Art Monk

Art Monk at NFL.com

James Arthur "Art" Monk (born December 5, 1957 in White Plains, New York) is a former American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League. Nicknamed "Quiet Man" or simply "#81" for his humble and professional demeanor, he played collegiately at Syracuse University as a receiver and running back. The Washington Redskins drafted Monk in the first round of the 1980 NFL Draft and converted him to flanker, a position that he pioneered as a member of Coach Joe Gibbs' innovative offense.

Along with Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders, he was part of a prolific wide receiver trio nicknamed "The Posse," as they became the first trio of wide receivers in NFL history to post 1,000-plus yards in the same season (1989). At the end of his career, he played briefly for the New York Jets and the Philadelphia Eagles before retiring as a Redskin. The NFL honored Monk by naming him to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team.

With the Redskins, Monk played in Super Bowl XVIII, Super Bowl XXII and Super Bowl XXVI. In Super Bowl XXVI, he caught 7 passes for 113 yards. He also won a Super Bowl ring as a member of the team in Super Bowl XVII, but did not play in it due to injury. Monk finished his 16 NFL seasons with 940 receptions for 12,721 yards and 68 touchdowns, along with 332 rushing yards. Monk's most noteworthy NFL accomplishment was his record for career receptions (940), broken by Jerry Rice during the final week of 1995, Monk's last season in the league.

Despite being the first to eclipse 900 receptions, as well as retiring with the single season receptions record (106) and the most consecutive games with a catch (183), Art Monk has been passed over several times for entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, including 2007, when Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin was the only wide receiver inducted. Monk is currently ranked fifth in all-time receiving (receptions), eight places above Irvin. On the Hall of Fame Selection Committee, the anti-Monk campaign is spearheaded by Cliff Christl and Paul Zimmerman. In November of 2006, in response to the mounting pressure on the voters to explain Monk's exclusion, committee member Peter King changed his stance and now supports Art Monk for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. [1]

Monk helped found The Good Samaritan Foundation [2] with his Washington teammates Charles Mann, Tim Johnson and Earnest Byner. Monk also lends his name to a youth/high school football camp.

Statistics

Seasons among the league's top 10

Receptions: 1984-1, 1985-2, 1988-9t, 1989-3t

Receiving yards: 1984-4, 1985-3, 1989-10

Receiving TDs: 1991-9t

Among the league's all-time top 50

Receptions: 6

Receiving yards: 11

Receiving TDs: 29t

Yards from scrimmage: 26

Consecutive games with at least one reception: 3(183)

All-Rookie: 1980

3-time Pro Bowler: 1984, 1985, 1986

2-time All-Pro: 1984, 1985

External links