In 2025, fantasy football managers saw very top-heavy receiver production, with the middle tier largely grouped together with 26 options averaging 10-13 PPR points. The differences between some of these players are awfully thin, but this game of ours is a game of inches, and every ounce of value that is squeezed out of your draft room is valuable.
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WR Fantasy Football Rankings (PPR)
1) Ja’Marr Chase | CIN
2) Puka Nacua | LAR
3) Jaxon Smith-Njigba | SEA
4) CeeDee Lamb | DAL
5) Amon-Ra St. Brown | DET
6) Nico Collins | HOU
Put simply, he is elite. While that might seem obvious, establishing his baseline efficiency is a necessary first step before diving into his massive ceiling case.
- PPR Points Over Expectation: 1st
- Targets Per Route Run: 2nd
- Red Zone Target Rate: 4th
These rankings isolate wide receivers with at least 250 targets over the past three seasons. Within that elite sample, Collins is the only player to average at least 12.0 air yards per target and 5.0 yards after the catch (YAC) per reception.
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To pull up a chair at the absolute top tier of the position, a receiver must be a complete, well-rounded threat capable of producing at every level of the field. Collins checks every single box.
His late second-round ADP is slightly depressed by a history of minor injuries and lingering concerns over C.J. Stroud’s ultimate ceiling. Personally, I am far more willing to gamble on injury risk at the end of Round 2/3 than I am with a Round 1 option like Christian McCaffrey.
But are those Stroud concerns even fair?
C.J. Stroud when throwing past the sticks:
- 2024: 75.6 passer rating
- 2025: 95.5 passer rating
Stroud was so spectacular as a rookie that the public set an unsustainably high bar for his encore. While he might not be a generational game-breaker just yet, look at the landscape: Sam Darnold, Michael Penix Jr./Kirk Cousins, and Tyler Shough all supported top-10 fantasy wide receivers in 2025.
I like Tank Dell more than most, but he isn’t built to be a true volume hog. While second-year options like Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel will likely take a step forward, their growth won’t threaten Collins’ alpha status.
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Consider the environment Collins just succeeded in: the 2025 Texans had a highly flawed offensive profile. They struggled heavily on the ground (29th in yards per carry) and rarely extended drives into scoring territory (18th in red zone trips). Despite those massive roadblocks, Collins was the overall WR8 from Weeks 3–15.
He is being drafted right around that baseline floor this season, often slipping to the back half of the second round. If you open your draft with a Tier 1 running back, pairing them with an elite weapon like Collins late in Round 2 feels like highway robbery.
7) Drake London | ATL
8) A.J. Brown | NE
9) Justin Jefferson | MIN
10) Chris Olave | NO
11) George Pickens | DAL
12) Jaylen Waddle | DEN
We’ve seen Waddle do a bit of everything through five seasons. He’s had a 100-catch season (something only seven players did in 2025), an 18-yard-per-catch season (Alec Pierce was the only member of that club last year), and a season averaging north of 2.2 PPR points per target (Jaxon Smith-Njigba in 2025: 2.20).
We know the pieces to the puzzle are on the table, and now we have a situation where he can flourish in a creative offense with a quarterback on an upward trajectory. He was stuck in Miami (24th in points per drive and 26th in offensive EPA over the past two seasons), but now he has Sean Payton’s buy-in (they sent three 2026 picks to the ‘Fins in this trade) in a system that flashed tremendous potential as Bo Nix’s development picked up.
The only case against smashing Waddle at his current cost, I suppose, would be the number of options in this Denver receiver room. I don’t think that’s wrong (Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant are interesting long-term options), but I do think an over-indexing of Courtland Sutton is giving us a nice discount.
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Sutton is a solid player; he’s not Waddle. We saw his target rate and yards per route run dip in Year 2 of the Nix experience, signs that are being overlooked in favor of the raw counting numbers that were as much the product of limited competition last season.
Even with the situation working in his favor (limited push from his teammates and growth under center), Sutton was outside of the top 24 receivers just as often as he was inside of it.
He’s the second-best receiver on this team and could well lead this squad in touchdown receptions, but I’m projecting him to be a clear WR2 (not a WR1b), and that has me looking for creative ways to get “Waddle” into my team names.
13) Ladd McConkey | LAC
14) Tee Higgins | CIN
15) DeVonta Smith | PHI
16) Malik Nabers | NYG
17) Tetairoa McMillan | CAR
18) Luther Burden III | CHI
19) Rashee Rice | KC
20) Terry McLaurin | WAS
21) Garrett Wilson | NYJ
22) Zay Flowers | BAL
23) Jameson Williams | DET
24) Emeka Egbuka | TB
25) Jakobi Meyers | JAX
26) Christian Watson | GB
27) Michael Wilson | ARI
28) Brian Thomas Jr. | JAX
29) Rome Odunze | CHI
30) Jordyn Tyson | NO
31) Marvin Harrison Jr. | ARI
32) Davante Adams | LAR
33) Josh Downs | IND
34) Parker Washington | JAX
35) Carnell Tate | TEN
36) Mike Evans | SF
37) Courtland Sutton | DEN
38) DJ Moore | BUF
39) DK Metcalf | PIT
After grabbing 90 balls for the Seattle Seahawks in 2022, Metcalf has recorded three straight sub-70 reception seasons, and it is fair to question if that has any hope of changing given the structure of this Pittsburgh offense.
Early in his career, Metcalf looked like a Mike Evans type, featuring difference-making size in the red zone with target-earning abilities that made him a stable source of fantasy production. He caught 29 touchdown passes in his first three seasons, but he has tallied just 25 in his four seasons since, including just one score after Halloween last season.
His yards per route run in Year 1 with Pittsburgh was in line with his career norms, but how he got there looked different and lacked appeal in our numbers-based game.
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Metcalf posted a career-low average depth of target (aDOT) with Aaron Rodgers at the helm (11.3 yards), and outside of one slant that went the distance, there was no spark to his role. In essence, the Steelers spent a season making him Michael Pittman Jr. to compensate for the limitations of Rodgers.
Then they brought in the actual Pittman this offseason.
After three straight seasons north of a 30% red-zone target rate, he has been under 20% in back-to-back seasons, and that caps his ceiling in a massive way. We saw him score in four straight games early last season, and a run of production like that is possible this season, though asking him to sustain it is dangerous.
When looking at the wide receiver landscape, it is pretty easy to pass on Metcalf at a cost. I am treating Metcalf like I am treating Travis Kelce this season: the name is more valuable than reasonable expectations in 2026.
40) Alec Pierce | IND
41) Matthew Golden | GB
42) Jayden Reed | GB
43) Jauan Jennings | MIN
44) Khalil Shakir | BUF
45) Wan’Dale Robinson | TEN
46) Makai Lemon | PHI
47) KC Concepcion | CLE
48) Romeo Doubs | NE
49) Michael Pittman Jr. | PIT
50) Jordan Addison | MIN
51) Brandon Aiyuk | SF
52) Quentin Johnston | LAC
53) Stefon Diggs | FA
54) Ricky Pearsall | SF
55) Xavier Worthy | KC
56) Rashid Shaheed | SEA
57) Chris Godwin Jr. | TB
58) Jayden Higgins | HOU
59) Travis Hunter | JAX
60) Jalen Coker | CAR
61) Jalen McMillan | TB
62) Deebo Samuel Sr. | FA
63) Tre Harris | LAC
64) Tank Dell | HOU
65) Troy Franklin | DEN
66) Chimere Dike | TEN
67) Jerry Jeudy | CLE
68) Keenan Allen | FA
69) Jaylin Noel | HOU
70) Adonai Mitchell | NYJ
71) Christian Kirk | SF
72) Tre Tucker | LV
73) Treylon Burks | WAS
74) Pat Bryant | DEN
75) Elic Ayomanor | TEN
76) Ryan Flournoy | DAL
77) Denzel Boston | CLE
78) Isaac TeSlaa | DET
79) Rashod Bateman | BAL
80) Kayshon Boutte | NE
81) Dontayvion Wicks | PHI
82) Omar Cooper Jr. | NYJ
83) Keon Coleman | BUF
84) Kyle Williams | NE
85) Darnell Mooney | NYG
86) Marvin Mims Jr. | DEN
87) Cedric Tillman | CLE
88) Darius Slayton | NYG
89) Jack Bech | LV
90) Mack Hollins | NE
91) Xavier Legette | CAR
92) Tory Horton | SEA
93) Cooper Kupp | SEA
94) Savion Williams | GB
95) Malachi Fields | NYG
96) Andrei Iosivas | CIN
97) Calvin Ridley | TEN
98) Jalen Nailor | LV
99) Elijah Sarratt | BAL
100) Zachariah Branch | ATL
