We’ve reached the end of my positional tiers, closing out with the most fun position. Grouping players into tiers can help you set up your strategy by understanding which archetypes of players can be had at each point in the draft. Let’s get into it.
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2025 Fantasy Football Wide Receivers (WR) Tiers
Wide Receivers Tier 1
These are your locked-in superstars. Ja’Marr Chase won the receiver triple crown last year. Justin Jefferson has the record for receiving stats of every variety through five seasons in NFL history. Puka Nacua led the NFL in yards per route run (3.2) and targets per route run (.35) in 2024. Malik Nabers just set the record for catches (109) by a rookie wide receiver. Amon-Ra St. Brown rounds out the tier at the end of the first round and gives fantasy managers the chance to double-tap top-tier wideouts. Nacua’s ADP has also fallen into the second round, giving managers at the bottom of the order another shot at one or even two elite receivers.
Wide Receivers Tier 2
It’s not hard to imagine a player from the second tier making the leap. Nabers has the slightest of edges over his fellow second-year wideouts Brian Thomas Jr. and Ladd McConkey. Depending on which stats you value, those two receivers could be ranked ahead of him. Tyreek Hill is the only receiver in NFL history with multiple 1,700-yard seasons. On the other hand, he plummeted to 959 yards in 2024, quit on the Dolphins in Week 18, and seemingly decided to be done with Miami after that game. The team has since pulled him back into the fold, though it’s possible his best days are well behind him. Drake London and Nico Collins are both in the running to lead the league and in targets. Both wideouts are also getting situational upgrades with a new offensive coordinator in Houston and Michael Penix Jr. as the Week 1 starter for Atlanta. The risks in Tier 2 are much higher than the prior tier, but the rewards are just as enormous.
Wide Receivers Tier 3
This is where our odds of finding the overall WR1 approach zero. Davante Adams and Tee Higgins aren’t even their own team’s No.1 receivers. Xavier Worthy wasn’t being drafted as his team’s WR1 until news of Rashee Rice’s looming suspension broke. Even the clear top options on their teams have glaring red flags. Fantasy managers can’t muster an ounce of excitement for the quarterbacks of Jaxon Smith-Njigba and DK Metcalf. Aaron Rodgers and Sam Darnold go as the QB27 and QB28 in Best Ball drafts. The volume is here for Tier 3, but it’s hard to see anyone truly breaking out for a top-three finish. You should already have a receiver on your roster by the time you get here.
Wide Receivers Tier 4
I use rankings to drive the order of the players in the tiers and a mix of ADP and rankings to find where the tiers break. The split between Tier 3 and Tier 4 largely comes down to the cost element of that equation, because the profiles are often similar. Jameson Williams and DeVonta Smith are two of the most highly-regarded WR2s in the league and are potential discount versions of Adams and Higgins. Metcalf is projected for a massive target share on an offense that’s almost impossible to get excited about. If that’s what you’re looking for, Calvin Ridley also fits the bill. This isn’t to say Tier 3 is entirely worth avoiding, just that you may want to be sure to grab the last player in the tier as opposed to the first.
Wide Receivers Tier 5
There are again similarities between this tier and the previous one, though the flaws of nearly every player in Tier 5 are far more glaring. Rashee Rice is facing a suspension of unknown length, with six games being reported as the most likely outcome. Khalil Shakir and Josh Downs both have intriguing scoring profiles, though their availability for Week 1 is at risk because of minor injuries. Travis Hunter is maybe the most fun click on the board. He’s also the only wideout at risk of losing snaps to himself at cornerback. Joe Flacco is the Browns’ Week 1 starter but is unlikely to make it to the fantasy payoffs with that job, meaning Jerry Jeudy will be catching passes from Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders in the fantasy playoffs. Not to be outdone by that mess, Chris Olave will be fielding throws from either Tyler Shough or Spencer Rattler. Tier 5 is a great place to go mining for upside, just be prepared to make a more responsible click later in the draft.
Wide Receivers Tier 6
Nearly every player in Tier 6 is looking for a rebound campaign of some variety. The elders of the group — Deebo Samuel and Stefon Diggs — both missed time last year and are now changing teams. Samuel only missed two games but played through multiple injuries en route to his worst season by catches per game (3.4) and yards per game (44.7). Diggs’ 2024 was far less concerning. He was on pace for over 100 catches and 1,000 yards before going down with a torn ACL. That injury is much worse than anything Samuel dealt with. The young players — Ricky Pearsall and Rome Odunze — both struggled as rookies. Pearsall was shot in the chest before his rookie campaign and missed much of the season. Odunze was playing on one of the league’s premier dysfunctional offenses with Shane Waldron calling the shots. Chicago cleaned house in the offseason and brought in offensive mastermind Ben Johnson to fix Caleb Williams and Co. I tend to bet on the young players being able to course-correct after a bad year, though Diggs and Samuel both fit well with their new teams.
Wide Receivers Tier 7
It’s rookie time. The No. 18, 23, 34, 39, and 55 overall picks are all in Tier 7. Emeka Egbuka and Matthew Golden’s ADPs are shooting through the moon in Best Ball drafts. Their costs in redraft formats will be much more palatable. Golden had a spotty production profile coming out of Texas, but the Packers have been unfazed at every stage. They have been treating him as their top receiver in practices and during the preseason. Even if his profile isn’t sterling, surpassing everyone on the depth chart bodes well for his fantasy outlook. Egbuka won’t dethrone Mike Evans in the pecking order for targets, but he might not need to. Chris Godwin isn’t expected to be ready for Week 1 and Jalen McMillan might miss half of the season because of a severe neck strain. Egbuka is at worst the WR2 for one of the league’s best passing attacks heading into Week 1. The other rookies — Jayden Higgins, Luther Burden III, and Tre Harris — are bets on late-season production, though their cost reflects that.
Wide Receivers Tier 8
| Adam Thielen - CAR |
This is the “better in Best Ball” tier. Alec Pierce had three 20-point games last year, while Rashod Bateman and Marvin Mims each had two. Drake London only had two such games, and Garrett Wilson hit that mark just three times. The downside with my aforementioned trio of spike week specialists is that their floors are below the basement. Bateman and Pierce were held under six PPR points six and seven times respectively. Mims spent almost half of the season under that mark before breaking out late in 2024. Marquise Brown, Joshua Palmer, and both of the rookies in this tier also profile as intermediate to downfield players with frustrating weekly outputs.
Wide Receivers Tier 9
This is fittingly the exact opposite of Tier 8. If you swung big earlier in drafts and need some free PPR points, there’s a player in Tier 9 for you. Wan’Dale Robinson finished 13th in targets in the entire league last year. The whole league! Keenan Allen ranked 20th in targets despite missing two games. DeMario Douglas led Patriots receivers in targets (87) and has reportedly had a good camp. Romeo Doubs’ 72 targets aren’t all that impressive except for the fact that he played in just 13 games and came four targets shy of leading Green Bay in receiving opportunities. He was on pace to easily lead the Packers in targets. There’s nothing better than a PPR scam at the right price.
Wide Receivers Tier 10
There isn’t a clear throughline in Tier 10, so you get to read about my two favorite clicks of the group instead. Dont’e Thornton was the Raiders’ fourth-round pick. He never played more than a part-time role at Oregon or Tennessee but was electric in his final season as a Vol, averaging 3.7 yards per route with an FBS-leading 25.4 yards per catch. He then annihilated the NFL Draft Combine with a 4.3 40-yard dash at 6’5, 205 pounds. The only players to run a sub-4.35 Forty at 6’5 are Calvin Johnson and DK Metcalf. He has since earned a starting role as Vegas’s X receiver. Jalen Coker might not be a starting receiver for the Panthers in Week 1, but he’s going to work himself into that job by the end of the year. Coker ranked fourth among all rookies in PFF receiving grade and third in yards per route run last year. Xavier Legette, his competition for a starting role, ranked 14th and 12th in those categories.
