Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne, left, laughs with Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson in December. (AJ Mast/Associated Press)
On Friday, the Colts announced that they would not be bringing back wide receiver Reggie Wayne. Five days later, Indianapolis signed Andre Johnson, in effect replacing Wayne with a slightly younger version of himself.
Wayne, 36, had spent his entire 14-year career with the Colts, and he currently stands as the NFL’s leader in receptions (1,070) among active players. Johnson, 33, had spent his entire 12-year career with Texans, and he is currently No. 2 in receptions (1,012).
Wayne played college ball at “The U,” a.k.a. Miami. So did Johnson.
Of course, there are some differences between the two players. Johnson (6-3, 219 pounds) is notably bigger than Wayne (6-0, 198.) Also, Johnson has had a slightly better career — and he’s has had to do it with much worse quarterbacks.
For the first 10 years of Wayne’s career, Peyton Manning started every game. That’s a solid decade of seeing passes from one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, week in and week out. Then, after a disastrous 2011 quarterbacked by the likes of Curtis Painter, Dan Orlovsky and Kerry Collins, the Colts drafted Andrew Luck, and he has started every game for the past three seasons.
Johnson hasn’t had it quite so good. Here are the starting quarterbacks from whom he has received passes (in roughly chronological order): David Carr, Tony Banks, Dave Ragone, Matt Schaub, Sage Rosenfels, T.J. Yates, Matt Leinart, Case Keenum, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Ryan Mallett.
Advantage, Wayne. Except that after seeking and getting a release from the Texans, Johnson took advantage of his opportunity to shop around. Picking Andrew Luck and the Colts on Wednesday gave Johnson by far the best quarterback with whom he’s ever played.
It didn’t hurt, of course, that Indianapolis gave the veteran wide receiver a three-year, $21-million contract. But Johnson reportedly left money on the table with the Chargers, who have their own fine quarterback in Philip Rivers, in order to cast his lot with the best young passer in the NFL.
It also helped that Johnson’s former teammate at Miami, Frank Gore, had just signed with the Colts, and that the team’s head coach, Chuck Pagano, had been an assistant with the Hurricanes in the late 1990s. Plus, the receiver now gets two chances a year to stick it to the Texans, who told him that he would have a reduced role there, implying that he should take a pay cut.
What the Colts hope they are getting is a player who still has plenty left in the tank, even if he’ll be 34 when the season begins. During his own age-34 season, Wayne caught 106 passes for 1,355 yards and five touchdowns. The Colts would certainly take a remarkably similar version of that.