5 one-season wonder NFL WRs who vanished into smoke
It's not uncommon for NFL players to break out in an unexpected manner, but there are cases when, after a strong season, a player completely disappears from the radar. These are what are called one-season wonders.
These players stay around the league for a while, but they never get close to the same level they got in a specific season. Their breakout was followed by some awful years, and they quickly flamed out of the league.
Check out some wide receivers who were one-season wonders in the NFL.
Five wide receivers who were one-season wonders in the NFL
#1, Marquise Goodwin, San Francisco 49ers
Goodwin never had much success in his first four years in the NFL until he moved to the San Francisco 49ers in the first year of Kyle Shanahan's tenure. He ascended as the No. 1 receiver and amassed 962 yards, a higher number than his first four seasons combined.
Over the next few years, he never surpassed 400 receiving yards and bounced around other teams such as the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks.
#2, Michael Clayton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Clayton was a star in his rookie season with 1,193 yards and seven touchdowns in 2004 alone, but then he never surpassed 500 receiving yards again in the next seven seasons. He has also scored only three touchdowns since 2005 and played two seasons for the New York Giants before retiring.
#3, Marcus Robinson, Chicago Bears
A fourth-round wide receiver who had 1,400 yards in his second year after just 44 yards as a rookie, Robinson was on track to be a star for the Bears at the turn of the century. But injuries and poor quarterback play saw his performance only go down. He managed to stick around for seven more seasons with stints in Baltimore and Minnesota, but was never a star again.
#4, Patrick Jeffers, Carolina Panthers
Jeffers is the weirdest case on this list: only 354 yards in his first three seasons in Denver and Dallas and then 1,082 yards and 12 touchdowns out of nowhere in 1999. The remainder of his career? Fourteen receptions for 127 yards and no trips to the end zone. Jeffers was a quick star for the newly-established Panthers who never replicated his great performance.
#5, Willie Jackson, New Orleans Saints
A journeyman throughout most of his career with three different teams (Jacksonville, Cincinnati and New Orleans), Jackson found himself having a great season with the Saints in 2001 when he broke the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career when he turned 30. He retired a year later after stints with Atlanta and Washington.