_(cropped).jpg) Lofton in 2025 | |||||||||
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| Position | Wide receiver | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1956-07-05)July 5, 1956 (age 69) Fort Ord,California, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 187 lb (85 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Washington (Los Angeles, California) | ||||||||
| College | Stanford | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1978: 1st round, 6th overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
Playing | |||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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James David Lofton (born July 5, 1956)[1] is an American former professionalfootball player and coach. He played in theNational Football League (NFL) as awide receiver for theGreen Bay Packers (1978–1986),Los Angeles Raiders (1987–1988), theBuffalo Bills (1989–1992),Los Angeles Rams (1993) andPhiladelphia Eagles (1993). He was also theNCAA champion in thelong jump in 1978 while attendingStanford University.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time,[2][3][4] Lofton retired with the most receiving yards in NFL history and was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 2003.[5][6][1] After his playing career ended, he became a wide receivers coach for the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders.
Lofton prepped atGeorge Washington High School inLos Angeles, California, where he played quarterback and safety.[7]
Lofton played college football atStanford University. As a senior in1977, he received 57 passes for 1,010 yards (17.72 yards per reception average) with 14 touchdowns, and was anAP & NEA second-teamAll-American selection. Lofton was a member ofTheta Delta Chi fraternity, and earned a bachelor's degree inindustrial engineering in 1978.[8]
Lofton won the long jump at the 1978NCAA Track and Field Championships with a wind-aided jump of 26 feet 11¾ inches. He won the long jump at the 1974CIF California State Meet with a jump of 24 feet 3½ inches after placing sixth in this meet the year before.[9] He was also a sprinter of note, with a best of 20.5 in the200 meter. He has been an active participant in Masters track and field since 1997.
Lofton wasdrafted in the first round (sixth overall) of the1978 NFL draft by theGreen Bay Packers. He was named to theNFL Pro Bowl eight times[1] (seven with the Packers, one with the Bills). He was also named to four All-Pro teams. He also played in threeSuper Bowls during his career with the Bills.[10] Lofton was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 2003 and is the first Packers player not associated withCurly Lambeau orVince Lombardi to be inducted.
In his 16 NFL seasons, Lofton caught 764 passes for 14,004 yards and 75 touchdowns. He averaged 20 yards per catch or more in five seasons, leading the league in1983 and1984 with an average of 22.4 and 22 yards respectively. He also rushed 32 times for 246 yards and one touchdown.
Lofton is the first NFL player to record 14,000 yards receiving and was the second (one game afterDrew Hill) to score a touchdown in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. During his nine seasons in Green Bay, Lofton played in seven Pro Bowls and left as the team's all-time leading receiver with 9,656 yards (since broken byDonald Driver). On April 13, 1987, he was traded for two draft picks to the Raiders in the wake of his charge for second degree sexual assault. A month later, he was found not guilty by Brown County Circuit Court jury. Two mediocre seasons (a combined 69 catches in 28 games) with the Raiders followed before he was signed as a free agent by Buffalo in 1989. He was to sign a two-year deal with Oakland in 1993 but instead joined the Los Angeles Rams, where he played just one game before finishing the season with Philadelphia.[11][12][13][14]
On the retirement ofSteve Largent, Lofton became the NFL's active leader in receiving yards at the start of 1990, through to his retirement in 1993. In1991, Lofton became the oldest player to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season (since broken byJerry Rice). On October 21, of that same year, Lofton became the oldest player to record 200 yards receiving as well as 200 yards from scrimmage in a game (35 years, 108 days). He is also the 2nd oldest player to have 200+ all-purpose yards in a game behindMel Gray, (35 years, 204 days). He was inducted into theGreen Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1999.[15]
Lofton became the wide receiver coach for theSan Diego Chargers in 2002 and continued that role until he was fired on January 22, 2008. Early in his coaching career, Lofton watched Robert Woods in a high school track meet, he noted that he would be an incredible NFL prospect. In 2005 at the NFL draft, Lofton played catch with Desean Jackson, noting he was going to be an excellent deep ball threat. Lofton was later announced as a candidate to become head coach forOakland Raiders in 2007 but the job would later go toLane Kiffin. In 2008, the Raiders hired him as their wide receivers coach.[16] On January 13, 2009, Lofton was let go by theOakland Raiders and replaced bySanjay Lal.
Lofton served as acolor analyst andsideline reporter for NFL coverage onWestwood One radio from 1999 to 2001. In 2009, he re-joined the network to team withDave Sims and laterKevin Kugler onSunday Night Football broadcasts. He moved to a television position on theNFL on CBS in 2017,[17] replacing the departingSolomon Wilcots.[18] He has been the game analyst paired withAndrew Catalon since then.[19] In 2023, Lofton was considered by many to be in the running for a promotion to higher tiers of the announcing ranks on CBS.
| Year | Team | Games | Receiving | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1978 | GB | 16 | 16 | 46 | 818 | 17.8 | 58 | 6 |
| 1979 | GB | 16 | 16 | 54 | 968 | 17.9 | 52 | 4 |
| 1980 | GB | 16 | 16 | 71 | 1,226 | 17.3 | 47 | 4 |
| 1981 | GB | 16 | 16 | 71 | 1,294 | 18.2 | 75 | 8 |
| 1982 | GB | 9 | 9 | 35 | 696 | 19.9 | 80 | 4 |
| 1983 | GB | 16 | 16 | 58 | 1,300 | 22.4 | 74 | 8 |
| 1984 | GB | 16 | 16 | 62 | 1,361 | 22.0 | 79 | 7 |
| 1985 | GB | 16 | 16 | 69 | 1,153 | 16.7 | 56 | 4 |
| 1986 | GB | 15 | 15 | 64 | 840 | 13.1 | 36 | 4 |
| 1987 | RAI | 12 | 12 | 41 | 880 | 21.5 | 49 | 5 |
| 1988 | RAI | 16 | 16 | 28 | 549 | 19.6 | 57 | 0 |
| 1989 | BUF | 12 | 2 | 8 | 166 | 20.8 | 47 | 3 |
| 1990 | BUF | 16 | 14 | 35 | 712 | 20.3 | 71 | 4 |
| 1991 | BUF | 15 | 15 | 57 | 1,072 | 18.8 | 77 | 8 |
| 1992 | BUF | 16 | 15 | 51 | 786 | 15.4 | 50 | 6 |
| 1993 | LARams | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 16 | 0 |
| PHI | 9 | 2 | 13 | 167 | 12.8 | 32 | 0 | |
| Career | 233 | 212 | 764 | 14,004 | 18.3 | 80 | 75 | |
Lofton and his wife Beverly have three children includingDavid who also played college football atStanford.[20][citation needed] Lofton's cousin,Kevin Bass, was aMajor League Baseball player.[citation needed]
In October 1984, a dancer at the Marquee Club in Milwaukee accused James Lofton and his Packers teammateEddie Lee Ivery of sexual assault. Lofton and Ivery asserted that the acts were consensual. Neither player ended up being charged in the incident due to a lack of evidence. Two years later, Lofton was charged with second-degree sexual assault following an incident in the stairwell of a Green Bay nightclub. He was found not guilty of that charge.[21]
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