Who led the Jets in drive-extending receptions in 2017?

What is a clutch reception? Ten people could probably offer ten different definitions. I think most people would probably agree that a catch on third or fourth down resulting in a first down would be considered clutch. These aren’t the only critical receptions, but they extend drives on do or die plays.

Who led the Jets in this type of reception in 2017? I ran a search in Pro Football Reference’s Game Play Finder.

What is notable is no Jet ranked in the top 40 in the league. It speaks to the lack of top end receiving talent on the roster last year. If you are looking for an area of improvement for Robby Anderson, this might be it. Anderson went from functional role player in 2016 to quality starter in 2017. If he is going to take the next step and become a legitimate go to guy this year, he will need to produce more on critical downs. At his size, that means honing his route running skills to get reliably open more on short routes on these big plays.

Keenan Allen led the NFL with 31 such catches.