Jerry Rice

As the story goes, rookies and fellow teammates would try to work out with Jerry Rice in the offseason. Rice used take them on this jog up this large hill in the middle of the woods and at first, his teammates would be able to keep pace without a problem.

Then the real workout began.

Rice, one of the greatest wide receivers to have ever played in the NFL, would break into almost a full sprint up the hill, leaving his teammate behind gasping for air. Nobody worked as hard as Rice in the offseason.

Before Rice made a name for himself in the NFL, he was a standout football player at Mississippi Valley State University. As a sophomore in 1982, he hauled in 66 passes for 1,133 yards and seven touchdowns. As a senior, he broke his own Division 1-AA records for receptions with 112, and yardage with 1,845. Rice’s 27 touchdown receptions in 1984 set a NCAA record and on August 12, 2006, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Even though his college stats were marvelous, many NFL teams stayed away from the wide receiver because he only ran a 4.7 40-yard dash. The 49ers weren’t scared, however, and traded up to the No. 16 spot in the 1985 draft to get him.

The rest is history.

For his career, Rice was nominated to 13 Pro Bowls and was a 12-time All-Pro selection. He was named MVP of Super Bowl XXIII, as well as named NFL Offensive Player of the Year in both 1987 and 1993. The NFL also named him onto their All-Decade Team for the 1980s and 1990s.

By the time Rice finally retired in 2005, he finished as the leader in numerous NFL statistics. Below is just a small sampling of how many NFL records he holds.

Receptions (1,549)
Receiving yards (22,895)
Touchdown receptions (197)
Yards from Scrimmage (23,540)
All-purpose yards (23,546)
Rushing/Receiving Touchdowns (207)

He also holds countless NFL season and single game records, including most seasons with at least 1,500 receiving yards (4) and games with at least 100 yards receiving (76).

On top of all his accomplishments, Rice was also in fantastic shape. He only missed 17 regular season games in his career, with most coming in 1997 when he missed 14 games with torn knee ligaments.

There might not be a better wide receiver to ever play the game of football.