There was that one guy, Michael Irvin, who was the chosen king of toughness, swagger, and big-play pizzazz in Dallas. A three-time Super Bowl champ and Hall of Famer, Irvin was labeled “The Playmaker” for showing up to the biggest games with fire in his belly and glue on his fingers. He wasn’t merely catching touchdowns; he was drawing defenders, trash-talking them, and building the ’90s Cowboys dynasty on an emotional level. One of his records still stands strong today when he caught 111 passes for 1,603 yards. Call his name in Dallas today, and there’s awe. However, there is a member of the same franchise who still believes Irvin isn’t on top.
During a recent FS1 segment shared on Instagram, retired Dallas Cowboys player and former NFL wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson came up to drop a strong verdict. When he engaged in an altercation over his own receiver lineage, Johnson found himself sandwiched between Larry Fitzgerald and Chris Carter, two of the all-time greatest wide receivers to ever take the field.
It all started when Johnson was asked to pick one player with the best hands in the game. Big names like Michael Irvin, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Chad Johnson, and A.J. Brown were thrown around. But the former Cowboys star brushed them all off, confidently saying he had the best hands in NFL history. That is, until the host mentioned Larry Fitzgerald and Cris Carter. That’s when Johnson softened a bit, finally giving props where they were due. As for Irvin? When the host asked him to weigh in on other so-called “body snatchers,” Johnson couldn’t help but laugh mid-smile. “Mike Irvin, body snatcher,” he laughed halfway through his smile.
“Why make a body snatcher? He gonna hold it like that. Mike, you….” before catching himself and getting back where he’d begun, “But it don’t matter how you catch it but hands is something different.” The problem was: Keyshawn wasn’t placing Michael Irvin in the same ‘hands‘ category as two receivers who had caught the ball, certainly, but made it look so easy. And that, to many people’s way of thinking, had been a step backward.
Michael Irvin was met with stop-traffic clutch grabs, sideline drama, and dirty grabs. But Johnson had to report physical possession of stiff fingers. Undenied to Irvin, who built a Hall of Fame career on lower point totals and postseason victories, it was a kind of slapping him in the face. Carter, naturally, was a technician whose sideline footwork is the best in league history. But Fitzgerald is the one who most fuels the debate, and he’s one of the half-dozen WRs all time with Jerry Rice’s receptor and yardage stat lines.
And by not counting Cowboys receivers among that equation, both past and present, it feels like Keyshawn playfully took a jab at his own team and the player most emblematic of them. Statistically speaking, black and white ain’t arguable. Michael Irvin totaled 11,904 receiving yards, 65 touchdowns, and five Pro Bowls, and a playoff résumé in the MVP range that he built. He was Aikman’s go-to receiver and periodic emotional fulcrum of a deep base of receivers.
On the other hand, Keyshawn Johnson built a good, if less dynamic career: 10,571 receiving yards, 64 touchdowns, and only four 1,000-yard+ seasons in 11 years. They physically buckled as well, and they did not want to continue digging out those deep throws any longer, but Irvin toughed it out in crunch time, perhaps to make the difference.
Not Michael Irvin, just from Dallas loyalty to Vikings royalty!
This is not so much Michael Irvin vs. Johnson as it is a legacy-line case, and the attitude in which players from one era look at all-time players from another. Among Fitzgerald, Cris Carter, and himself, Keyshawn placed himself among the league of a very particular kind of receiver. The clean-catch, technically sound ones, Minnesota purple nightmares are made of. The snub is not exclusively Irvin’s; it’s denied all unobtrusively to all Cowboys receivers.
There’s some throwback WR bad blood brewing here between Dallas and Minnesota, two teams that always had an abundance of wide receiver history. The Vikings bring a bit of depth to the league with Randy Moss, Carter, Fitzgerald, and now Justin Jefferson. The Cowboys respond with Irvin, Drew Pearson, Dez Bryant, and currently CeeDee Lamb. However, Johnson’s statement justly ignites this debate: Who actually are the more “complete” wide receivers?
For Carter and Fitzgerald, Johnson said: “They got about equal, basically. All three of us got pretty much about the same amount….same hands.” All of the other dude? “Body-snatchers.” Ouch, that hit hard! Johnson sustained a consistent trend that Dallas receivers are no longer continuing to catch up with Vikings legends. Now, despite Keyshawn showing his love for Carter, the Vikes star once roasted Johnson on social media. At that time, the 52YO snubbed Jefferson’s name on the top 5 receiver list, while that time adding Brown, Chase to the list. This provoked Carter to speak up, saying that it’s “time to turn the channel.” Hilarious!
Never mind, Johnson is enjoying while playing a long game, not on routes and catches, but on comments, comparisons, and sub rosa shots in his retirement days!
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