Wallace's Rookie Season Ranks Among Steelers' Best

For a team that has had three wide receivers earn Super Bowl MVP honors and has placed two wide receivers in the Hall of Fame, the Steelers have had very few receivers put together standout rookie seasons. Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress all went on to have excellent careers, but none of them finished their rookie years with 300 yards receiving.

Rookie Mike Wallace has already topped that, and he's on pace to put together one of the best rookie seasons in Steelers history. His season may not fully eclipse Louis Lipps' excellent 1984 debut and Jimmy Orr's rookie receiving record (way back in 1958) is at the outer edge of what Wallace could do this year, but Wallace is on pace to put finish with 50 catches and 874 yards, which would rank second in both categories among Steelers rookies.

It's also worth remembering that Wallace is doing this all as the Steelers No. 3 receiver. Thanks in part to the Steelers' newfound love of the passing game, Wallace is also on pace for the best season a Steelers No. 3 receiver has ever had (Bobby Shaw had 672 yards as the No. 3 in 2000).

Thanks to Pro Football Reference's excellent Play Index, here's the list of best rookie receiver seasons in Steelers history.

Rk	Player	Year	G	GS	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Y/G
1	Jimmy Orr	1958	12	0	33	910	27.58	7	75.8
2	Louis Lipps	1984	14	8	45	860	19.11	9	61.4
3	Santonio Holmes	2006	16	4	49	824	16.82	2	51.5
4	Troy Edwards	1999	16	6	61	714	11.7	5	44.6
5	Ron Shanklin	1970	14	0	30	691	23.03	4	49.4
6	Charles Johnson	1994	16	9	38	577	15.18	3	36.1
7	Antwaan Randle El	2002	16	0	47	489	10.4	2	30.6
8	Henry Minarik	1951	11	0	35	459	13.11	1	41.7
9	Dave L. Smith	1970	14	0	30	458	15.27	2	32.7
10	Derek Hill	1989	16	8	28	455	16.25	1	28.4
11	Mike Wallace	2009	8	0	25	437	17.48	3	54.6