Wes Welker is one of the receivers currently playing in the NFL. He currently is tied for the NCAA record for career Punt returns for touchdowns. He was nick named "The Natural" for his amazing talent at any position. His last two years at Texas Tech he never called for a fair catch. Welker was the second player in NFL history to return a kickoff, return a punt, kick an extra point and a field goal, and make a tackle in the same game.
Sent in by Justin which far exceeds my Welker Summary (some may be the same.) Thank you for the help:
Wesley Carter Welker is a professional athlete who plays the slot receiver position for the New England Patriots, a National Football League franchise. Though he is only 69 inches tall and 185 pounds, he is thought of as being one of premier offensive players currently playing on the gridiron. He began his journey in Heritage Hall School in Oklahoma. In high school, he earned a state championship ring, scored 83 touchdowns, and kicked a 57 yard field goal.
After graduating in 1999, he received a scholarship to Texas Tech after another prospect decided not to attend the college. He quickly became known as “The Natural”, for his success on the field. Welker scored 23 touchdowns offensively, and no person can say that they returned more punts for touchdowns than Welker in the NCAA. After his senior season at Texas Tech, Wes went undrafted in 2004 before landing a role on the San Diego Chargers.
Welker’s time in San Diego was short-lived, for after the very first game of the season, he was cut from the team. Days later, Coach Dave Wannstedt asked Welker to be the punt and kick returner for the winless Miami Dolphins. Though he never made a reception, Welker did score a touchdown in the last game of the season vs. the Baltimore Ravens off a kickoff return. Also, playing against the Patriots on October 10, 2004, Welker became the second player in NFL history to return a kickoff and a punt, kick an extra point and a field goal, and make a tackle in a single game.
During training camp at the beginning of the 2005 season, Welker was promoted to the third wide receiver spot after former Pro Bowlers Chris Chambers and Marty Booker. He finished the season with 29 receptions for 434 yards and no touchdowns. He also had 43 punt returns for 390 yards, a 9.1 average, and 61 kickoff returns for 1379 yards, a 22.6 average. His team went 9-7 under Nick Saban.
After rumors that he would be cut during the preseason, Welker started off being the lone bright-spot of the struggling Miami Dolphins offense. On the season, Welker had a team-best 67 receptions for 687 yards and one touchdown. He returned 48 kickoffs for 1,048 yards (22.2 average) and 41 punts for 378 yards (9.2 average). So in total, Welker scored twice for the Dolphins in three years. He also had 96 receptions over that time.
On March 1, 2007, the Dolphins offered Welker, a restricted free agent, a second-round tender (the second-lowest tender) of $1.35 million for a one-year contract. The Patriots, who were interested in Welker, had originally considered signing Welker, a restricted free agent, to an offer sheet which Miami would have had seven days to match; according to The Boston Globe, that sheet would have contained a poison pill provision which would have made the offer difficult for the Dolphins to match. Ultimately, however, the Patriots decided not to use such an offer, and traded the Dolphins their 2007 second- and seventh-round draft picks for Welker.
Welker's first season as a Patriot eclipsed his best season as a Dolphin (2006); he bettered his totals for receptions, touchdowns, and yardage in his first ten games. In Week 1, he caught the first touchdown of the Patriots' season, equaling the one receiving touchdown he had scored in his three seasons with the Dolphins. He set career bests for yardage three times: in the Patriots' Week 6 win against the Dallas Cowboys, Welker had eleven catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns (all career bests); the next week, against the Dolphins, he had nine catches for 138 yards and two more touchdowns (the most receiving yards of any NFL player that week); and in Week 12, against the Eagles, he had 13 receptions for 149 yards. In Week 15, against the Jets, Welker reached 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his career; in Week 16, against the Dolphins, he recorded his 101st reception of the season, tying the Patriots franchise record set by Troy Brown in 2001. In Week 17, against the Giants, he caught eleven more passes, setting the Patriots franchise record for catches with 112, tying Bengals receiver T. J. Houshmandzadeh for most receptions in the 2007 NFL season, and setting an NFL record for most catches in a first season with a new team. He finished the season with 1,175 yards and eight touchdowns. He also received one vote for NFL Offensive Player of the Year, an award won by his quarterback, Tom Brady. Wes Welker was voted to his first AP All-Pro Team (second team).
In two postseason games, Welker had 16 receptions for 110 yards and two touchdowns. He tied the Super Bowl record of 11 receptions in a single game in the Patriots' 17-14 loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII.
(if any fans have any more impressive stats please tell me and I’ll add it.)
