5 Best Wide Receivers in San Francisco 49ers History

Pretend you don’t know who No. 1 on the list of the top five San Francisco 49ers wide receivers is.

Of course it is who you think it is. But sort of like looking over Barry Bonds’ statistics or Wayne Gretzky’s and just marveling, you’ll want to re-visit the totals of the top wideout in Niners history.

But even besides that player, San Francisco has been blessed with some top-end talent out wide. They’re the sort of players who may have benefitted from elite quarterback play, but they’re also the kinds of players who made their quarterbacks better, too.

It was a perfect blend for the 49ers and it’s continued into the 2000s, too, even though no player from this century cracks the top five.

Here are a look at those who did make it.

5. John Taylor (1987-1995)

How much higher might Taylor rank had he not had to split pass-catching duties with the greatest wide receiver to ever play and one of the best tight ends in San Francisco history? The man was still a killer on the outside and perhaps the best No. 2 wideout in the NFL during his stint.

Taylor initially established himself as a Pro Bowler in his second year because of his ability in the punt-return game as he scored two touchdowns in 1988 on special teams while serving as the team’s No. 3 wide receiver. The next year, he stepped in opposite of Jerry Rice and caught 60 passes for 1,077 with 10 touchdowns, earning a second Pro Bowl.

Taylor ranks sixth in franchise history in yards receiving among wide receivers while he won three Super Bowls in his nine seasons in the NFL.

4. Gene Washington (1969-1977)

At the peak of his powers in the late 1960s and early 1970s, few were as good on the outside as Washington, who led the league in receiving yards, yards-per-catch and touchdowns at various points in his 10-year career.

The 49ers took him in the first round of the 1969 draft and rewarded them by making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. It was the first of four straight selections to the game, two of which resulted in first-team All-Pro honors.

And while his final five years in San Francisco weren’t quite as good as those first four, he remained the team’s leading receiver for eight of those nine seasons with the Niners.

3. Dwight Clark (1979-1987)

Clark doesn’t have quite the same accolades on paper as Washington does, having earned two Pro Bowls and one first-team All-Pro selection. He was hardly a slouch, anyway, leading San Francisco in most receiving categories for five seasons from 1980 to 1984.

Plus, there’s that play. You know the one. “The Catch.” Clark’s leaping touchdown grab in the back of the end zone in the waning seconds of the 1981 NFL championship game lifted the 49ers over the Dallas Cowboys and is credited as the beginning of the Niners’ dynasty of the 1980s.

2. Terrell Owens (1996-2003)

A nine-time first-team All-Pro selection who recorded seven 1,000-yard seasons? Yeah, Owens deserves this spot on the 49ers’ all-time list. He would have a case for No. 1 on several other NFL franchise lists, too.

T.O. spent eight of his 15 NFL seasons with the Niners, logging three of those All-Pro selections and five of those 1,000-yard seasons in San Francisco.

He served as a favorite target for two of our top five all-time 49ers quarterbacks in Steve Young and Jeff Garcia. And though he never found the elusive Super Bowl title, Owens’ 15,934 yards receiving and 153 touchdowns rank him third in history in both categories.

1. Jerry Rice (1985-2000)

No. 1 in both of those aforementioned categories belongs to Rice, the undoubted greatest wide receiver to ever play organized football. No ifs ands or buts.

He’s more than 5,000 yards ahead of the No. 2 player, Larry Fitzgerald, in yards receiving. He’s 41 touchdowns ahead of No. 2 in touchdowns, Randy Moss. And Rice caught 117 more passes than No. 2 Fitzgerald, as well.

In other words, it isn’t close. Rice was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010 after making 13 Pro Bowls, 10 first-team All-Pro honors, and winning three Super Bowls. Even as the passing game has become more dominant in the 21st century, it’s hard to imagine anyone catching Jerry Lee Rice.

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