Tom Fears is a Hall of Fame receiver whose career earned a strong career value score of 75 in the Knox value model. Fears's enshrinement reflects a career that consistently placed him among the elite of his generation.

WRLARhistorical

Tom Fears

★ HALL OF FAMETop 5% all-time WRsAll-Time Great💭 What If? · 2+ seasons left

BornDec 3, 1922

Age103

CollegeSanta Clara UCLA See College Stats

Rookie yr1948

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 25% of the all-time Receptions leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

25% of the all-time Receptions leader25

1 category ≥25% of the all-time leader33

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 98%.

Encyclopedia Coverage

Career Value · VORP

125 career value over replacement — #812 all-time of 4,649. 25/season above a replacement-level WR.

Fan Rating

Rate Tom Fears — All-Time

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Compare Tom Fears vs Player Report data error

StatVault aggregates multiple open-licensed and proprietary sources into a single profile. The depth indicator above shows which layers are available for this player.

Bio & DraftBirth date, height/weight, draft round/pick, college — sourced from nflverse players.csv (CC-BY 4.0). Covers all NFL eras.

Season Stats (1999–present)Week-by-week box scores aggregated to season totals: passing, rushing, receiving, defense. Source: nflverse player_stats. Counting stats are exact; rates are derived.

Advanced (EPA, 1999–present)Not available for this player

Snap Counts (2012–present)Not available for this player

Defensive StatsNot available for this player

College StatsCollege attribution is present, but this profile artifact does not yet carry a parsed college stat table.

NFL Combine / Pro DayNot available for this player

Proprietary LayersKV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — era-normalized career rating 0–100 calibrated within position group (1999+ coverage). SIS (Snap Impact Score, 2012+) — per-snap production z-scored within position. VORP — value over replacement player. Durability IQ — games-played percentile adjusted for era.

Pre-1999 players have bio + draft data but counting stats are not available from any freely-licensed source. Players with ★ Career Only see verified career aggregates from nflverse draft_picks.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average wide receivers aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Career Milestones6

Major career thresholds crossed, derived from regular-season totals (1999+).

19491K career receiving yards
1949100 career receptions
19513K career receiving yards
1952250 career receptions
195225 career receiving TDs
19555K career receiving yards

Understanding These Stats

Receiving

Tgt — Targets — how many times the receiver was thrown to, regardless of completion.

Rec — Receptions — catches made.

Yds — Receiving yards.

TD — Receiving touchdowns.

Ctch% — Catch rate — receptions ÷ targets × 100. Measures how reliably a receiver turns opportunities into gains. 70%+ is elite.

Y/R — Yards per reception — receiving yards ÷ receptions. Measures big-play ability; 15+ is elite for WRs.

Y/Tgt — Yards per target — receiving yards ÷ targets. The single most complete receiving efficiency metric: accounts for both drops and incomplete targets. Elite receivers post 8+ yards per target.

AirYd/T — Air yards per target — average depth of route at time of target. High values indicate a deep threat role; low values indicate a slot/check-down role.

1D — First downs gained on receiving plays.

Proprietary StatVault Metrics

KV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — Era-normalized career rating 0–100 within position group, calibrated so a 50 = average starter and 90+ = all-time great. Covers 1999–present. Built on a 5-year IQR/robust-std era window.

SIS (Snap Impact Score) — Per-snap production z-scored within position group and era (2012+). Measures how much a player produced per opportunity, not raw volume.

VORP (Value Over Replacement) — Sum of max(0, season KV-H − positional replacement level) across a career. Measures career value above the minimum-roster baseline at each position.

Durability IQ — 0–100 score reflecting how many games a player played relative to peers at the same position in the same era. Adjusts for injury-shortened seasons.

College Stats

Santa Clara UCLACollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Santa Clara UCLA), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

Top Teammates

Elroy (Crazylegs) HirschRB8y Norm Van BrocklinQB1y

Movementderived from season history

1956final season
Last recorded season with LAR
1948signing
Entered the NFL with LAR

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 5-season peers. See all →

peak 78

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

A1949

A1950

B1952

B1954

B1955

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 9 seasons.

71%

19481956

1948 · backup · 1/12 G

1951 · cause not documented · 58%1953 · cause not documented · 42%1954 · cause not documented · 67%1956 · cause not documented · 17%

Durability IQ

Composite score across availability, IR frequency, and injury severity. See all →

Typical

Canton Monitor · HOF

Enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. See all →

✓

Enshrined

What carries the case

League Leads 54.5%Era Quality (KV-H) 45.5%

Monitor score 51.4 · components sum to the score (All-Pro ×12 · Pro Bowl ×3 · League Lead ×4 · ranks/era/longevity weighted).

Career Fingerprint

Statistical profile across 5 dimensions

Overall

Longevity70

Peak78

Accolades23

Consistency50

Per-Snap50

Era Translator

Rec Yds translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Rec Yds	Rec Yds/G	→ 2025 Rec Yds	→ 2025 /G
1949	1,013	92.1	1,438+425	84.6
1950	1,116	93	1,453+337	85.5
1952	600	54.5	816+216	48
1954	546	68.3	1,043+497	61.4
1955	569	47.4	698+129	41.1

Data: wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), wikipedia:pfhof-inductee-list · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 7/10/2026

Career Geography

One-Club ManLeague board →

Gave the Los Angeles Rams an entire corpus-attributed career — 9 seasons (1948–1956), one crest. The rarest loyalty in the sport.