At all of 5′9″, 185 pounds, Wes Welker is far from the prototypical elite NFL wideout. In a league where top level receivers average 6′3, 230 pounds, Welker has overcome his obvious physical deficiencies to become the top target in the NFL. This is not hyperbolic; it’s literal: Welker has 109 receptions through the first fourteen games, sixteen more than second place.

Welker started the year on a rough note. In the opener, he was his usual consistent self, grabbing twelve receptions for 93 yards. In Weeks Two and Three, an he was shelved with injury and forced to watch on the sideline. New England rookie wide receiver Julian Edelman took over in his place and showed mild success in the lineup. He played well enough to possibly even take targets away from Welker, but this was a notion that was soon squashed. In the Week Six contest the Tennessee Titans, Welker caught 10 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns.

Welker set career marks in the Pats’ Week Eleven rematch against the New York Jets. He was targeted seventeen times and nabbed fifteen of them. This mark was at the time the highest single-game total for any player in the NFL in 2009, good for 192 yards. In Week Thirteen versus Miami, Welker had 167 receiving yards to earn his third consecutive 1,000 yard season.

In the Patriots’ Week Fourteen win against the Carolina Panthers, Welker caught ten passes (of a shockingly low ninteen total completions for Brady) for 105 yards. This raised his total to 105 receptions in just eleven games. For going over 100 receptions, Welker joined Jerry Rice, Herman Moore, and Marvin Harrison as the only four receivers in NFL history to catch 100 passes in three consecutive seasons.

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