Michael Irvin is a Hall of Fame receiver whose career earned a historically elite career value score of 86 in the Knox value model. Irvin's enshrinement reflects a career that consistently placed him among the elite of his generation.

WRDAL#88RES

Michael Irvin

★ HALL OF FAME5× Pro Bowl1× All-Pro👑 Dynasty DNA · 6 seasons · 3 titles Top 1% all-time WRsIron Legend

Height6'2"

Weight207 lb

BornMar 5, 1966

Age60

CollegeMiami See College Stats

Rookie yr1988

Draft1988 · Rd 1, Pick 11 · DAL

All-Time Rank & Honors

career ranks, postseason ranks, awards, title context

Regular-season all-time ranks

36thReceiving Yards·11,904 yds 53rdReceptions·750 64thReceiving Touchdowns·65

Pro Bowls

All-Pro

Title Seasons

Dynasty Seasons

Yes

Hall of Fame

Season honors and record seasons

Led NFL1991·Rec Yds1,523 yds

Archetype Intelligence

Iron LegendExplore archetypes →

An all-time caliber wide receiver (top 1% all-time) who combined elite production with reliable availability. Iron Legends define eras — they show up, every game, for years on end.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 269 · #185 · Elite

Worth 269 points of value above a freely-available replacement receiver — top 5% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 10 of 12 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +26.9 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

10 cleared

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+26.9

Avg surplus

peak +39

10 seasons × ~26.9 surplus ≈ VORP 269

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

3 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Receiving									Rushing								Advanced (EPA)
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	Att	Yds	TD	Y/A	TD%	1D	1D%	Fmb	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA	Pass AirYd	Rec AirYd
1988	—	DAL	14	—	—	32	654	5	—	20.4	—	—	—	1	2	0	2.0	0.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1989	—	DAL	6	—	—	26	378	2	—	14.5	—	—	—	1	6	0	6.0	0.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1990	—	DAL	12	—	—	20	413	5	—	20.6	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1991	—	DAL	16	—	—	93	1,523	8	—	16.4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1992	—	DAL	16	—	—	78	1,396	7	—	17.9	—	—	—	1	-9	0	-9.0	0.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1993	—	DAL	16	—	—	88	1,330	7	—	15.1	—	—	—	2	6	0	3.0	0.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1994	—	DAL	16	—	—	79	1,241	6	—	15.7	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1995	—	DAL	16	—	—	111	1,603	10	—	14.4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1996	—	DAL	11	—	—	64	962	2	—	15.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1997	—	DAL	16	—	—	75	1,180	9	—	15.7	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1998	—	DAL	16	—	—	74	1,057	1	—	14.3	—	—	—	1	1	0	1.0	0.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	DAL	4	—	19	10	167	3	52.6%	16.7	8.8	—	8	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	12.9	0	0
Career		—	159	—	19	750	11,904	65	3947.4%	15.9	626.5	—	8	6	6	0	1.0	0.0	0	0.0	0	—	—	12.9	0	0

Career EPA12.9·13 receiving·12.9/season

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	VAL
1988	22	DAL	14	—	—	32	654	5	—	20.4	—	—	—	11.3
1989	23	DAL	6	—	—	26	378	2	—	14.5	—	—	—	5.7
1990	24	DAL	12	—	—	20	413	5	—	20.6	—	—	—	9.4
1991	25	DAL	16	—	—	93	1,523	8	—	16.4	—	—	—	25.2
1992	26	DAL	16	—	—	78	1,396	7	—	17.9	—	—	—	17.3
1993	27	DAL	16	—	—	88	1,330	7	—	15.1	—	—	—	17.1
1994	28	DAL	16	—	—	79	1,241	6	—	15.7	—	—	—	14.8
1995	29	DAL	16	—	—	111	1,603	10	—	14.4	—	—	—	20.1
1996	30	DAL	11	—	—	64	962	2	—	15.0	—	—	—	8.7
1997	31	DAL	16	—	—	75	1,180	9	—	15.7	—	—	—	15.5
1998	32	DAL	16	—	—	74	1,057	1	—	14.3	—	—	—	10.7
1999	33	DAL	4	—	19	10	167	3	52.6%	16.7	8.8	—	8	3.6
Career			159		19	750	11,904	65	3947.4%	15.9	626.5	—	8	159.4

Advanced (EPA)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA	Pass AirYd	Rec AirYd
1999	33	—	—	—	—	—	12.9	0	0
Career					—	—	—	0	0

Rushing

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Att	Yds	Y/A	TD%	1D	1D%	Fmb
1988	22	DAL	14	—	1	2	2.0	0.0	—	—	—
1989	23	DAL	6	—	1	6	6.0	0.0	—	—	—
1992	26	DAL	16	—	1	-9	-9.0	0.0	—	—	—
1993	27	DAL	16	—	2	6	3.0	0.0	—	—	—
1998	32	DAL	16	—	1	1	1.0	0.0	—	—	—
Career			68		6	6	1.0	—	0	—	0

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 86 · All-Time Great

A all-time great career by KV-H: a peak-driven profile that scores 86 of 100, era-normalized against rec yds/g peers across 12 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 78.6 × longevity 1 = KV-H 86· confidence 94%

What builds the career mark of 73

On-field 55

Availability 18

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative rec yds/g)

1988bestavg 68elite 701999

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Solid

of 100

Reached 52% of the all-time Receiving Yards leader — a solid all-time profile at the position.

52% of the all-time Receiving Yards leader52

3 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader100

12.87 EPA/season over 1 season54

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 94%.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average wide receivers aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

College Stats

MiamiCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Miami), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

1988 Draft Class· this player went #11

#1Aundray BruceDE #2Neil SmithDE #4Paul GruberOT #6Tim BrownWR #7Sterling SharpeWR #13Keith JacksonTE #14Gaston GreenRB #17John StephensRB #19Randall McDanielG #20Aaron CoxWR #22Lorenzo WhiteRB #23Brad MusterFB #24Craig HeywardRB #27Wendell DavisWR #30Eric AllenCB #31Ickey WoodsRB

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Michael inherited the Dallas Cowboys WR room from Kelvin Martin (1987–1996), and handed it to Alvin Harper (1991–1999).

Doug Donley 1981–1984Kelvin Martin 1987–1996Michael Irvin 1988–1999Alvin Harper 1991–1999Kevin R. Williams 1993–1996Raghib Ismail

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

1999final season
Last recorded season with DAL
1988draft
Drafted by DAL — Round 1, Pick 11

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'2" / 207 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 12-season peers. See all →

peak 87

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

B1988

C1989

C+1990

A1991

A1992

A1993

B+1994

A1995

B+1996

B+1997

B+1998

F1999

Availability

Era Translator

Rec Yds translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Rec Yds	Rec Yds/G	→ 2025 Rec Yds	→ 2025 /G
1988	654	46.7	769+115	45.2
1989	378	63	1,024+646	60.2
1990	413	34.4	579+166	34.1
1991	1,523	95.2	1,505-18	88.5
1992	1,396	87.3	1,368-28	80.5
1993	1,330	83.1	1,289-41	75.8
1994	1,241	77.6	1,150-91	67.7
1995	1,603	100.2	1,397-206	82.2
1996	962	87.5	1,189+227	69.9
1997	1,180	73.8	1,035-145	60.9
1998	1,057	66.1	944-113	55.5
1999	167	41.8	614+447	36.1

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:advanced-epa (CC-BY 4.0), wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (facts-only reference), espn.com:stats-api (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

269 career value over replacement — #185 all-time of 4,642. 22.4/season above a replacement-level WR.

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #11 (Rd 1) · DAL · 1988 · +25.6 vs expected KV-H

86actual

60.4 expected · Δ+25.6

💔+45.7 stolen VORP·2.04 szns lost

Fan Rating

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Compare Michael Irvin vs Player Report data error

Michael Irvin

All-Time Rank & Honors

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Receiving

Advanced (EPA)

Rushing

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1988 Draft Class· this player went #11

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography