Grayson Smartt

Glory to God | Vanderbilt 21' | Ole Miss 23'

[Tanner James @tjdissect]

What happened to the aging NFL wide receiver? A thread:

I was thinking today about how the NFL hasn’t had a WR sustain elite-level success into his late 30s in a long time. Steve Smith is the perfect example. He was ridiculous from ages 32 to 37.

Over his final six seasons, he averaged:

8 targets per game
5 receptions per game
69.6 yards per game
That works out to a 17-game pace of roughly 85/1,184/5 from ages 32–37.

In 2015, at age 36, before going down with a midseason injury, Smith was on pace for 112/1,627/7.

There seems to be a pretty clear cutoff around age 33. The last WR to have a 1,200+ yard season at age 33 or older was Reggie Wayne in 2012.

What’s even more fascinating is that high-end WR production beyond 35 is essentially unheard of now, but there was a period where it was surprisingly common.

From 1991–2014, there were 17 instances of a WR recording 1,000+ receiving yards at age 35 or older.

A couple of interesting takeaways: 10 of the 17 happened at exactly age 35, and Jerry Rice accounts for three of the seven age-36+ seasons by himself. Rice putting up 1,211 yards at FORTY years old is absurd -- his receiving record likely won't be broken.

As of the end of the 2025 NFL season, we’ve now gone 11 straight seasons without a 35+ year old WR reaching 1,000 yards.

Since 2020, we’ve seen just two WRs age 31 or older put up 1,100+ receiving yards: Keenan Allen with 1,243 yards at age 31 and Davante Adams with 1,144 yards at age 31... both in 2023.

Ironically, those two guys might be our best chance to see sustained, high-level WR play into the mid-30s again.

So what has changed? Why does it seem like high-end WR play beyond age 33 has basically disappeared over the last decade? My thoughts below:

(Smith is 35 years old in the clip below).

[John Arnold @johnarnold]

65 players in the WC were born in the Netherlands. 25 play for the country, 25 Curacao, 6 Cape Verde, 3 Morocco and Turkey, and 1 each Ghana, New Zealand and the US (Sergino Dest).
Netherlands is just 0.2% of world population but birthplace of 5.2% of WC players.

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@BrettKollmann Just like RB it is a young man’s game. Very few can be elite for a long time.

[Ryan Deto @RyanDeto]

NEW: Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood is coming to YouTube, getting its own page. It’s the first time the show will be on-demand for free. Fred Rogers Productions tells me the page is coming this summer. https://t.co/2Xc26oWSIA

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@K3B02 Go Dores! We send WRs to the league

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@CSimmsQB @ConnorJRogers Excited for Conner Rogers, he brings good stuff to the pod. What changes do you see coming due to new off coordinators for Cowboys and Eagles? Do Commanders have enough players on offense? / what do you think Kliff will add to offense for year 2?

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@ThadWells Bronco

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@CanaanSmith_ Canaan dust off those football cleats they need a QB!

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@walkonmoose Can’t ignore Vanderbilt and Clark Lea. Special Program and great leader

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@aaaveleyrahawk AJ Brown with slaying it with less volume

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@emilynussbaum Tribute but TenaciousD

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@CSimmsQB What do you think about these rankings from the NFLPA? Some interesting choices but may also be leadership/personality or who they want to play for the most

[Ari Meirov @MySportsUpdate]

The @NFLPA asked players to rate their offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinators.

Voting took place between August 28 and November 16 —and every player in the NFL had the opportunity to vote.

Here are the top 5 at each coordinator spot:

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@CSimmsQB @ahmedNBC @PeteDamilatis Buccaneers and Rams backfields, mostly unproven young guys, who do you think sticks out of the group?

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@CSimmsQB @ahmedNBC Big fan of the show, for the 9ers do they win now with Purdy, mold/develop Darnold, or play the long game with Lance. Can you do all 3 at once?

[Dan Meyer @ddmeyer]

Watch a teacher make roughly ~1,000 instructional decisions in about 45 seconds. Only a few of them are about the lesson but the lesson depends on ALL of them. This is one of the hardest things to explain about teaching to people who have never taught.

[Nicholas Ferroni @NicholasFerroni]

Teachers,

RT this if it is impossible for you get your grading, planning, parent/guardian outreach and all other additional requirements (on top teaching) completed during your contractual hours.

Just curious.

[Immanuel Nashville @ImmanuelNash]

To all who are weary and need rest...

@rayortlund

[Grayson Smartt @SmarttGrayson]

@howertonjosh I have had this thought many times, and I think the response is to focus on application. Although cursory knowledge is important, I think that the next steps that the church and Christians must take is to DO the things with ACCOUNTABILITY/Do the small things with felicity.

[Marco Rubio @marcorubio]

Every major social problem in America can be linked to fatherlessness

Wherever involved fathers are rare,crisis is certain to follow

And billions in government spending is no substitute for fatherhood