NFL Wide Receivers
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50 free NFL Wide Receivers trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Wide receivers supply most of the NFL's highlight reels. They are the players who turn a quarterback's hopeful heave into a touchdown, who tiptoe along the sideline with a game on the line, and who celebrate with more imagination than anyone else on the field. This quiz covers the position from its leather-helmet pioneers to the stars of today. You will meet record breakers, Super Bowl heroes, late-round bargains and undrafted long shots, along with famous nicknames, celebrations that drew fines, college pipelines, the rules on what a receiver may wear and the names of the routes they run. It is written for football fans of every level. The opening questions are ones most Sunday viewers can answer, and the later rounds reach back to the early decades of the pro game. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so a wrong guess still leaves you with a story for the next game day.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which 49ers great from tiny Mississippi Valley State retired with the NFL career receiving records?
Jerry Rice
Jerry Rice piled up 1,549 catches and 22,895 receiving yards across 20 NFL seasons. San Francisco took him 16th overall in the 1985 draft.
Q 02Roy Williams nicknamed fellow Lions receiver Calvin Johnson after which Transformers villain?
Megatron
Megatron fit because Johnson's huge hands reminded Williams of the towering Decepticon. In 2012 he set a single-season record with 1,964 receiving yards, then walked away after only nine seasons.
Q 03Which football term took off after Roger Staubach's 1975 playoff throw to Drew Pearson?
Hail Mary
Hail Mary stuck after Staubach, a devout Catholic, said he had closed his eyes and prayed as he let the ball go. Pearson's touchdown catch won the playoff game for Dallas over Minnesota.
Q 04Colts receiver Marvin Harrison set NFL duo records with which quarterback, the top pick of 1998?
Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning and Harrison connected for 953 completions, an NFL record for one quarterback and one wide receiver. In 2002 alone the pair hooked up 143 times.
Q 05Which receiver pulled a Sharpie from his sock to autograph a touchdown ball against Seattle in 2002?
Terrell Owens
Terrell Owens signed the ball and handed it to his financial adviser in the stands. The same adviser also worked for Shawn Springs, the Seattle cornerback he had just beaten for the score.
Q 06Which Giants rookie made a one-handed, three-finger touchdown catch against Dallas in November 2014?
Odell Beckham Jr.
Odell Beckham Jr. hauled the ball in while falling backwards and being fouled by a Dallas cornerback. Within weeks the Pro Football Hall of Fame had put his jersey from that night on display.
Q 07Which receiver caught a record 23 touchdown passes from Tom Brady for the 16-0 Patriots of 2007?
Randy Moss
Randy Moss broke a mark of 22 that had stood since 1987. New England had landed him from Oakland that spring for nothing more than a fourth-round draft pick.
Q 08Which receiver nicknamed Cheetah won Super Bowl LIV with Kansas City before a 2022 trade?
Tyreek Hill
Tyreek Hill earned the Cheetah tag for his speed after his rookie year. His 44-yard catch on third-and-15 sparked the Chiefs' fourth-quarter comeback against San Francisco in that Super Bowl.
Q 09Which Minnesota Vikings receiver from LSU turned the Griddy dance into an NFL touchdown celebration?
Justin Jefferson
Justin Jefferson's Griddy caught on so fast that in April 2021 he became the first NFL player to have his dance added to Fortnite. A Louisiana high schooler, Allen Davis, had created it in 2018.
Q 10Which Bengals receiver legally changed his surname to Ochocinco in 2008 to match his jersey number?
Chad Johnson
Chad Johnson wore 85, and Ochocinco was his loose Spanish for eight five. He played with the new name on his jersey from 2009 to 2011, then went back to Johnson in 2012.
Q 11Which former Pittsburgh star spent all 17 of his NFL seasons as an Arizona Cardinals receiver?
Larry Fitzgerald
Larry Fitzgerald went third overall in 2004 to a coach who already knew him: Dennis Green had met him years earlier as a Minnesota Vikings ball boy. He retired second in career catches and receiving yards.
Q 12Which receiver from FCS school Eastern Washington was named MVP of Super Bowl LVI?
Cooper Kupp
Cooper Kupp ran for a first down on fourth-and-1, then caught the winning touchdown on the final drive against Cincinnati. As a teenager he got his first scholarship offer only after his senior season had ended.
Q 13Which Patriots receiver, a college quarterback at Kent State, was named MVP of Super Bowl LIII?
Q 21Which Dallas Cowboys receiver joined Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith in the trio known as The Triplets?
Michael Irvin
Michael Irvin, nicknamed the Playmaker, won three Super Bowls with them in the 1990s. A spinal injury suffered against Philadelphia in 1999 ended his career.
Q 22Which New York Giants receiver pinned a pass against his helmet late in Super Bowl XLII?
David Tyree
David Tyree had caught just four passes all season and played mostly on special teams. The 32-yard grab set up the score that beat unbeaten New England, and it was the last catch of his NFL career.
Q 23Which Giants receiver accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a New York nightclub in 2008?
Plaxico Burress
Julian Edelman
Julian Edelman caught 10 passes for 141 yards in the 13-3 win over Los Angeles. New England had drafted him in the seventh round in 2009 and remade him as a receiver and punt returner.
Q 14Texas receiver Xavier Worthy ran a record 4.21 seconds in which drill at the 2024 NFL Combine?
40-yard dash
40-yard dash times can make a fast receiver's draft stock, and Worthy's 4.21 beat John Ross's old mark by one hundredth of a second. Kansas City picked him in the first round weeks later.
Q 15In 2005 Steve Smith led the NFL in catches, yards and touchdown catches, a feat known as what?
Triple crown
Triple crown is the label for leading all three receiving categories at once. Smith did it with 103 catches, 1,563 yards and 12 touchdowns on a Carolina team that ranked 28th in pass attempts.
Q 16Which receiver position inside the widest wideout is often credited to Al Davis's 1960s Raiders?
Slot
Slot is the name for the open space inside the outermost receiver. Charlie Joiner of the Air Coryell Chargers became the first man to be his team's top target from that position.
Q 17Julio Jones, Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy were all college receivers at which school?
Alabama
Alabama sent all three to the NFL as first-round draft picks. Cooper and Jeudy each won the Biletnikoff Award there as the best receiver in college football.
Q 18Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt starred at receiver for which team's Greatest Show on Turf offense?
St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams fans saw that offense win Super Bowl XXXIV on a 73-yard touchdown catch by Bruce. Quarterback Kurt Warner threw for a then-record 414 yards in the game.
Q 19Which Vikings receiver scored the Minneapolis Miracle touchdown to beat the Saints as time expired?
Stefon Diggs
Stefon Diggs caught a 27-yard pass, stayed on his feet when a Saints safety missed the tackle, and ran in a 61-yard score. No NFL playoff game had ever ended on a touchdown as time ran out.
Q 20Which 49ers receiver made The Catch, a leaping fingertip grab that beat Dallas in January 1982?
Dwight Clark
Dwight Clark was only the second option on the play, thrown to after Freddie Solomon slipped running his route. The win is remembered as the start of San Francisco's 1980s dynasty.
Plaxico Burress fired the pistol by accident as it slid down his trouser leg. Earlier that year he had caught the touchdown that beat unbeaten New England in Super Bowl XLII.
Q 24Which rookie receiver rejoined his college quarterback Joe Burrow at the Cincinnati Bengals in 2021?
Ja'Marr Chase
Ja'Marr Chase went fifth overall and was named Offensive Rookie of the Year. Along the way he set a rookie record for receiving yards in a single game and reached the Super Bowl.
Q 25Which receiver did the Pittsburgh Steelers draft in the sixth round out of Central Michigan in 2010?
Antonio Brown
Antonio Brown lasted until the 195th pick, yet went on to four straight first-team All-Pro selections. In college he had been an All-American as a punt returner, not as a receiver.
Q 26Which undrafted Texas Tech receiver led the NFL in catches three times as a New England Patriot?
Wes Welker
Wes Welker was cut by San Diego after one game as a rookie, yet retired with 903 catches. He owns a racehorse named Undrafted, which won a top race at Ascot in England in 2015.
Q 27Which Steelers star was the first wide receiver to be named Super Bowl MVP, in Super Bowl X?
Lynn Swann
Lynn Swann caught four passes for 161 yards against Dallas. His passion for ballet later inspired an old basketball teammate to write High School Musical, with Swann a model for Troy Bolton.
Q 28Which Seoul-born receiver was named MVP of Super Bowl XL and later won Dancing with the Stars?
Hines Ward
Hines Ward won the dance contest in 2011 with partner Kym Johnson. His birthplace made him an honorary citizen for his work against discrimination toward mixed-race Koreans.
Q 29Which receiver was Super Bowl XLIII MVP after his touchdown catch with 35 seconds left beat Arizona?
Santonio Holmes
Santonio Holmes caught nine passes for 131 yards, four of them on the final drive. His six-yard grab from Ben Roethlisberger gave Pittsburgh its sixth Super Bowl title.
Q 30Which Cowboys receiver had a leaping catch overturned on replay in a 2015 playoff game at Green Bay?
Dez Bryant
Dez Bryant was first ruled down at the 1-yard line before officials decided he had not completed the catch. In the following years the NFL rewrote its rule on catches made while falling to the ground.