Auburn's top 10 NFL receivers

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Auburn's top 10 NFL receivers: Darius Slayton moving up

Updated: Feb. 20, 2024, 8:11 a.m.|Published: Feb. 20, 2024, 8:00 a.m.

6–7 minutes

The New York Giants’ Darius Slayton continued to carry the banner for Auburn receivers in the NFL in 2023.

Slayton had 50 receptions for 770 yards and four touchdowns this season as he led the Giants in receiving yards for the fourth time in his five NFL campaigns.

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Last year, Slayton moved to seventh among former Auburn players for career NFL receiving yards – the first new name in the Tigers’ top 10 in a decade.

This season’s total allowed Slayton to rise to fourth on Auburn’s NFL rankings for career receiving yards.

Only two other former Auburn players caught passes during the 2023 season. New York Jets tight end C.J. Uzomah had eight receptions for 58 yards and one touchdown in 12 games, and Jacksonville Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby had one reception for 6 yards in 17 games.

RELATED: AUBURN’S TOP 10 NFL RUSHERS

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The top 10 NFL receivers who played at Auburn (as ranked by career receiving yards):

1. Frank Sanders: 6,749 receiving yards

Arizona Cardinals 1995-2002, Baltimore Ravens 2003: Sanders caught 507 passes, averaged 13.3 yards per reception and scored 24 receiving touchdowns during his career. Sanders had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 1997 and 1998. The only other 1,000-yard receiving seasons produced in the NFL by Auburn alumni belong to Red Phillips in 1961 and Lionel James in 1985.

2. Red Phillips: 6,044 receiving yards

Los Angeles Rams 1958-64, Minnesota Vikings 1965-67: The former Benjamin Russell High School standout caught 401 passes, averaged 15.1 yards per reception and scored 34 receiving touchdowns during his career. Phillips has the most career TD receptions among former Auburn players, a position he’s held since his All-Pro season in 1961, when he led the NFL with 78 receptions.

3. James Brooks: 3,621 receiving yards

San Diego Chargers 1981-83, Cincinnati Bengals 1984-91, Cleveland Browns 1992, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1992: Brooks caught 383 passes, averaged 9.5 yards per reception and scored 30 receiving touchdowns during his career. Brooks, William Andrews and Joe Cribbs rank in the top 10 NFL rushers as well as receivers from Auburn. At second in rushing yards and third in receiving yards, Brooks produced the most NFL yards from scrimmage among ex-Auburn players with 11,583 – 2,037 more than any other former Tiger.

4. Darius Slayton: 3,324 receiving yards

New York Giants 2019-23: Slayton has caught 220 passes, averaged 15.1 yards per reception and scored 19 receiving touchdowns during his career.

5. Dave Middleton: 2,966 receiving yards

Detroit Lions 1955-60, Minnesota Vikings 1961: The former Ensley High School standout caught 183 passes, averaged 16.2 yards per reception and scored 17 receiving touchdowns during his career. The 12th player picked in the 1955 NFL Draft, Middleton started his pro career as a halfback and played on the most recent Detroit team to win the NFL championship in 1957.

6. Ed West: 2,665 receiving yards

Green Bay Packers 1984-94, Philadelphia Eagles 1995-96, Atlanta Falcons 1997: The former Colbert County High School standout caught 237 passes, averaged 11.2 yards per reception and scored 27 receiving touchdowns during his career. West is the only tight end in Auburn’s top 10. Frank Sanders, Red Phillips, Dave Middleton, Darius Slayton and Byron Franklin are wide receivers, and James Brooks, William Andrews, Lionel James and Joe Cribbs are running backs.

7. William Andrews: 2,647 receiving yards

Atlanta Falcons 1979-83, 1986: Andrews caught 277 passes, averaged 9.6 yards per reception and scored 11 receiving touchdowns during his career. Andrews packed most of his production into five seasons that included 5,772 rushing yards. In 1981, he finished fourth in the NFL with 81 receptions. A knee injury wrecked his career, although he tried a comeback that included playing tight end.

8. Lionel James: 2,278 receiving yards

San Diego Chargers 1984-88: James caught 209 passes, averaged 10.9 yards per reception and scored 10 receiving touchdowns during his career. “Little Train” basically took over the role vacated when the San Diego Chargers traded James Brooks to the Cincinnati Bengals. James led the NFL in kickoff-return yards in 1984 and was a 1,000-yard receiver in 1985, when he led the NFL in all-purpose yards. Brooks had led the NFL in kickoff-return yards in 1982 and all-purpose yards in 1981 and 1982.

9. Joe Cribbs: 2,199 receiving yards

Buffalo Bills 1980-83, 1985, San Francisco 49ers 1986-87, Miami Dolphins 1988, Indianapolis Colts 1988: The former Sulligent High School standout caught 224 passes, averaged 9.8 yards per reception and scored 15 receiving touchdowns during his career. Cribbs caught seven TD passes out of the backfield in the 1981 and 1983 seasons.

10. Byron Franklin: 2,016 receiving yards

Buffalo Bills 1981, 1983-84, Seattle Seahawks 1985-1987: The former Sheffield High School standout caught 145 passes, averaged 13.9 yards per reception and scored 10 receiving touchdowns during his career. In Franklin’s biggest season, he caught 69 passes for 862 yards and four touchdowns in 1984. During the preseason the next year, the Bills traded Franklin to the Seahawks, and he caught only 44 passes in his three seasons with Seattle.

If the top 10 were based on receptions instead of receiving yards, one through 10 would be Sanders, Phillips, Brooks, Andrews, Ronnie Brown, West, Cribbs, Slayton, Tony Richardson and James.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.