pass catcher vs football player

pass catcher and football player both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
pass catcher	Yes	No	No	No
football player	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, football player is a hypernym of pass catcher; that is, football player is a word with a broader meaning than pass catcher:

pass catcher: a football player who catches (or is supposed to catch) a forward pass
football player: an athlete who plays American football

Other hypernyms of pass catcher include footballer.

pass catcher (noun)	football player (noun)
a football player who catches (or is supposed to catch) a forward pass	an athlete who plays American football