Patriots legend Tom Brady has the 2nd-most receiving yards in NFL history after turning 40

Billy Heyen

Patriots legend Tom Brady has the 2nd-most receiving yards in NFL history after turning 40 image

This might be the greatest stat in the history of sports:

Tom Brady has the second-most receiving yards in NFL history by a player after turning 40 years old.

Yes, that'd be the New England Patriots' all-time great quarterback Brady.

Wide receivers in NFL history have essentially never made it to 40. There's just one exception: Jerry Rice.

After turning 40, Rice had 161 more catches for 2,169 yards.

Then you've got Brady who had a six-yard catch in his 40s.

Third place on the list? Tight end Marcedes Lewis, with a two-yard catch after turning 40.

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The list actually gets better further off the screen.

Every other player in NFL history, except one, is tied for fourth, with exactly zero receiving yards after turning 40.

There's one guy who had negative receiving yards after turning 40: Brett Favre, who had a minus-2-yard catch.

Is there any significance to this statistic whatsoever? No, not really.

But it's awesome anyway.

Rice is in a class of his own, of course. And so is Brady, although not usually for his receiving prowess.

And shoutout Marcedes Lewis for sticking around for a long time, too.

Sometimes, sports stats are just simply awesome.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle