As we’re rolling along this offseason. We’re laying the groundwork for early best ball drafts, new dynasty startups and everything else under the fantasy sun. So far this week, we’ve already laid out early ranks for quarterbacks and running backs. The league’s landscape is going to shift a lot through free agency and the NFL draft, but we’re starting that early outlook with positional ranks. These will move and be updated throughout the offseason, so keep tabs on them through the spring. We’ll also have a more linear list of the top-200 players once all the initial rankings have been released that will be updated throughout offseason movement. This early ranking is all about the wide receivers. You can take a look at long-running production and fantasy trends for the wide receiver position here.

Wide Receiver Rankings

  1. Davante Adams: A slow touchdown start and a turf toe injury dampened the front half of his 2019, but Adams posted 75-917-7 on 113 targets over his final 10 games played on 33.1% of the team targets. With no significant additions to the roster at all this offseason so far, Adams is set up to receive the largest volume among all wideouts. 
  2. Michael Thomas: Thomas has 18 games with double-digit receptions since entering the league, the most of any player. Thomas has had 119, 97 and 51 more receptions than the next highest Saints wide receiver the past three seasons. Those marks should come back to more reasonable ranges with the addition of Emmanuel Sanders, but Thomas has finished no lower than WR8 in points per game in any of his first four seasons regardless who he has shared targets with.
  3. Tyreek Hill: Missing four full games and nearly the entirety of two others, Hill’s bottom line wasn’t on par with his previous two seasons. But he’s still attached to Patrick Mahomes and is the league’s best splash play option. With another four touchdowns of 35-plus yards, Hill now has 24 of those touchdowns since entering the league in 2016, double that of the next closest player over that span. 
  4. DeAndre Hopkins: Used more in the intermediate area in 2019 as he posted a career-low 11.2 yards per reception, but still cleared 100 receptions and was fifth in targets among wideouts. Hopkins has finished as the WR2, WR2, and WR5 in points per game over the past three seasons with stable quarterback play. A move to Arizona puts him in the league’s most WR-centric offense with arguably much less talent around him at the position.
  5. Julio Jones: He’ll be 31-years old at the start of the season, but Jones hasn’t slowed down as of yet, posting at least 1,300 receiving yards in each of the past six seasons. 
  6. Chris Godwin: Godwin has improved across the board in every category in each of his first three seasons. Still only 24 years old entering 2020 off an 86-1,333-9 campaign playing a role that has seen big slot men flourish in the past in Hines Ward, Reggie Wayne, and Larry Fitzgerald.
  7. Mike Evans: With 1,157 yards in 13 games this past season, Evans joined Randy Moss as the only wideouts in NFL history to clear 1K yards in each of their first six seasons. 27-years old in a pass-heavy offense, Evans will test theory that depth of target is driven by the wide receiver rather than the quarterback changing over to Tom Brady.
  8. Adam Thielen: A hamstring injury zapped his 2019 season. Has had 69-866-9 with two 100-yard games over his past 18 games played after 74-925-6 with eight 100-yard games to start 2018. The trade of Stefon Diggs should turn him into a target hog once again. 
  9. Allen Robinson: Bounced back with his first 1,000-yard season since 2015 while setting career highs in receptions (98) and targets (154). Ranked third in weighted opportunity among wideouts behind Michael Thomas and DeAndre Hopkins. Robinson still has a question mark surrounding quarterback play and offensive viability, but volume should be sticky as the Bears have used him in the slot on 40% of his routes in each of his two seasons there.
  10. JuJu Smith-Schuster: Per game output (3.5-46.0) was nuked in his first season as a WR1 by the loss of quarterback and multiple injuries. Getting Big Ben back, Smith-Schuster is still one of the most precocious wideouts in the league that doesn’t turn 24-years old until November, but no true answers were given on if he can handle the attention of being a feature wideout.
  11. Odell Beckham: A cocktail of changing teams, not playing up to par, playing through injuries, and facing a rogues gallery of top corners made Beckham one of the biggest disappointments in 2019 at WR25 overall and WR34 in points per game. But in a down year, he still ranked as the WR12 in targets (133), the WR4 in end zone targets (13), the WR12 in expected points, and the WR8 in weighted opportunity rating.  
  12. Kenny Golladay: A lower-volume version of Mike Evans, Golladay’s yardage and touchdowns have risen in every season from the year prior. The WR11 through 11 weeks before Matthew Stafford was lost for the season. 
  13. D.J. Moore: Moore notched 87-1,175-4 on 135 targets in his second year at age-22 playing the bulk of the season with one of the worst quarterbacks in the league. Only early-career bugaboo is a lack of scoring opportunities with 10 total end zone targets through two seasons. 
  14. Calvin Ridley: Has been the WR22 and WR27 in overall scoring despite ranking as the WR34 and WR38 in expected points on the strength of 17 touchdowns over his first two seasons. Ridley averaged 17.8 PPR points per game over his six games after Mohamed Sanu was traded.  Ridley also had games of 8-143-1, 6-85-1 and 8-90-0 when Austin Hooper was inactive a year ago.
  15. Amari Cooper: Staying in Dallas was ideal for Cooper. Cooper is averaging 5.3 catches for 76.5 yards and 0.6 touchdowns per game (16.2 PPR PPG) since joining the Cowboys and likely gets added flexibility with the addition of CeeDee Lamb in place of slot-centric Randall Cobb. 
  16. A.J. Brown: The 11th rookie wideout to hit 1,000 yards in first season since 2000, Brown was the first of those players to do so on fewer than 100 targets (84) and 60 receptions (52). Brown ranked second in the league in yards per route run (2.67) behind Michael Thomas, but a 5-64-0 line on 10 targets over three postseason games was a reminder that you’re also betting in the identity of this offense in creating a high floor for a player expected to make a significant jump in cost.  
  17. T.Y. Hilton: Banged up to compound matters a year ago, Hilton set career lows in depth of target (10.2), yards per target (7.4) and yards per catch (11.1). Entering next year at age 31, Hilton gets an upgrade in quarterback play going to Philip Rivers while he’s still a heavy favorite to lead the team in opportunities by a wide margin while active.
  18. Robert Woods: Woods nearly flipped seasons with Cooper Kupp. He was the WR22 Weeks 1-8 (38-471-0 on 60 targets) and then the WR10 Weeks 9-17 (52-663-2 on 79 targets) while missing a game. Has been the WR13 and WR8 in expected points over the past two seasons. No player had a larger expected touchdown differential per yardage gained than Woods in 2019. 
  19. Keenan Allen: 102, 97, and 104 receptions the past three seasons while playing 16 games in all three seasons. He’s been an overall WR1 scorer in all three seasons, but Allen has spurts of elite WR1 fantasy play while going through longer lulls of WR3 play than his peers. Loss of Philip Rivers could turn out to be a detriment, losing out on a passer with anticipatory skills in the intermediate area of the field, which are Allen’s strengths.
  20. Cooper Kupp: Set career-highs in year three across the board with 94-1,161-10 on 134 targets, but disappeared over the back half of the season. Kupp was the WR2 in overall scoring Weeks 1-8 (58-792-5 on 87 targets) and then WR30 (36-369-5 on 47 targets) over his final eight games. 
  21. Terry McLaurin: 58-919-7 and WR30 in points per game as a rookie. Needs Dwayne Haskins to become more stable. McLaurin caught 5-of-7 touchdowns from Case Keenum while averaging 1.1 more yards per target with the veteran passer versus Haskins.
  22. Stefon Diggs: Posted career-highs in depth of target (15.1), yards per catch (17.9), and receiving yards (1,130) on his way to becoming the fourth wideout since targets were tracked as a statistic to reach 1,100 yards on fewer than 100 targets in a season. Trailed only Michael Thomas in yards per team passing attempt (2.42). After averaging 7.9 yards per target through four seasons, Diggs averaged 12.0 yards per target in 2018. Changing over to Josh Allen should accelerate that regression to the mean.
  23. Courtland Sutton: Enjoyed a sophomore breakout (72-1,112-6) while ranking fourth among all wideouts in yards per team passing attempt (2.21) and fifth in weighted opportunity while playing with three quarterbacks. Had a significantly higher floor playing with Joe Flacco under center. Sutton was the WR38 or lower in four of his five games playing with Drew Lock. 
  24. Tyler Lockett: Averaged a career-high 5.1 receptions per game with 110 targets, still forced to remain hyper-efficient in the Seattle offense that gave him five or fewer targets in seven games. 
  25. D.K. Metcalf: As a rookie, Metcalf matched or bested Lockett in targets in 10-of-18 games while leading the league in end zone targets (18) during the regular season. 
  26. Jarvis Landry: Landry has been the WR27 and WR22 in points per game in his two seasons with Cleveland while averaging at least 5.0 receptions per game in each of his first six NFL seasons. 
  27. D.J. Chark: After a non-existent rookie season, Chark broke out in a big way at age-22, catching 73-of-118 targets for 1,008 yards and eight scores. Living on hot touchdown production early in the season, Chark recoiled a bit down the stretch, finding the end zone in just two of his final 10 games and was the WR40 in overall scoring Week 6-17. 
  28. DeVante Parker: Presumably left for dead, Parker broke out with 1,202 yards and nine touchdowns in 2019. Averaged 9.5 targets per game in the eight weeks after Preston Williams was lost for the season after 6.5 per game prior, but the more important factor for sustaining his breakout could be tied to Ryan Fitzpatrick starting as many games as possible.   
  29. Tyler Boyd: A discount Jarvis Landry, Boyd has been the WR19 and WR27 in points per game the past two seasons. Still only 25 years old at the start of 2020 and coming off 148 targets, Boyd’s only hang-up is that he has just six total end zone targets over the past two years.
  30. A.J. Green: Green has never finished lower than WR17 in points per game in any of the seasons he’s played, but Green is a free agent that will turn 32 this summer while missing 29 games since the 2015 season. 
  31. Michael Gallup: Has averaged 15.4 and 16.8 yards per catch in his first two NFL seasons while making a major jump in year two (66-1,107-6) in 14 games. Once Gallup returned to the lineup in Week 5, he out-targeted Amari Cooper 97-to-90 the rest of the season while posting a 53-881-6 line compared to Cooper’s 58-903-4 over that stretch. The addition of CeeDee Lamb prevents a major spike in year three over last season’s output.
  32. Will Fuller: Top-40 in points per game in each of the past three seasons playing with Deshaun Watson, but has now missed multiple games in all four seasons of his career with 22 missed in total. DeAndre Hopkins clears 28% of the team targets, but overlap in vertical skill assets on the Houston roster could prevent Fuller from taking over as the full lead WR1.
  33. Marquise Brown: Brown caught 46-of-71 targets for 584 yards and seven scores in 14 games as a rookie while having a screw in his foot. Lamar Jackson was 9-of-18 for 334 yards (18.6 Y/A) with four touchdowns targeting Brown 20-plus yards downfield and 18-of-50 for 495 yards (9.9 Y/A) to everyone else. A takeoff could be in order in year two, but Brown is still attached to an offense and quarterback that has thrown to their wide receivers at the lowest rate in the league since Jackson took over as the starter.
  34. Julian Edelman: Edelman had 100-1,117-6 at age-33 while ranking third among all wideouts in expected points based on opportunities. Edelman has been the WR6, WR11, and WR5 in targets per game over his past three seasons and has little competition for targets, but the loss of Tom Brady stands to be a major void. While the addition of Cam Newton is a positive over the unknown of what Jerrett Stidham would provide, his signing also signals are likely offensive shift to a more balanced offense that has a significant reduction in passing volume from where they have operated under Brady.
  35. Marvin Jones: Jones has been a top-30 scorer in points per game in each of the past three seasons and is coming off a career-high 4.8 receptions per game. Hitting age 30, Jones has missed 10 games over the past two seasons. 
  36. Brandin Cooks:  Cooks will still only be 27 years old in September with five 1K seasons prior to last season’s disappearance (42-583-2 on 72 targets) in 14 games played. Playing for fourth team in five seasons, Cooks is no stranger to producing with a new system and quarterback and Deshaun Watson is an upgrade. His concussion issues and overlap with the rest of the Houston depth chart are worrisome that we seen him fully rebound to WR2-plus status.
  37. Diontae Johnson: Johnson led all rookie wideouts with 59 receptions in 2019 and led the team with five touchdown receptions.
  38. Christian Kirk: Kirk didn’t quite break out in year two as hoped. His receptions per game jumped to 5.2 in 2019, but lost a ton in output per catch in target, losing 3.3 yards per catch and 2.1 yards per target off his rookie year efficiency. His 8.3 targets per game were good for 16th among wideouts, but may have more viable competition in that area in year three. 
  39. Mike Williams: Williams was the first player to reach 1,000 yards receiving on fewer 50 catches since DeSean Jackson in 2010. A target from touchdown regression a year ago, he’s in that bucket again this season from the inverse end, scoring just twice in 2019. Winning as a vertical threat and clasher, Williams wasn’t dependent on Philip Rivers unlocking his best attributes, but the change to Tyrod Taylor and inevitably Justin Herbert leave unknowns for the floor of the offense altogether. 
  40. John Brown: In his first season in Buffalo, Brown set career-highs in targets (115), receptions (72), and receiving yards (1,060) to go along with six scores. Brown was a WR3 or better in 11-of-15 games but also a WR2 or better in just four of those weeks while the addition of Stefon Diggs should push him down to the No. 2 option for Josh Allen.
  41. Sterling Shepard: He lapped both Darius Slayton and Golden Tate in targets (53) and receptions (34) over the six games that all three played together. Shepard averaged a career-high 5.7 catches per game, but also career-low 10.1 yards per catch. Has scored nine touchdowns over the past three seasons. 
  42. Jamison Crowder: Crowder’s 122 targets in his first season with the Jets were 26 more than any other player on the team while the team is expected to lose Robby Anderson this offseason. Has yet to reach 900 yards in any NFL season, but has been a top-40 scorer in points per game in each of his past three full seasons played.
  43. Emmanuel Sanders: The 66-869-5 line that Sanders posted was strong in context of being 32-years old, changing teams midseason and coming off a torn Achilles. He closed the season with just one week higher than WR49 over his final eight games. Heading to the Saints, he’s playing with the best quarterback he’s had since Peyton Manning, but still has age and target-vacuum Michael Thomas as cons.
  44. Preston Williams: Posted a 32-428-3 line in eight games before tearing his ACL in Week 9, but expected to be on track to start the season on time.
  45. Robby Anderson: Anderson has teased us with pockets of WR1 output in each of the past three years, but just hasn’t been able to put an entire season together yet. Anderson’s potential fit with Teddy Bridgewater isn’t as much of a concern as the potential is for sharing targets. In 36 career games with fewer than 20% of his team targets, Anderson has averaged 7.6 PPR points per game. 
  46. Henry Ruggs: The ghost of Al Davis seemingly made this pick with Ruggs the first wide receiver taken in the draft, but it is an immediate need for the offense. A year ago, the Raiders wideouts combined for 13.3 targets (30th), 8.8 receptions (28th) and 114.4 yards (29th) per game.  Ruggs has the least resistance to targets among the top rookie wideouts, but also an unkown marriage in skill sets to Derek Carr’s intermediate volume.
  47. CeeDee Lamb: Lamb doesn’t have a tarmac to year one targets playing alongside Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup, but the team lost 14% of their targets in Randall Cobb a year ago while both Cooper and Gallup missed time in 2019.
  48. Jerry Jeudy: Jeudy has a similar target out to Lamb, but his new teammates in Denver aren’t quite as established while his quarterback play is not nearly as strong. Just two of 17 first-round wideouts since 2015 have finished inside of the top-30 in points per game in their rookie season.
  49. Darius Slayton: Led all rookies with eight touchdowns while averaging 15.4 yards per catch. Last in targets (34) in the games he played alongside both Shepard and Tate, but first in yardage (364) and touchdowns (four) in those six games. 
  50. N’Keal Harry: A preseason injury put Harry behind on the season as he didn’t take the field until Week 11. Managed just 12 catches on 24 targets for 105 yards (8.8 Y/R) with two scores while active. 
  51. Curtis Samuel: Samuel got the volume spike we were looking for (105 targets), but his year three take-off was grounded by just 59.2% of those targets deemed catchable, the lowest rate of any receiver with 100 “opportunities” on the season. The addition of Robby Anderson limits a spike in target volume, but could move him back into a more suitable role after being archetyped as a vertical target in his early career.
  52. Justin Jefferson: After trading Stefon Diggs this offseason, the Vikings have a large void to fill at the wide receiver position. Diggs was second in the NFL in receiving yards per team pass attempt (2.42 yards) in 2019 and accounted for 30.3% of the Minnesota passing yardage, which was sixth among all wideouts. Minnesota used 11 personnel on a league-low 18% of their passing plays in 2019 (league rate was 64%), but Jefferson is immediately their No. 2 option given their shallow depth chart.
  53. Sammy Watkins: Watkins hasn’t reached 700 yards in a season since 2015 and is coming off a WR58 rank in points per game in what was a promising set up for opportunity. Somehow has only caught six touchdowns in 24 regular season games playing with Patrick Mahomes, but a 14-228-1 postseason still flashed some of the upside he still has in this offense. 
  54. Mecole Hardman: Big-play ability was prevalent with 20.7 yards per catch and six touchdown receptions from outside of the red zone as a rookie. But his role expansion may not be able to blossom well beyond the 41 targets he had a rookie with both Sammy Watkins and Demarcus Robinson returning to the team for 2020. 
  55. Antonio Brown:  He will 32-year-old at the start of the season, is not on a team, and may be suspended if he does sign on over the remainder of the summer. But if we are talking asymmetrical upside, Brown may have the most out of any wide receiver that will be available at this point of the position. Brown only appeared in one game in 2019 and ran just 14 pass routes, but was targeted eight times and scored 16.1 PPR points.
  56. James Washington: Improved on rookie season totals attached to dire quarterback play. Washington led the Steelers with 735 receiving yards while having 415 yards over the final seven weeks of the season when he played 80% of the team snaps.
  57. DeSean Jackson: What could have been… Jackson had a massive 8-154-2 game in Week 1 playing with Carson Wentz and then played 14 snaps the rest of the season. Now 33-years old, Jackson hasn’t played a full season since 2014. 
  58. Golden Tate: 49-676-6 in 11 games played, Tate’s best moments came when the Giants’ offensive depth chart was purged. Posted a 19-272-3 line in the six games he played with both Shepard and Slayton also active. 
  59. Anthony Miller: Duplicated rookie year rate stats outside of touchdown rate while jumping up to 84 targets. Week 11-15 stretch (33-431-2) showed his upside, but question remains in how many viable fantasy targets this Bears QB situation can consistently support. 
  60. Allen Lazard: The Packers didn’t draft a wideout in the draft and only added Devin Funchess in free agency, giving Lazard life as the WR2 in Green Bay. Lazard averaged 65% of the team snaps over the final 10 games of the regular season, but carried a weekly average of WR53 (8.6 points) in those games.
  61. Jalen Reagor: Reagor took a step back in 2019 attached to horrendous quarterback play, but offers a strong special teams resume right away in year one while playing alongside Alshon and DJax. The Philadelphia receiving corps was oft-injured in 2019, losing getting just three games out of DeSean Jackson and 10 games from Alshon Jeffery. 
  62. Brandon Aiyuk: After trading up in the first round to grab him, San Francisco will look for Aiyuk to take on some responsibilities that Emmanuel Sanders had over the back half of 2019 while filling any potential missed time by Deebo Samuel.
  63. Deebo Samuel: Closed his rookie season as the top wideout for the 49ers and led all wideouts in rushing yardage (159 yards with three touchdowns), just needs more overall volume from the passing offense, averaging 5.9 targets per game over his final 12 games. Samuel suffered a Jones Fracture, which has been a tough injury for wide receivers to overcome with early returns. Recent examples or extending absence and reduced production in Dez Bryant, Julian Edelman, Sammy Watkins, Marvin Jones, and Hakeem Nicks. Samuel could return by Week 1 or in September, but the odds that he will bounce all the way back right away are tough to take a chance on unless he is in this area.
  64. Parris Campbell: Campbell made it on the field for just seven games a rookie, totaling 22 touches for 161 yards and a touchdown. The Colts’ depth chart currently offers little resistance for Campbell have an extended role in 2020. 
  65. Alshon Jeffery: 30-year old wideout is coming off 49.0 yards per game, his fewest in a season since his rookie season. Has still hung on to top-40 status in per-game fantasy output in seven straight seasons, but has now played a full season in just one of the past five years and is in danger of beginning the season on PUP.
  66. Denzel Mims: The 13th wideout selected (59th overall), but has an opportunity to be a dark horse to lead rookie wideouts in opportunity year one on a shallow depth chart. Jets wideouts were in the back half of the league with 12.1 receptions (17th) for 150.8 receiving yards (21st) per game while combining for 12 touchdowns (24th).
  67. Breshad Perriman: Closed the season with five straight top-30 scoring weeks and when pressed into a large role the final three weeks of the season, had games of 5-113-3, 7-102-0 and 5-134-1. Lands in New York to fill thew void vacated by Robby Anderson (18.4% of the targets) but the Jets are likely to land a rookie wideout early in April.
  68. Dede Westbrook: Westbrook has 101 targets and 66 receptions in each of the past two seasons, but the former college burner has been relegated to ancillary slot-man status in the NFL, averaging fewer yards per catch each season while averaging 6.8 yards per target through three seasons. 
  69. Hunter Renfrow: Renfrow’s 605 yards as a rookie were more than he had in any year in college. He was a top-30 scorer in five of his final seven games played in 2019, posting a 35-490-4 line over those weeks. Raiders added a host of offensive players during the draft.
  70. Larry Fitzgerald: Fitz will turn 37 prior to the start of the season. He dipped to WR47 in points per game in 2019 while his targets per game have dropped in each of the past two seasons from the year prior.  
  71. Michael Pittman, Jr.: Big body (6’4″, 223 pounds) that the Colts lacked. Wide receiver was a problem for the Colts all of 2019. Indianapolis wideouts combined for 9.6 receptions (27th) and 120.1 receiving yards per game (28th).
  72. Josh Reynolds: The departure of Brandin Cooks leaves 72 vacated targets in the offense from a year for Reynolds to build on the 43 targets he had in his third season, but the Rams are highly likely to keep the tight end involved again after having so much success to close the 2019 season.
  73. Tee Higgins: At 6’4” and 216 pounds, where Higgins wins is distinct. 20.0% of his career catches resulted in touchdowns. Still has to play through a crowded depth chart year one, but could emerge during the season. 
  74. Steven Sims: Strictly a return man and gadget player for the crux of his rookie season, Washington gave Sims a real turn at wideout to close the season and he put up 20-230-4 over the final four games with three top-30 scoring weeks. The downside is that everywhere Sims contributed as a rookie, second round draft pick Antonio Gibson may be better at.
  75. Cole Beasley: Beasley had a career-high 106 targets, turning them into 67-778 receiving with a career-high six touchdowns despite receiving just two end zone targets. Now the No. 3 option in a low-volume passing game.