second contract extension, probably after the 2029 season, in order for him to catch Monk.  The point is, it is possible, but probably unlikely that McLaurin will catch Monk in total number of catches.

The rest of the list has the expected people – Santana Moss, Charley Taylor, and Gary Clark are the players who most fans would guess for second through fourth place.

In terms of the NFL as a whole, Jerry Rice is the all-time leader in career receptions, with 1549.  However, the Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald is second overall, with 1432,  The Colts’ Marvin Harrison is third overall, with 1102.  Cris Carter and Tim Brown are in 4th and 5th place overall, with 1101 and 1094 receptions, respectively.  Fitzgerald is the all-time leader for receptions for one team, followed by Rice, who had 1281 with the 49ers, followed by Harrison, and the Colts’ Reggie Wayne, with 1070.

Receiving yardage

Monk’s 12,026 receiving yards for Washington is the best in team history.  The following table shows the top 10:

Name Years Rec yards
Art Monk 1980 – 1993 12,026
Gary Clark 1985 – 1992 8742
Santana Moss 2005 – 2014 7867
Charley Taylor 1966 – 1977 7719
Bobby Mitchell 1962 – 1968 6492
Terry McLaurin 2019 – 2024 6379
Ricky Sanders 1986 – 1993 5854
Pierre Garcon 2012 – 2016 4549
Michael Westbrook 1995 – 2001 4280
Henry Ellard 1994 – 1998 3930

In his 14 seasons in Washington, Monk averaged 859 receiving yards.  McLaurin has averaged 1063 receiving yards per season during his 6 NFL seasons, and is currently 5647 yards behind Monk for the all-time franchise lead.  At his current rate, McLaurin would surpass Monk in the middle of his 6th season from now, meaning 2030.  As was the case with the total number of receptions, this is beyond McLaurin’s likely four year contract extension, and assumes that he can keep up a pace of more than 1,000 yards per season late into his career.  I’d say that this one is also possible, but unlikely.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that Clark, Moss, and Taylor are next on the list.

Unsurprisingly, Rice is also the NFL’s all-time leader in receiving yardage, with 22,895, followed by Harrison, with 17,492, Terrell Owens, with 15,934, the Randy Moss, with 15,292, and Issac Bruce, with 15,208.  Monk’s total 12,721 yards is ranked 21st overall.  Rice is also the leader for receiving yardage with one team, with 19,247 with the 49ers, followed by Fitzgerald, with 17,492, then Harrison with 14,580, Wayne, with 14,345, and the Seahawks’ Steve Largent, with 13,089 yards.

Receiving touchdowns

The following table shows Washington’s top 10 in career receiving touchdowns by wide receivers:

Name Years # TDs
Charley Taylor 1966 – 1977 71
Art Monk 1980 – 1993 65
Gary Clark 1985 – 1992 58
Bobby Mitchell 1962 – 1968 49
Santana Moss 2005 – 2014 47
Hugh Taylor 1950 – 1954 40
Terry McLaurin 2019 – 2024 38
Ricky Sanders 1986 – 1993 36
Michael Westbrook 1995 – 2001 24
Rod Gardner 2001 – 2004 21

As you can see, Taylor is the leader here, followed by Monk and Gary Clark.  McLaurin’s 38 touchdowns is 7th.  For McLaurin, this comes out to 6.3 per year.  At this rate, it will take McLaurin 4.3 years to catch Monk and 5.3 years to catch Taylor.  It therefore seems pretty likely that, absent injury, McLaurin will at least catch Monk for second place.  5.3 years is slightly more than McLaurin’s likely contract length, so it would take a second extension for him to overcome Taylor’s 71 touchdowns.

The NFL’s all-time leader in receiving touchdowns by a wide receiver is Jerry Rice, with 197, followed by Randy Moss, with 156, Terrell Owens, with 153, Cris Carter, with 130, and Marvin Harrison, with 128.  Charley Taylor’s 71 is ranked 43rd, and Monk’s 68 career touchdowns is tied for 51st overall.

Rice is first overall for receiving touchdowns by a receiver with one team, with 176, followed by Marvin Harrison, who had 128 for the Colts, and Larry Fitzgerald, who had 121 for the Cardinals.

Catch percentage since 1992

Only 28 receivers in Washington franchise history have 100 or more career catches for the team.  Of those 28, the following chart shows the top 10 in career catch percentage:

Name Years # Catches Catch %
Curtis Samuel 2021 – 2023 132 68.8
Jamison Crowder 2015 – 2018, 2023 – 2024 246 68.0
Pierre Garcon 2012 – 2016 376 64.9
Terry McLaurin 2019 – 2024 460 63.4
Antwaan Randle-El 2006 – 2009 186 61.2
DeSean Jackson 2014 – 2016 142 58.2
James Thrash 1997 – 2000, 2005 – 2008 126 58.1
Santana Moss 2005 – 2014 581 57.9
Ricky Sanders 1986 – 1993 414 56.2
Art Monk 1980 – 1993 888 53.0

It’s important to note that the number of targets per receiver were not tracked until 1992.  As a result, this list leaves out anyone before that time, and is not an accurate representation of the actual catch percentages for players who played both before and after 1992, such as Monk.  That having been said, I would never have guessed that Curtis Samuel, of all people, would be the team leader in this category.  Note that McLaurin is currently ranked fourth on this list and is first by a significant amount among Washington’s 4 receivers in the top 10 with 400 or more career receptions for the team.

In the NFL as a whole, believe it or not, Rashee Rice leads all receivers with 100 or more career receptions since 1992, with a 78.6% catch percentage in 103 catches, followed by Michael Thomas, who posted a 76.0% catch percentage in 565 receptions for the Saints from 2016 to 2023.  Khalil Shakir, who played for Buffalo from 2022 to 2024 and had a 75.8% catch percentage in 125 receptions.  The Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown is in 5th place with a 75.4% catch percentage in 430 receptions from 2021 to 2024.

Yards per reception

The following table shows the receivers with the 10 highest yards per reception averages in Washington history for receivers with over 100 receptions for the team:

Name Years # Catches YPC
Hugh Taylor 1950 – 1954 181 19.9
DeSean Jackson 2014 – 2016 142 19.0
Henry Ellard 1994 – 1998 216 18.2
Bill Anderson 1958 – 1963 105 18.2
Albert Connell 1997 – 2000 138 18.0
Leslie Shepherd 1994 – 1998 125 16.9
Frank Grant 1973 – 1978 141 16.8
Charlie Brown 1982 – 1984 128 16.5
Bobby Mitchell 1962 – 1968 393 16.5
Gary Clark 1985 – 1992 549 15.9

DeSean Jackson is the most recent name on this list, which should tell you that Washington hasn’t had a serious, big-time downfield threat for awhile now.  For those wondering, Terry McLaurin’s 13.9 average is tied for 19th.

As far as the NFL’s all-time leaders go, the vast bulk of the top 50 are older generation players.  The top 5 are all very old: (1) Warren Wells, 1964 – 1970, 158 receptions, 23.1 yards per reception, (2) Homer Jones, 1964 – 1970, 224 receptions, 22.3 yards per reception, (3) Ken Kavanaugh, (4) Cloyce Box, 1950 – 1953, 108 receptions, 21.6 yards per reception, and (5) Mal Kutner, 1946 – 1949, 141 receptions, 21.2 yards per reception.  The highest ranking modern era player is Willie Gault, 1983 – 1993, 333 receptions, 19.9 yards per reception, which is tied for 19th.

Conclusion

What really stands out amongst all of these statistics is that Washington hasn’t had very many true stand out receivers, especially considering the age of the franchise.  Despite the fact that Charley Taylor is ahead in number of touchdowns, Art Monk truly is the undisputed leader for Washington, and by NFL standards, Monk is ranked fairly far down the list in most cases.  For example, he’s ranked 20th overall in receptions.  Everyone else in Washington history is pretty far behind Monk.  As was the case with Washington’s running backs, Washington doesn’t have a top-tier history of receivers as compared to the elite in NFL history.

As far as McLaurin’s chase of Monk goes, it appears as though he’ll probably need at least 6 more seasons of performance at his current level, without serious injuries, in order to catch Monk.  That seems less likely than not to happen particularly because it means that Washington will (a) obviously have to sign him to an extension prior to the 2026 season, and then (6) very likely a second extension before the 2030 season.  I’d guess that it would probably take 7 more seasons given his inevitable and natural late-career decline.

What do you think?  Let me know in the comment section below.