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There’s been a bit of talk in the offseason about the fact that Donald Driver is chasing James Lofton’s record for receiving yards in Green Bay. Donald currently needs 40 yards to match Lofton’s long-standing record. But, how many other Lofton career records are within Driver’s reach?
Career Receptions
In his entire career, James Lofton snatched the ball from the sky 764 times. Driver is currently just 66 receptions off that mark. While he wasn’t utilized as much in 2010 (51 receptions), if Donald achieves anything near his typical performance since 2002 (73.4 receptions), he’ll surpass Lofton’s reception record this season.
There are two major questions I have regarding Driver’s potential to reach the career receiving record.
- How much will McCarthy use DD this season with all the other play-makers he has in his arsenal? Add to this the fact that Aaron Rodgers’ favorite target Jermichael Finley may very well become the go-to guy again as he was early last season.
- How many more years will Driver continue to play? He might not reach the reception record this season, but probably would next season. I would expect he’ll still be going strong in 2012, but who knows. Maybe he’ll decide to hang up the cleats after back-to-back Super Bowls.
50 Catch Seasons
If Driver can reel in the rock 50 times this season, he’ll match Lofton’s career record of 50 catch seasons. If he repeats it next season, he’ll best Lofton in another category.
It’s interesting that Lofton only mustered 9 seasons in his career where he had more than 50 catches. His career was a long one and he was a prolific pass-catcher. Granted, the Packers had quite a duo on Lofton and Jefferson, but Lofton was always the go-to receiver. It’s surprising that, over the course of 16 years in the league, James averaged only 47.75 catches per season.
Seasons Played
I’ll leave this one for the comments below. Lofton played 16 seasons. Driver is beginning his 13th. How many seasons do you think Driver still has in him? Let us know in the comments below.
Touchdowns
This is the first of the stats that would be a reach for Driver to surpass Lofton. Last season Driver had 4 touchdown receptions. If he maintains that, he’ll need another 5.5 seasons to catch Lofton.
Possible? Sure. Donald still has a lot of gas in the tank.
Likely? Not so much. Talented young receivers are emerging and, as much as Packer fans hate to admit it, one day they will take Driver’s place on the field.
Receiving Yards
This is the granddaddy of them all, and it brings us full-circle with the stat in the opening paragraph that started everything. Driver has spent his entire career at Green Bay and has amassed 9615 yards in that time. That puts him just 40 yards away from matching Lofton’s productivity in Green Bay. In fact, Donald is so close that he’ll probably surpass that mark in game one of the 2011 season.
This is impressive, no doubt about that, until you consider that Lofton didn’t spend his entire career at Green Bay. James moved on from Green Bay to continue producing tons of yardage for several other teams. In all, he generated 14,004 yards receiving in his entire career. Driver may pass Lofton’s Green Bay yardage this season, but it would take him nearly 8 more seasons to touch the amount of career yardage Lofton generated.
I don’t say this to diminish what Driver has done in his career. Far from it. But, it does say volumes about the outstanding receiver Lofton was. For the Packers to have another receiver even being mentioned in that company is fortunate.
Chasing Lofton
Packer Nation will be watching closely over the next few games and the next few seasons as Driver continues to bear down on more of Lofton’s record.
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