Art Monk

James Arthur Monk, born December 5, 1957, in White Plains, New York, is a former NFL wide receiver who played for the Washington Redskins, New York Jets, and Philadelphia Eagles. Widely regarded by players, coaches, and analysts as one of the all-time greats at his position, he entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.

Monk grew up in White Plains and attended White Plains High School before playing college football at Syracuse University. A four-year letterman from 1976 to 1979, he led the Orangemen in receiving for three straight seasons (1977–1979) and still ranks in the top ten on several school career lists, including sixth in receptions, seventh in receiving yards, and ninth in yards per game. He also graduated from Syracuse’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.

The Washington Redskins selected Monk with the 18th overall pick in the first round of the 1980 NFL Draft. As a rookie, he set a team rookie record with 58 catches and was a unanimous All-Rookie selection. In 1984, he set an NFL record with 106 receptions for a career-best 1,372 yards, including six games with eight or more catches, five games over 100 yards, and a 10-catch, 200-yard performance against the San Francisco 49ers. That year, he earned team MVP honors and his first Pro Bowl nod.

He followed with two more 1,000-yard seasons, becoming the first Redskins receiver to achieve three straight 1,000-yard campaigns and the first Redskins player to catch 70 or more passes in three consecutive seasons. In 1989, he was part of "The Posse"—a trio with Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders—that became the first set of three wide receivers in NFL history to each surpass 1,000 yards in the same season.

Over 14 seasons with Washington, the team won three Super Bowls (XVII, XXII, XXVI) and had only three losing seasons. Monk earned first-team All-Pro and All-NFC honors in 1984 and 1985, second-team All-NFC in 1986, and Pro Bowl selections in 1984, 1985, and 1986. Across his 15-season career with the Redskins, Jets, and Eagles, he exceeded 50 catches nine times and topped 1,000 receiving yards five times. His 106-catch season stood as the NFL record until Sterling Sharpe’s 108 in 1992.

He set the career receptions record with his 820th catch on Monday Night Football against Denver on October 12, 1992, became the first player to reach 900 receptions, and pushed the mark to 940 before Jerry Rice surpassed him in the final week of the 1995 season. After James Lofton retired in 1993, Monk briefly held the NFL’s active lead in career receiving yards for two weeks in 1994 before being passed by Rice. He retired with the longest streak of consecutive games with a catch (183).

He was named to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team, became the first player to record a touchdown reception in 15 straight seasons, and the first to notch at least 35 receptions in 15 consecutive seasons. During his 14 years with Washington, nearly two-thirds of his 888 catches resulted in first downs.

On August 2, 2008, Monk was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame alongside fellow Redskins great Darrell Green. His induction speech received the longest standing ovation in Hall of Fame history, lasting four minutes and four seconds as later timed by NFL Films. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012. On July 15, 2025, the Washington Commanders announced they would retire Monk’s No. 81 jersey during the 2025 season, making him the sixth player in franchise history to receive that honor, joining Sammy Baugh, Bobby Mitchell, Sonny Jurgensen, Sean Taylor, and Darrell Green.

Monk’s career highlights include three Super Bowl wins, two first-team All-Pro selections, three Pro Bowl appearances, and the NFL receptions lead in 1984. He was also named to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team, the PFWA All-Rookie Team, and is listed among the Washington Commanders’ 90 Greatest, their Ring of Fame, and has his number retired. In college, he was a first-team All-American and first-team All-East in 1979, and he was elected to the Syracuse University Board of Trustees. He was inducted into the WPHS Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

Among his NFL records, Monk was the first player to record a touchdown reception in 15 consecutive seasons (1980–1994) and the first to have at least 35 receptions in 15 straight seasons. He was the first to record over 100 receptions in a season (106 in 1984) before the NFL’s rule changes ushered in the “pass happy era”; only three players in the next nine years reached 100 catches, and only Sterling Sharpe (108 in 1992) topped his total. He was also the first to record back-to-back seasons with 1,200 yards and 90 receptions (1984, 1985), the first to reach 820 career receptions, the first to surpass 900 career catches (finishing with 940, then an all-time record), and the first to record at least one reception in 180 consecutive games.

His Redskins franchise records include 13,053 yards from scrimmage, 12,026 receiving yards, 888 receptions, and 164 consecutive games with a catch as a Redskin (his overall streak continued after leaving the team).