Jet of the Day: WR Al Toon

In this series, we’ll be highlighting a different player from the New York Jets’ storied past. Today, we take a look at wide receiver Al Toon.

A first-round pick out of Wisconsin in 1985, Toon quickly became a fixture in the Jets’ passing game. After rewriting the receiving record books for the Badgers (and earning a pair of first-team All-Big Ten nods), Toon made eight starts as a rookie for the Jets, catching 46 passes for 662 yards and three touchdowns. He notched in first 1,000-yard season the following year, hauling in 85 receptions for a career-high 1,176 yards and eight scores (also a career-high), earning him first-team All-Pro honors.

Toon led the NFL with 93 receptions in 1986, topping 1,000 yards receiving for the second and final time of his career. Only Brandon Marshall’s 2015 season (109 receptions) ranks higher on the team’s single-season receptions list.

He spent all eight seasons of his NFL career in the Gang Green, and still ranks third on the team’s all-time receptions list (517), fourth in receiving yards (6,605), eighth in career touchdown receptions (31).

A three-time Pro Bowler who was once the highest-paid receiver in the NFL, Toon’s promising career was sadly held back (and eventually ended) by repeated concussions. In 1995, Toon told the Los Angeles Times he had suffered somewhere between five and 20 concussions throughout his career.

Ever present in the Madison, Wisconsin community that helped mold him, Toon is currently a partner at Olson Toon Landscaping, where he joined in 2011.

What’s your favorite Al Toon memory? Share your story in the comment section!