Drinen rambles about something having to do with: Ed McCaffrey

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Ed McCaffrey career statistics

Let's see how many people have been able to do what McCaffrey is going to attempt this year.

Here's a list of all WRs since 1970 who missed 10 or more games at the age of 29 or older (McCaffrey was 33 last year) and then came back to have some success.

• Ron Jessie - he was the #9 WR in 1976. He played only 3 games in 1977 (at age 29), but rebounded to have one more respectable season, finishing as the #21 WR in 1978. That was his last productive year.
• Ken Burrough - he was a pretty decent receiver throughout most of the 70s. In 1980, he missed 12 games. In 1981, at age 33, he came back and finished 26th among WRs. He retired after that season.
• Billy Johnson - he missed 10 games in 1984 at the age of 32. In 1985, he was the #26 WR. That was his last productive year.
• Bob Chandler - he missed 13 games in 1979 at the age of 30. In 1980, he was terrific, finishing #9 among WRs. That was his last good year.
• Mike Sherrard - injuries plagued him for his entire career. In particular, he missed 10 games in 1993 at age 30. He finished 25th the next year. That was his last good year.
• Andre Reed - he missed 10 games in 1995 at the age 31. After that, he had clearly lost a step, but still had two more respectable seasons: #18 in 1996 and #27 in 1997.
• John Stallworth - he missed 12 games in 1983 at age 31. In 1984, he had a monster year, finishing 3rd among WRs with 1395 yards and 11 TDs. In 1985, he slipped to 18th, and that was his last productive year.
• Jerry Rice - of course. He missed almost all of 1997 at age 35. Since then, he's had three seasons above the baseline (and counting), including two in the top 10.

So there is at least some precedent for people in Ed's situation enjoying some success. That's the good news. The bad news is that almost all of these guys were younger than McCaffrey at the time of their comebacks and McCaffrey's injury was probably more serious than most of the ones on the above list.