Detroit Lions: 15 greatest wide receivers in franchise history

Near the end of Brett Perriman’s time with the Lions, and right in the prime of Herman Moore’s tenure, Detroit added another wideout to their impressive receiving corps in Johnnie Morton. A star at USC, Morton was selected 21st overall and added to Detroit team that had just added Scott Mitchell under center.

Already with Moore, Perriman, and running back Barry Sanders, the Lions hoped that Mitchell was the missing piece and adding Morton just made them more dangerous. Of course, all Lions fans know the southpaw quarterback didn’t pan out but he had some flashes including a 4,383 yard, 32 touchdown campaign in 1995.

That was Morton’s second season with the Lions and it was his first year where he started to show off his abilities. The sophomore had 590 yards receiving and eight touchdowns. He followed that up with 55 catches for 714 yards and sic more touchdowns before really hitting his stride in 1998.

That year, No. 87 had his first of three-straight 1,000-yard campaigns. He then had an off-year with only 788 yards for Detroit in 2000 before once again topping four-digits in 2001 when he had 77 catches for a career-high 1,154 yards and four touchdowns.

Morton then joined the Kansas City Chiefs for three seasons before playing one final year with the San Francisco 49ers. He had a couple of good years in K.C., but it was never close to the success he had in his prime with the Lions.

In eight seasons, he had 469 receptions for 6,499 yards and 35 touchdowns. That was good enough to land him in third place in every one of those categories (although he was second at the time and later surpassed by Calvin Johnson).