Between the 1980 and 1989 seasons, Terance Mathis had the most yards on receptions, with 4,254 yards.

most receiving yards by a player in the 1980s

	NAME	REC YDS	GP	REC	AVG	REC YDS/G	REC TD	RUSH YDS	ATT	YPC	RUSH YDS/G	RUSH TD
1	Terance Mathis T. Mathis	4,254	46	263	16.2	92.5	36	329	80	4.1	7.2	0
2	Marc Zeno M. Zeno	3,725	44	236	15.8	84.7	25	17	2	8.5	0.4	0
3	Clarkston Hines C. Hines	3,318	44	189	17.6	75.4	38	-16	4	-4.0	-0.4	0
4	David Williams D. Williams	3,195	33	245	13.0	96.8	22	-5	4	-1.3	-0.2	0
5	Dan Bitson D. Bitson	3,171	32	154	20.6	99.1	28	24	8	3.0	0.8	0
6	Hart Lee Dykes H. Lee Dykes	3,171	40	203	15.6	79.3	29	6	3	2.0	0.2	0
7	Boo Mitchell B. Mitchell	2,964	44	188	15.8	67.4	9	17	5	3.4	0.4	0
8	Ricky Proehl R. Proehl	2,949	44	188	15.7	67.0	25	267	38	7.0	6.1	4
9	Kendal Smith K. Smith	2,943	44	169	17.4	66.9	25	28	6	4.7	0.6	1
10	Charles Lockett C. Lockett	2,902	45	191	15.2	64.5	19	15	2	7.5	0.3	0
11	Walter Murray W. Murray	2,865	45	178	16.1	63.7	20	102	22	4.6	2.3	0
12	Henry Ellard H. Ellard	2,811	33	129	21.8	85.2	22	206	17	12.1	6.2	3
13	Jeff Champine J. Champine	2,811	41	184	15.3	68.6	21
14	Wendell Davis W. Davis	2,708	33	183	14.8	82.1	19
15	Stan Hunter S. Hunter	2,679	44	176	15.2	60.9	21
16	Gerald McNeil G. McNeil	2,651	44	163	16.3	60.3	17	7	4	1.8	0.2	0
17	Andre Rison A. Rison	2,629	44	134	19.6	59.8	17	56	11	5.1	1.3	0
18	Eric Martin E. Martin	2,625	44	152	17.3	59.7	14	357	85	4.2	8.1	2
19	Tim Brown T. Brown	2,493	43	137	18.2	58.0	12	442	98	4.5	10.3	4
20	Ronald Heard R. Heard	2,491	44	139	17.9	56.6	16	35	6	5.8	0.8	0
21	Gordon Hudson G. Hudson	2,484	34	178	14.0	73.1	22	22	2	11.0	0.6	0
22	Aaron Cox A. Cox	2,480	44	126	19.7	56.4	14	-6	1	-6.0	-0.1	0
23	Sterling Sharpe S. Sharpe	2,444	44	163	15.0	55.5	17	207	39	5.3	4.7	5
24	Mark Bellini M. Bellini	2,429	48	146	16.6	50.6	23	-4	2	-2.0	-0.1	0
25	Michael Irvin M. Irvin	2,423	33	143	16.9	73.4	26	4	2	2.0	0.1	0