We bet you didn’t see this NFL content coming, but there isn’t much going on football-wise, so let’s have some fun.
Football won’t return until training camps kick off in the summer and until then the majority of the news will revolve around trade buzz, free agency and the NFL draft. So let’s take a step away from that and chat about something completely different.
Like would Tom Holland’s Spider-Man break the NFL’s single-season receiving record as a rookie?
A truly goofy question, but one that must be answered. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” constantly has been in the news since its release right before Christmas and has earned just under $2 billion at the box office. The NFL has garnered chatter itself after what was a successful season culminating in a Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl win. These two topics both have been huge, why not combine them into a fun argument?
Plus, Holland’s character did say in “Captain America: Civil War” he’d love to play football, so there at least is a precedent.
Again, this is a ridiculous topic, but we’re here so let’s dive in.
Tom Holland Info
Position: Wide receiver
Age: 25 – but character is 17/18 years old
Height: 5’7
Weight: Unknown
NFL Comparisons: Cooper Kupp, Tyreek Hill
In this discussion, Holland’s Spider-Man is not allowed to use webs in any situation and still would try to conceal his identity, so he wouldn’t use his full speed or strength.
Even with that being the case, he immediately would be the fastest player in the league, have highest vertical leap and have the best hands in the league right when he steps on the field. After never playing before there certainly would be some sort of learning curve, but that shouldn’t last long.
The NFL single-season receiving record is held by Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson with 1,964. With 17 games in a season now, a receiver would need to average at least 115.53 yards per game to break the record. A player would need 122.76 yards per game to do it in 16 games.
If Spider-Man was able to use his full powers, this isn’t a discussion because obviously he would break the record. But, in this situation he has to nerf his powers down to the point where he still is faster than a player like Kansas City Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill, but not by a huge margin. The NFL record for the highest vertical leap is 46.5 inches set by former Jacksonville Jaguars safety Gerald Sensabaugh and Holland would be able to break this, but only by a few inches.
Hill arguably is the fastest player in the league and his highest single-season receiving output was 1,479 in 2018. Kupp’s best season came in 2021 when he almost broke the record, but came up just short at 1,947 for the Rams. But he didn’t put up numbers anywhere this level until Matthew Stafford came over to the team. Holland is closer in size to Hill, but likely would play the position more similar to Kupp. He’d be the perfect blend of both, but Hill and Kupp both have All-Pro-level quarterbacks on their teams, while Holland may not.
All in all, it certainly would be close. On the surface it seems like a slam-dunk yes, but when you take into account that Holland would have to tone it down a little, it makes the answer a little murkier. He’s still a superhero, but on the football field he would be more human so he could keep his night job and no one would be able to find and harm his loved ones.
There’s no doubt that he would step in and grow into the best receiver in the league. But after never playing before, nerfing his physical traits and the undeniable double or triple-teams and zone defenses he would face, he may not break the record in his first year. The second year? No doubt.
Verdict: Not in his first year, but eventually. He likely would come close in the 1,800 to 1,900 range for yardage, but fall just shy. Also, we’ve got to take into account that his superhero-ing comes first so there’s a realistic chance he has to miss some time for an undisclosed reason.
This just is a fun, ridiculous conversation, nothing more. But there’s sure to be plenty of debate.
