Thanks in part to Peter King’s weird diatribe today and the odd assertions of a reader, it’s a good time to take a look at how Anthony Gonzalez stacks up to Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison over his first two seasons.
Anthony Gonzalez:
| Games | Catches | Yards | YPC | TD | DVOA | NFL Rank | Catch Rate | |
| 2007 | 13 | 37 | 476 | 15.6 | 3 | 43.7% | 1 | 73% |
| 2008 | 16 | 57 | 664 | 11.6 | 4 | 26.2% | 3 | 72% |
Reggie Wayne
| Games | Catches | Yards | YPC | TD | DVOA | NFL Rank | Catch Rate | |
| 2001 | 13 | 27 | 345 | 12.8 | 0 | -10.9% | 45 | 55% |
| 2002 | 16 | 49 | 716 | 14.6 | 4 | 14.7% | 14 | 68% |
Marvin Harrison
| Games | Catches | Yards | YPC | TD | DVOA | NFL Rank | Catch Rate | |
| 1996 | 15 | 64 | 836 | 13.1 | 8 | 4.1% | 34 | 54% |
| 1997 | 16 | 73 | 886 | 11.9 | 6 | 11.8% | 13 | 62% |
So what can we learn from this?
- Gonzalez has been incredible for a WR in his first two years. He been one of the most valuable WRs in the game.
- Gonzalez is markedly better through year two than Wayne was. Year three was where Wayne took off.
- Gonzalez catches the ball more regularly than either a young Wayne or Harrison.
- Marvin Harrison was a beast and was the Colts #1 WR from the go his rookie year. That is rare. Still, there are some areas where Gonzo passes him, but that might be the difference between having Manning as QB and having a beat up Jim Harbaugh and Paul Justin as QB.
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