Calvin Johnson set the NFL record for receiving yards in a season when he when he had 1,964 yards in 2012. This year, two players are poised to break that record.
Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill and Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown are both on pace to break the record, through eight games this season.
Hill has 1,014 receiving yards, which puts him on pace for 2,155 in 17 games. Brown has 939 receiving yards, which puts him on pace for 1,995.
Hill and Brown are both benefiting from a 17th game, one more game than NFL teams played in 2012. But Hill is actually on pace to break Johnson’s record in 16 games. Hill is the first player in 62 years to top 1,000 receiving yards in his team’s first eight games of the season.
That Johnson has held onto his record for a decade shows what a dominant player he was, but as passing offenses continue to evolve, and with the benefit of one extra game in the season, that record won’t stand for long. It may only stand for a couple more months.