On Sunday, Keenan Allen became the fastest player in NFL history to reach 1000 receptions. It only took the Los Angeles Chargers’ wideout 159 games to reach the landmark, reaching it on a Justin Herbert pass in the second quarter.
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Allen’s catch saw him go past Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison, who managed 1,000 catches in 167 games. His record, however, came in a losing cause. The Chargers lost 10-27 to the Washington Commanders while Allen finished the game with five receptions for 58 yards. That brought his career total to 1,003.
The achievement caught the attention of Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson, who couldn’t help but look back at their own careers and wonder how they never hit that mark.
With this milestone, Allen also climbed to 15th on the all-time receptions list, passing Hines Ward, who retired in 2011 with exactly 1,000 catches. Allen now sits just behind Travis Kelce, who has 1,019.
Among the top 15, eight receivers are Hall of Famers, making Allen’s company as elite as it gets. Naturally, Johnson and Sharpe were both in awe of the feat.
“A thousand? Man, that’s crazy,” Johnson said on Nightcap. “How many catches you got, Unc?”
“815,” Sharpe responded. That led the two into a conversation about how different the league was back in their day. Sharpe played in the NFL from 1990 to 2003, while Ocho’s career spanned from 2001 to 2012.
There was less pre-snap motion, fewer screens, and not nearly as many short-yardage throws, which made it much tougher for receivers in their era to rack up big catch numbers.
When Johnson thought about how many career receptions he finished with, he laughed and said he might need to come out of retirement. “What do I got? I need to come back and play,” Johnson said.
“You got 766,” Sharpe noted.
“That’s it? I was sorry as hell, Unc. Goddamn,” Johnson joked.
766 is still a very respectable career total. It stands at 45th place on the all-time list, around guys like Marshall Faulk, Zach Ertz, and Roddy White. But it clearly wasn’t the total Johnson thought he finished with.
That’s when Sharpe tried to make his co-host feel better by professing that Allen’s 1000 catch feat will soon become routine.
“Now, it’s going to be routine. If you don’t have 1000 catches now, people are going to think you were a bum, if you’re a receiver,” Sharpe said.
This led Johnson to make a good point: “People also need to understand that the game has changed.”
The NFL has indeed changed drastically when it comes to passing plays. Back when Sharpe and Johnson caught passes, the league mostly had a run-first mentality that focused on taking care of the ball. But now, teams sling the ball around as much as they can, trying to put up more points.
Because of this, players like Allen have emerged with dominant reception numbers. And he’s not the only one. Baltimore Ravens WR DeAndre Hopkins is right behind him, just nine catches away from 1000.
Not to mention, Packers’ Davante Adams will soon hit the figure as well, currently at 979. All in all, it shows that the current landscape of passing in the NFL has swung hard in the direction of higher reception totals. So, Johnson really shouldn’t feel that bad.
