Calvin Johnson identifies player who could break his single-season receiving record

It's been 14 years since Calvin Johnson set the NFL single-season receiving record with 1,964 yards, and although we've seen several players put up huge receiving numbers since then, no one has been able to top Megatron's mark. However, that could soon change.

During an  interview at his celebrity golf outing on Monday , the Hall of Fame receiver was asked about the record and whether he thought anyone could break it in the near future. For Johnson, only one name came to mind: Puka Nacua .

"He's still got Matthew [Stafford] so I think he's got a shot," Johnson said, via the Detroit Free Press . "If he stays healthy, that dude's a killer out there. He's a definite No. 1. Who else? Help me out."

Why Nacua has the best shot

Puka Nacua LAR • WR • #12

TAR 166 REC 129 REC YDs 1715 REC TD 10 View Profile

When Johnson set the record in 2012, he was playing for the Lions and his quarterback was Stafford. If anyone is going to top Johnson's mark, he needs to play in a pass-heavy offense led by a prolific quarterback, which are two boxes Nacua checks.

Stafford threw 597 passes in 2025, the third-most in the NFL. He loves to feed his favorite receivers, which is one reason his guys are always putting up huge numbers. As a matter of fact, if you look at the top of the receiving record book, the two best seasons of all time both came from players who caught passes from Stafford.

In the 14 years since Johnson set the NFL single-season receiving record, only one player has come close to breaking it, and that was Cooper Kupp , who finished with 1,947 yards while playing with Stafford and the Rams in 2021. At one point during that season, Johnson thought Kupp was going to top his historic mark.q

"Cooper was close. I thought he was going to break it, honestly," Johnson said.

Besides Kupp and Johnson, no other receiver in NFL history has topped 1,900 yards. Here are the top five single-season receiving totals of all time.

Player Receiving total

Lions WR Calvin Johnson (2012)

1,964

Rams WR Cooper Kupp (2021)

1,947

Falcons WR Julio Jones (2015)

1,871

49ers WR Jerry Rice (1995)

1,848

Steelers WR Antonio Brown (2015)

1,834

To break Johnson's record, you pretty much have to have everything go right.

"You got to have a good start. It's hard to pick it up late in the season," Johnson said. "You got to get off to a good start, you got to maintain that good pace and then you got to finish strong. I think that's the key if you're going to break the record, you got to start strong. You got to keep it up in the middle. You ain't got to kill it in the middle, but you got to keep up that pace a little bit. Then you got to finish strong. You got to have a strong start and strong finish to the season in order to get that record."

You also have to stay healthy. Nacua finished with the second-most receiving yards in the NFL last season at 1,715, and he did that even though he missed a game. Nacua injured his ankle in the first half of a Week 6 win over the Ravens , and the injury caused him to miss the Rams' Week 7 win over the Jaguars in London . Because of the injury, Nacua essentially missed 1.5 games. If you average out his numbers, he would have finished with 1,880 yards had he played all 17 games.

So you have to get hot, stay hot, stay healthy and have your quarterback stay healthy. There's a reason this record hasn't been broken despite the NFL being in its pass-happy era.

Other receivers who might be able to break the record

Jaxon Smith-Njigba SEA • WR • #11

TAR 162 REC 119 REC YDs 1793 REC TD 10 View Profile

Jaxon Smith-Njigba led the NFL in receiving yards last season, and he was on pace to break the record all the way through Thanksgiving. Heading into Week 13, JSN was on pace for 2,029 yards, but things slowed down over Seattle's final six games, a stretch in which he topped 100 yards only once.

Smith-Njigba had to play five outdoor games over the final six weeks, and cold weather can certainly slow a receiver down. When you look at the top three receiving seasons in NFL history -- Johnson, Kupp and Julio Jones -- all three players have one thing in common: They played indoors, so they didn't have to worry as much about the weather late in the season.

Justin Jefferson MIN • WR • #18

TAR 141 REC 84 REC YDs 1048 REC TD 2 FL 0 View Profile

In 2022, Justin Jefferson posted the sixth-most receiving yards in NFL history with 1,809, but Johnson doesn't view him as a threat to top the record, mostly because of Minnesota's quarterback situation .

"I thought he could have been one, but they messed up his quarterback situation when they brought in my man from Michigan [J.J. McCarthy] when they had [Sam] Darnold just win them 14 games," Johnson said.

The 40-year-old Johnson, who retired in 2015 after just nine NFL seasons, knows his record will eventually fall. If Nacua doesn't break it this year, it will almost certainly happen down the road when the NFL expands the schedule again.

"If they go to 18 -- well, should we say when they go to 18 games?" Johnson said. "When they go to 18 games it's no doubt about it. Hands down."

If Nacua comes close to topping Johnson's mark, the Hall of Famer plans to be in attendance to see his record go down.

"That would be kind of dope [if Stafford helped Nacua break my record]," Johnson said. "I'd have to go to that game if he did that, cause I like Puka. He's getting some crap out of his system that's just a young guy, just learning, but I think he's an awesome, dynamic receiver."

Even if Nacua doesn't break the record, he has a chance to become just the second player in NFL history to top 1,700 yards twice in his career. Tyreek Hill did it in both 2022 and 2023, and Nacua could join him with a big season in 2026.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/calvin-johnson-puka-nacua-nfl-receiving-record/)._