Michael Wilson turned in a handful of monster performances last season that people have not forgotten. Those weeks share a very specific set of circumstances that are unlikely to repeat. History has plenty of examples of receivers who caught fire briefly and then went right back to who they were. Fantasy managers need to separate the highlights from the underlying profile.
Should You Draft Michael Wilson in Fantasy Football?
Cardinals receiver Wilson was an emergent star of the 2025 season and had an insanity run in the middle weeks of the year.
As of early September, Wilson has an ADP of 90.2. His PFN rank is pretty close at 87. His projected points per game this coming season is 10.43, and he’s WR41 on the pecking order.
I’m not even going to bury the lead. Wilson is one of my favorite value options in the entire fantasy lineup this year. I’m not saying he’s going to be diet Puka Nacua. In truth, that’s Trey McBride’s job in the current Cardinals offense. But Wilson lays claim to a similarly exciting skill set at wide receiver. You look at the athletic profiles of him and Nacua, and they’re strikingly similar. Both guys are 6’2, 210 pounds plus with mid-4.5 speed, but good explosion, agility, and hip fluidity.
On film, I think Wilson has similar stylistic leans as well. He shows inside-outside versatility, route nuance and hip fluidity, physicality at stems, and schematic insulation for schemed touches. He can win as a quick separator, over the middle with strong hands, or as a catch-point operator with timing and body control. Wilson is not nearly as potent as a YAC threat, but he did boast a sub-1% drop rate in 2025 and delivered when his number was called.
He averaged just 4.2 targets through the first nine weeks of the season, but 11 targets per game in the final eight weeks. He thrived as a top wide receiver in the offense when Marvin Harrison Jr. went down. In fact, even when Marvin Harrison Jr. came back, Wilson’s residual target increase remained. He ended up being one of just 24 wide receivers last year with a target share over 20%, and that’s even with the interrupted sample midway through the year.
New Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur had been the Rams offensive coordinator under Sean McVay for the entirety of Puka Nacua’s career and will likely gravitate to Wilson’s skill set. MHJ’s struggles settling in could leave Wilson as the WR1B alongside Trey McBride in that offense, on a Cardinals team that will be playing from behind often with Jacoby Brissett as the starter. Yes, he’s embattled, and he’s not perfect, but he’s proven as a volume passer, very, very willing to let it fly in large quantities.
In my opinion, you should snatch Wilson up at his current ADP. He truly has the potential to be the No. 2 target in a pass-heavy Arizona offense that’ll be in catch-up mode more often than not, and that might ultimately earn a weekly starter spot in fantasy lineups down the line. Wilson: big value, big upside. I’m all the way in on the skill set, and I think he still has room to keep showing what he can do.
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Michael Wilson’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
Analysis provided by PFN Analyst Kyle Soppe.
Wilson saw the targets pile up once we got past Halloween last season, and while there are a handful of qualifiers to throw on those performances, earning looks at the professional level is a feat, no matter the circumstances (128 targets in 17 games last season after earning 129 in his first 29 games).
Rostering Wilson makes sense. He’s a 26-year-old with a strong physical profile and proof of concept from this QB. But I need to see him produce alongside Marvin Harrison before I assume that he can in a meaningful way.
The Chargers had the fourth-best red-zone defense in the NFL last season. I think there’s a good chance they get blown out, and maybe that means that garbage time can rescue you, but I don’t like counting on that, and a blowout script usually means the losing team isn’t scoring much.
Give me Harrison as the target leader among receivers in Arizona, something that doesn’t leave room for Wilson to return WR3 production this week once you give Trey McBride his standard usage.
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Where Wilson Ranks Among 2026 Wide Receivers
- Mike Evans | SF
- Jayden Reed | GB
- Stefon Diggs | WAS
- Jakobi Meyers | JAX
- Wan’Dale Robinson | TEN
- Michael Wilson | ARI
- Alec Pierce | IND
- Courtland Sutton | DEN
- Chris Godwin Jr. | TB
- Khalil Shakir | BUF
- Makai Lemon | PHI
Check the full position group on PFN’s 2026 PPR Wide Receiver Board.
