Rookie Stock Report: Marquise Brown and Terry McLaurin on Pace for Historic Seasons

There were only two wide receivers, Marquise Brown and N'Keal Harry, selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and both were dealing with some injury concerns heading into the season. There was plenty of reason to doubt that this would be a big year for rookie receiver production.
We're only two weeks into the 2019 season though, and already those doubts have been squashed, thanks to Hollywood Brown and Washington Redskins third-round pick Terry McLaurin. Both WRs are on pace to be among the most productive rookie wideouts in recent history.
Most Receiving Yards Through A Receiver's First Two Career Games (Since 1996)
— Scott Barrett (@ScottBarrettDFB) September 16, 2019
1. Anquan Boldin - 279
2. Marquise Brown - 233
3. Stefon Diggs - 216
4. Will Fuller - 211
5. Terry McLaurin - 187
6. Randy Moss - 184
7. DeAndre Hopkins - 183
Two games is obviously a small sample size, but that's quite the list of names. Randy Moss and Anquon Boldin were two fo the game's best wide receivers during their respective careers and DeAndre Hopkins is arguably the top WR in the game right now.
Will Fuller and Stefon Diggs had their rookie seasons cut shorten by injury, but all of the others topped 800 receiving yards, with two even reaching 1,300 yards. Nobody in the group averaged less than 45 receiving yards per game during their rookie season, and Fuller is the only player on this list that hasn't recorded at least one 1,000-yard season in the pros.
Brown and McLaurin's production doesn't seem to be especially fluky either. They rank 17th (Brown) and 21st (McLaurin) in targets among wideouts heading into Week 3, and both have served as their team's No. 1 wide receiver so far this season.
Terry McLaurin became the first rookie since Calvin Johnson in 2007 with 60+ yards and a TD in each of his first two NFL games. pic.twitter.com/E5nPHoSdiX
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 17, 2019
With the NFL's continued shift toward being a more pass-heavy league, it's no surprise to see historic receiving numbers popping up early in the 2019 season.
That doesn't detract from the incredible starts to the year that McLaurin and Brown have had, though, because their numbers also hold up among the best in the NFL this season. Brown's 233 receiving yards rank third in the NFL while McLaurin's 187 ranks 11th, and thanks to their heavy volume, both look to be in good situations to continue racking up big numbers moving forward.
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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.