Albert Wilson gobbled up YAC Sunday like a starving man sitting down to a feast.
The Miami Dolphins receiver took two short passes the distance in Sunday's overtime win over the Chicago Bears. The first was a wide receiver screen that Wilson danced 43-yards to pay dirt. The second was a short dump off the wideout took 75 yards for a score.
In all, Wilson generated 155 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the win. Of those, 136 yards came after the catch. Wilson leads all receivers in total YAC for the season, with 355 yards (Antonio Brown is No. 2 with 249 YAC).
"I'm the best YAC receiver in the league, for sure," Wilson told ESPN's Cameron Wolfe. "Team is looking for me to make those plays. That's what I'm here for."
Wilson certainly has a claim. After finishing second to Detroit Lions wideout Golden Tate in YAC last season, the Dolphins receiver leads the NFL with 14.8 average YAC among wideouts with at least 20 targets, per Next Gen Stats. The next closest receiver is Quincy Enunwa at 9.3.
Wilson owns the top two "Incredible YAC" plays, a Next Gen Stats metric that calculates yards gained above expected YAC on a particular play. The top play was Wilson's 74-yard touchdown in Week 3 that had an expected YAC of five yards but went for 78 YAC. Sunday's 75-yard score had an expected YAC of 1 yard but went for 71 YAC.
"When I'm in the open field, I don't feel like anybody can catch me," Wilson said.
Credit Dolphins coach Adam Gase for utilizing Wilson's ability with the ball in his hands, and giving the speedy receiver multiple chances a game, not just gimmick chances once or twice a tilt.
"Any time we can get him the ball and he has just a little bit of space, that's what is a possibility of happening. It might be 6 yards, but it might be 60," Gase said. "He's a strong runner when he gets the ball in his hands. It's hard for guys to tackle him because he's built like a running back, but he's a wide receiver. He can run all of the routes and do all of those things. He can get into the backfield and run the ball. He's tough, physical. He's fast, I know that."
Regardless of Ryan Tannehill's timetable to return from a shoulder injury, the Dolphins offense will need Wilson to continue to make defenders miss in space for a dink-and-dunk operation to generate explosive scores.
"Definitely the best game of my career. Definitely not going to be the best game of my career," Wilson said. "There's more coming. Just wait on it."
