Cincinnati Bengals: 15 greatest wide receivers of all-time

• Pro Bowl (2007)
• 2007 NFL receptions leader (112)
• 507 career receptions w/Bengals
• 5,782 career receiving yards w/Bengals
• 37 career touchdown reception w/Bengals

T.J. Houshmandzadeh has begun a second career as a football analyst on FS1, and a promising one at that. However, none of that would have been possible if he wasn’t a great wide receiver playing for the Bengals in the 2000s.

Drafted in the seventh round after just one year with Oregon State in the 2001 NFL Draft, Houshmandzadeh would emerge as one of the best No. 2 receivers in the football for much of the decade.

While he perfectly complemented his college teammate Chad Johnson in Cincinnati for years, Houshmandzadeh was able to carve out a great career in his own right, briefly as the focal point of the Cincinnati passing game.

Beginning in 2004, coinciding with Carson Palmer’s first year under center in Cincinnati, Houshmandzadeh rattled off six straight seasons of over 900 yards receiving. Twice he went over 1,000 yards receiving in Bengals uniform, those years coming in 2006 and 2007. In 2007, Houshmandzadeh had his best season of his 11-year NFL career with four different teams.

Houshmandzadeh led the NFL in receptions with 112 for 1,143 receiving yards and 12 touchdown receptions, all of which were career bests. He made his lone trip to the Pro Bowl that year, as it was a well-deserved honor for a guy who had put in the work in Cincinnati for nearly all the decade.

Houshmandzadeh would leave the Bengals and play a season with the Seattle Seahawks, the Baltimore Ravens and the Oakland Raiders before retiring after the 2011 NFL season at age 34. In his eight years with the Bengals, Houshmandzadeh had 507 receptions for 5,782 yards and 37 touchdowns. Though not a hall of fame player, he is one of the best playmakers to ever star in Cincinnati.