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AJ Guel, Andre Johnson 2010, CC BY 2.0 
Keith Allison, Panthers WR Steve Smith sits, CC BY-SA 2.0
Since the early 2000s, the NFL has continued to evolve towards becoming more and more of a passing league, which in turn has led to ever-increasing stats for quarterbacks and wide receivers alike. While Hall of Fame wide receivers like Randy Moss and Terrell Owens are recognized as among the cream of the crop of this generation, this recent group of pass-catchers is deep and comes in all shapes and sizes. Standing out among the crowded field are two prolific, yet very different players in the tall and powerful Andre Johnson and the small but shifty Steve Smith. The careers of these two All-Pro and Pro Bowl wide receivers essentially overlapped and in any given season, you could find one or the other (or both) at or near the top of the receiving board – with all of this in mind, let us ask the question:
Who was better – Andre Johnson or Steve Smith?
The Beginning
As different as they were in physical size and playing style, Johnson and Smith also took very different paths to the NFL and came into the league with differing expectations.
Johnson was a PARADE All-American for football as a high schooler in Miami and stayed local to play his college ball at the University of Miami AKA “The U”. There, he was a standout and earned co-MVP honors for the 2002 Rose Bowl/BCS National Championship game with 199 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns in a 37-14 victory over Nebraska to lead Miami to an undefeated season and fifth national title; additionally, he ran track for the Hurricanes, competing in the 60, 100, 200, and 400 meter events. Following his stellar career at Miami, Johnson was drafted third overall in the 2003 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans and made an immediate impact – as a rookie, he had 66 receptions for 976 yards and 3 touchdowns and was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team.
Though he was also a football and track star in high school, the diminutive Smith started his collegiate career at two-year Santa Monica College, where he teamed with future NFL star wide receiver Chad Johnson to form a formidable receiving duo. After two years, Smith transferred to the University of Utah in the Mountain West Conference, where he continued to be a star, culminating his career with offensive MVP honors in the East-West Shrine Game. This performance propelled him to being drafted 74th overall in the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers, though still a relative afterthought in a draft headlined by the likes of Michael Vick and LaDainian Tomlinson. While he only had 10 catches for 154 yards as primarily a kickoff and punt returner as a rookie, Smith’s highlights included returning the opening kickoff in the first game of the season (and his career) for a touchdown and being named both a Pro Bowler and a First Team All-Pro at the kick returner position.
Career Comparison
From their promising starts, Johnson and Smith would quickly evolve into two of the most feared wide receivers in the NFL, racking up 1,000-yard seasons and Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections throughout the 2000s and early 2010s.
Following up on his strong rookie campaign, Johnson turned in the first of seven Pro Bowl seasons in 2004 with 79 catches for 1,142 yards and 6 touchdowns, also marking the first of seven 1,000-yard receiving seasons. After a relatively down year in 2005, he quickly bounced back with his first 100-catch season in 2006 (a feat he would reach 5x), leading the NFL with 103 catches for 1,147 yards and 5 touchdowns, and garnering Second Team All-Pro honors in the process. For Johnson, his career peak would come around 2008-2009, when he was a First Team All-Pro in consecutive seasons:
- 2008: a league-leading 115 catches for a league-high 1,575 yards with 8 touchdowns
- 2009: 101 receptions for a league-best 1,569 yards and a career-high 9 touchdowns (interestingly, despite his size and overall production, Johnson never caught double-digit touchdowns in a season)
After this strong start to his career in the 2000s, Johnson would remain an elite receiver for a couple more seasons. In 2012 and 2013, he would turn in two more 100-catch seasons, which would also be his last Pro Bowl appearances; notably, in 2012, Johnson hauled in 112 receptions for a career-high 1,598 yards, but only 4 touchdowns, thus reaching the 10,000-yard career milestone and also being named Second Team All-Pro. He was released after a down 2014 season (85 catches for 936 yards and 3 touchdowns), and bounced around with a couple of AFC South teams in the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans before retiring after the 2016 season at age 35.
Having entered the NFL a couple of years ahead of Johnson, Smith first became a starting receiver in 2002 and would produce the first of his eight 1,000-yard seasons in 2003 (88 catches for 1,110 yards, and 7 touchdowns). After suffering a gruesome broken leg in 2004, he came back stronger than ever in 2005 and became just the third receiver in NFL history to win the Triple Crown of receiving (behind Jerry Rice in 1990 and Sterling Sharpe in 1992) with 103 catches for 1,564 yards and 12 touchdowns; as a result, Smith shared Comeback Player of the Year honors with New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi and was both a Pro Bowler and a First Team All-Pro.
This would mark the first of four straight 1,000-yard seasons for Smith, including another Pro Bowl season in 2006 (83 catches for 1,166 yards and 8 touchdowns) and his best per-game receiving average in 2008 (78 catches for 1,421 yards and 6 touchdowns in 14 games for a 101.5 yard-per-game average), which again resulted in a Pro Bowl selection. Following a couple of relatively down seasons, he would rebound with his last Pro Bowl season in 2011 on the strength of 79 receptions for 1,394 yards and 7 touchdowns. Though Smith produced yet another 1,000-yard season in 2012, he was released by Carolina after a lackluster 2013 and signed with the Baltimore Ravens. His first season in Baltimore was his best – after racking up 79 catches for 1,065 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2014, he would never surpass the 1,000-yard mark again and at age 37, retired after the 2016 season.
While Johnson and Smith retired the same year (2016), Smith came into the NFL two years earlier and thus has the edge in seasons/games played. Despite this longevity advantage, Johnson actually accumulated more receptions (1,062 vs. 1,031) and had more 100-catch seasons (5 vs. 1), though Smith does come out slightly ahead in both receiving yards (14,731 vs. 14,185) and touchdown receptions (81 vs. 70), and had more 1,000-yard receiving seasons (8 vs. 7). Johnson also had more Pro Bowl selections (7x to 5x), while both players were twice named All-Pros. On a per game basis, Johnson has the edge in all but touchdowns – over 193 career regular season games, Johnson averaged 5.50 receptions for 73.50 yards and 0.36 touchdowns per game vs. 4.71 receptions for 67.26 yards and 0.37 touchdowns per game for Smith over 219 regular season games. While both players have impressive career numbers and accomplishments, due to the plethora of deserving wide receivers, it remains to be seen whether either will one day get the call to Canton.
Regular Season Statistics
| Andre Johnson | Player | Steve Smith |
| 14 (2003-2016) | Seasons | 16 (2001-2016) |
| 193 | Games Played | 219 |
| 1,062 | Receptions | 1,031 |
| 14,185 | Receiving Yards | 14,731 |
| 70 | Receiving Touchdowns | 81 |
| 7x | Pro Bowls | 5x |
| 2x | All-Pro | 2x |
| – | Super Bowls | – |
| – | Other Awards | Comeback Player |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
For all of their regular season numbers and achievements, neither Johnson nor Smith was able to win a Super Bowl ring, though Smith did come close early on in his career; nevertheless, both players put up strong postseason numbers at least on par or even better than their regular season per game averages.
Playing primarily for average teams throughout his career, Johnson only made the playoffs twice, in back-to-back seasons with Houston in 2011 and 2012. In his first career playoff game, he had 5 catches and 90 yards in a Wildcard victory over the Cincinnati Bengals and would score his only career postseason touchdown on a 40-yard pass. Later, in a Divisional loss to Ed Reed and the Baltimore Ravens, he would go over 100 yards for the only time in his playoff career. The next season, the Texans would once again beat the Bengals in a Wildcard game before falling to the New England Patriots despite Johnson’s 8 catches for 95 yards and a 2-point conversion.
On the other hand, Smith made a total of five postseason appearances (4x with Carolina and 1x with Baltimore), including a Super Bowl appearance. In his first playoff appearance in 2003, the Panthers made it all the way to Super Bowl XXXVIII, but fell to the Patriots 32-29; individually, Smith put up 4 catches for 80 yards and a touchdown in the losing effort. A couple of years later, in 2005, Smith would have the best individual postseason performance of his career with a franchise-record 12 catches for 218 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a Divisional victory over the Chicago Bears, but the Panthers would fall to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.
Playoff Statistics
| Andre Johnson | Player | Steve Smith |
| 4 | Games Played | 11 |
| 25 | Receptions | 59 |
| 358 | Receiving Yards | 1,001 |
| 1 | Receiving Touchdowns | 9 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; as evidenced by their last couple of NFL seasons, neither Johnson nor Smith could escape Father Time. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Andre Johnson | Player | Steve Smith |
| 2003-2010, 2012-2013 | Decade of Dominance | 2003, 2005-2009, 2011-2012, 2014-2015 |
| 147 | Games Played | 145 |
| 894 | Receptions | 781 |
| 12,169 | Receiving Yards | 11,547 |
| 59 | Receiving Touchdowns | 67 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Across their respective decades of dominance, the statistical comparisons are essentially the same – Johnson was better at racking up catches and yardage, but Smith, despite his smaller statue, was more adept at scoring touchdowns.
My Thoughts
Andre Johnson and Steve Smith were about as different as could be as wide receivers – from his high school and college days, Johnson was always destined to be a star in the NFL, whereas the feisty Smith had to fight and claw his way to reaching the top of the football world. Nevertheless, both were highly effective at their craft and put up some amazing seasons, whether it be Johnson’s consecutive 1,500-yard seasons or Smith’s receiving Triple Crown. While Smith certainly had the best individual season (2005), I think Johnson had the better career overall – in any given season, he was much more likely to lead the NFL in receptions or receiving yards (or both), and essentially put up the same numbers as Smith in two fewer seasons. Like Julio Jones currently, perhaps the only blemish on his accomplishments is the relative lack of scoring touchdowns – had he been a double-digit touchdown player, we might very well be comparing Johnson to the likes of Moss, Owens, and Larry Fitzgerald.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Andre Johnson
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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