Colts receiver Reggie Wayne will turn 35 this season, and he’s hoping to add his name to the short list of players who have had 1,000 receiving yards while old enough to be president.
Wayne told the Indianapolis Star that he has the list of all players who have managed that feat — 12 players have topped 1,000 yards at age 35 or older, a total of 16 times — and he plans to join that select group in 2013.
“I’m going to put that list in my locker,” he said. “I strive off that. That’s what fuels me, motivates me. Not everybody can do that.”
Last year Wayne had 1,355 receiving yards, which was the second-best total ever for a 34-year-old — second only to his old teammate Marvin Harrison, who had 1,366 receiving yards the year he was 34. If Wayne were to equal last year’s total this year, it would be the best season ever for a 35-year-old receiver, topping Irving Fryar’s total of 1,316 yards in 1997, when he was 35.
Wayne needs several good years to top Jerry Rice for the crown of the best receiver ever after the age of 35, but we already know Rice was a freak of nature: Rice tore his ACL in Week One of the season when he turned 35, and not only did he return the next year to go over 1,000 yards at age 36, but he also had 1,000-yard seasons in the years when he turned 39 and 40, and 800-yard seasons in the years when he was 37, 38 and 41.
We’ll probably never see another receiver do what Rice did and gain 6,480 yards after his 35th birthday. But Wayne doesn’t look like he’s slowing down as he closes in on 35.