The 10 NFL Wide Receivers With the Most Receptions in a Season

How soon will it be before an NFL wide receiver notches 150 catches in a season? How about 200? With the NFL playing 17 games in a season these days and with the passing game being as prominent as ever, it’s likely to happen soon.

For now, no player has ever reached 150. However, Michael Thomas of the New Orleans Saints came close in 2019 when he hauled in a record 149 receptions. His record has stood ever since, although it has been and will continue to be threatened.

We took a look at the best campaigns for wide receivers when it comes to catches and compiled a list of the 10 wideouts with the most receptions in a single season, a list that actually features just eight players as two appear twice.

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1 Michael Thomas, 2019: 149 Receptions

Michael Thomas set an NFL record with 149 catches during the 2019 season

When you’re a favorite target of Drew Brees, expect to see a lot of passes heading in your direction.

That was the case for Michael Thomas, a sure-handed wide receiver who, as mentioned, owns the record for most receptions in an NFL season with 149, accomplishing the feat during the 2019 season when he averaged 11.6 yards on each of those 149 catches.

He also finished with 1,725 yards and nine touchdowns and recorded a season-high 13 receptions during a Week 10 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

That was the third straight season that Thomas caught 100 balls or more and also the last time he made any significant noise in the NFL. In 2020, he finished with 40 catches as an ankle injury limited him to seven games. He missed the entire 2021 season because his ankle continued to give him trouble and had 55 catches in the 2022 and 2023 seasons combined.

2 Cooper Kupp, 2021: 145 Receptions

LA Rams star Cooper Kupp hit the wide receiver triple crown in 2021

In 2021, Los Angeles Rams star Cooper Kupp had one of the best years ever for an NFL wide receiver, finishing the season with the WR version of the triple crown by leading the league in touchdowns (16), receiving yards (1,947), and receptions (145).

His catch total fell four shy of tying Thomas’ mark from two seasons earlier, but his reception and yards totals are both franchise records. Kupp fell short of the Rams’ single-season touchdown reception record by one, as Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch had 17 in 1951.

His production helped the Rams make their way to Super Bowl 56 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Los Angeles ultimately eked out a 23-20 victory, and Kupp was named Super Bowl MVP.

3 Marvin Harrison, 2002: 143 Receptions

Marvin Harrison proved why he was one of the best WRs in the game with his 143-catch season

Marvin Harrison Sr. was hardly the biggest player on the Indianapolis Colts, but when it comes to wide receivers in the franchise’s history, nobody had a bigger impact.

At 6 feet and 185 pounds, Harrison found a way to get it done on the football field. Catching passes from Peyton Manning certainly helped, but Harrison was quite the talent. After failing to hit 1,000 yards in his first three seasons with the Colts, he strung together eight consecutive years of hitting the mark.

His first came in 1999 when he caught 115 passes for a league-leading 1,663 yards. After leading the NFL with 102 catches in 2000, Harrison racked up an NFL-best 143 catches and 1,772 yards in 2002. His 143 catches shattered Herman Moore’s then-single-season record of 123.

He never had a 100-catch season again, although he came close with 94 in 2003 and 95 in 2006. Harrison ultimately had 1,102 catches in his career.

4 Antonio Brown, 2015: 136 Receptions

Antonio Brown had as good a six-year stretch as any WR in the game

Antonio Brown had as good a six-year stretch as any wide receiver in NFL history, and it peaked in 2015 when he was targeted a career-high 193 times. Brown hauled in 136 of those targets and racked up 1,834 yards, averaging 13.5 yards per catch that season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Brown was coming off a 2014 season in which he caught 129 passes for 1,698 yards, leading the NFL in both categories that year.

The 2015 season marked the second consecutive year in which Brown earned First-Team All-Pro honors, and he notched a career-high 17 catches for a career-best 284 yards in a victory over the Oakland Raiders. He also caught 16 passes in a game against the Cleveland Browns, making him the first wide receiver to have two games in a season with 16 or more catches.

For his career, Brown had 928 catches.

5 Julio Jones, 2015: 136 Receptions

Julio Jones made franchise history with the Atlanta Falcons in 2015

While Brown was lighting it up with the Steelers, Julio Jones was doing the same with the Atlanta Falcons, matching Brown’s 136 catches in 2015. It was a franchise record and the third most in NFL history at the time.

It was clear that Jones was Atlanta’s biggest weapon, and the Falcons didn’t try to hide it. The Alabama alum was targeted a whopping 203 times that year, racking up 1,871 yards and averaging a league-leading 116.9 yards per game.

It was the second of six straight 1,000-yard seasons but just the second of three years in which he caught 100 or more passes in a single season.

6 CeeDee Lamb, 2023: 135 Receptions

CeeDee Lamb continues to improve each season after just four years in the NFL

If the numbers continue to trend the way they have for the last four years, CeeDee Lamb is about to break some serious records.

The Dallas Cowboys’ star receiver has statistically improved in every season of his career and hasn’t even hit his peak years yet. Lamb had his true breakout season in 2023, catching 135 passes for 1,749 yards, both career-highs and both franchise records.

In four seasons with the Cowboys, Lamb has seen his receptions improve from 74 to 79 to 107 to 135. He had 935 yards as a rookie, 1,102 in his second year, 1,359 in 2022, and then his 1,749 in 2023.

7 Antonio Brown, 2014: 129 Receptions

Antonio Brown has two of the top 10 spots on the single-season catch list

Brown makes his second appearance on his list due to his aforementioned 2014 season, in which he racked up 129 catches. It was the first of four All-Pro seasons for the Steelers wide receiver and was also the second of six straight seasons of 100-plus catches for Brown.

Brown was targeted 181 times in 2014, hauling in a league-high 129 catches. He also led the league with 1,698 receiving yards. From 2013 to 2018, Brown had 686 catches for 9,145 yards. He also caught 67 touchdown passes, including a league-high 15 during the 2018 season.

8 Justin Jefferson, 2022: 128 Receptions

Justin Jefferson was named AP Offensive Player of the Year in 2022

In the first three years of his NFL career, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson had at least 1,400 receiving yards each season, his most productive campaign coming in 2022.

The LSU product was targeted 184 times that year and finished with an NFL-best 128 catches. He also racked up an NFL-high 1,809 receiving yards en route to winning Offensive Player of the Year. He also finished third in the NFL MVP voting.

He set the tone early in that season, catching nine passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns in a Week 1 win over the Green Bay Packers and a career-high 193 yards in a Week 10 overtime victory over the Buffalo Bills. It was Jefferson’s third straight Pro Bowl season, and after two selections to the Second Team, he was named a First-Team All-Pro for the first time.

9 Stefon Diggs, 2020: 127 Receptions

Stefon Diggs showed his worth in his first season with the Buffalo Bills

After spending the first five seasons of his NFL career with the Vikings, Stefon Diggs was traded to the Buffalo Bills ahead of the 2020 season and wasted no time making a name for himself with his new team.

In his first year with the Bills in 2020, Diggs led the NFL in catches (127) and receiving yards (1,535). Diggs became a favorite target of quarterback Josh Allen, and the two formed one of the most dangerous QB/WR duos in the league. Diggs was targeted 166 times that season and was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career.

During a Week 16 win over the New England Patriots, Diggs broke Eric Moulds’ franchise record for receiving yards in a season.

In four years with the Bills before being traded to the Houston Texans, Diggs caught 445 passes, good enough for fourth place on the franchise’s all-time list.

10 Michael Thomas, 2018: 125 Receptions

Michael Thomas was as sure-handed as they come for a wide receiver

Thomas, like Brown, makes his second appearance on this list, courtesy of his 2018 season.

A year before setting the all-time record for receptions in a season with 149, Thomas had 125 catches for the Saints on 147 targets. During a Week 9 game against the Rams, Thomas had 12 catches for a franchise-record 211 yards. He finished the season with 1,405 receiving yards and nine touchdown catches.

All statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise.

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