2025 WR Fantasy Football Draft Strategy (Targets & Sleepers)

Everything this offseason has built up to this point.

With the 2025 Draft Kit in place as a North Star in how to play the game of fantasy football, I also know some of you are here because you want to know how I am playing drafts out myself this summer.

You want the answers to the test.

That is what this week is all about.

This is how I am approaching fantasy football drafts in 2025, continuing with the wide receiver position.

I will also update this throughout the remaining time in the offseason if we get any significant news that impacts draft approaches.

Even those with the draft kit may not have read every word written this offseason, but I am operating under the assumption you have at minimum checked out the player rankings page.

If you read only one thing, I would push you to the individual player writeups in the positional tiers posts if you haven't already.

With that in mind, these pieces will not be overly statistically centric and fully into the weeds on the pros or cons of each player, instead focusing on the approach to drafting the positions.

If you want further analysis on each player, check out those tiers, but here are some links to wide receiver-related content that has influenced our decision making.

Wide Receiver Fantasy Related Articles:

• Wide Receiver Tiers
• Wide Receiver Rankings
• Wide Receiver Production Heading Into 2025
• Red Zone Points vs Expectation: Wide Receiver
• What We Can Learn From ADP: Wide Receiver
• Stats That Matter: Wide Receiver

2025 WR Fantasy Football Draft Strategy

This opening section will reiterate many of the points we discussed with the running backs, but it is the most essential part of a structural approach in drafting.

You need to lock onto your league scoring and lineup settings before anything else.

You need to diagnose the following:

• Does your league reward receptions?
• How many wide receivers do you have to start per week?
• How many FLEX spots are there?

These are critical components of how aggressive you should be in the wide receiver position.

If you are in a league that forces you to start three wide receivers, you already inherently need more receivers on your roster than running backs.

If your league has additional FLEX positions on top of starting three wideouts, the necessity for roster allocation to the position is enhanced.

Not only do you want wide receivers in those FLEX positions in full-PPR formats because they outright score more points than running backs, but you are also building towards team strength.

In leagues that do not reward a full point per reception, running backs are in contention to fill those FLEX spots, but the backs are more of a finite resource in leagues, while baseline receivers are available as we move through the draft.

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2025 WR Fantasy Draft Approach

Suppose you have followed my work in the past. In that case, you are already aware that my preferred strategy in any leagues that reward receptions is Anchor-RB, Hero-RB, or whatever label you want to place on drafting one of the elite running backs and then hammering pass catchers.

What the Anchor-RB approach allows you to do is chase the best of both worlds.

Successful teams under this roster construction approach gain the value of having an elite running back and the leverage that player provides, while also gaining the benefits of maxing out the wide receiver position.

However, as noted with the running backs, the way that the landscape has changed this season has altered my preferred approach to drafting this year.

Anchor-RB still has a place in those full-PPR formats that require 3WR with multiple FLEX spots, but factoring the entire landscape this year, wide receiver is top-heavy, falls into an immediate lull at the WR2 tier (typically in Round 3 of 1QB drafts), and then gets strong in the WR20 to WR50 area.

That is how we are going to format our approach this season at the position.

If you don’t read on, the top-down premise at wide receiver this season is to land a Tier 1 WR, let the position breathe a bit, and then come back and hammer the position in Rounds 5 through 10.

In leagues that reduce the amount of starting wideouts or do not have added FLEX positions (a general population site like ESPN, as an example), it can be viable to keep hammering running backs and leave my last wide receiver spot as the vulnerable position to enter the season with.

While elite running back scoring dries out early in drafts, baseline wide receiver production is more abundant in the season than it will be for running backs.

Pairing that with the added element that we are still really good at identifying the area where elite running back production comes from, all that continues to steer me in wanting to jump out of the gates in attacking those workhorse running backs.

The work we have done this offseason, based on leaguewide and fantasy trends, has signaled that we are moving back to those front-end running backs holding the best draft capital.

However, we also showed that if you want to land a front-end WR1 scorer, you also have to pay up.

Yes, we have shifted towards a more rushing-oriented offensive meta and have had an influx of young talent at running back. Still, as part of that reduction in passing, teams are funneling the ball more to their featured wideouts in creative ways, which has pushed more emphasis on the importance of WR1 in fantasy.

For as reasonable and necessary as it is to land an elite running back, the same is true at the wide receiver position.

This has led me most often to opening up drafts with a running back and a wideout in the first two rounds, albeit not necessarily in that order, pending your draft spot.

This year, we have arguably our deepest tier of front-end receiver options.

I have 10 receivers in my top tier this season.

I would be happy to roster any of them as my WR1.

Your draft position matters this year in terms of how you play the front of the receiver room.

I still prefer using the 1.01 pick on Ja’Marr Chase over Bijan Robinson because those Tier 1 wideouts are usually gone when they come back to the 2-3 turn, while the running back position still often has viable options such as Bucky Irving, Chase Brown, Kyren Williams, and Josh Jacobs.

While my preferred practice this year has been splitting RB1/WR1 with my first two picks, you do have the freedom to start WR-WR if you are picking in the back half of your full-PPR leagues.

From those spots, you may not be as confident in the running backs and can grab multiple Tier 1 WR picks.

Whereas we highlighted that running back is typically stronger than wide receiver at the 2-3 turn, this is even more true at the 3-4 turn.

The 5-6 turn is often the firewall spot for running back picks I am targeting.

If you open WR-WR from those spots, you can sometimes land Omarion Hampton, while James Cook, Kenneth Walker, and RJ Harvey can be pushed with one of those picks since they are unlikely to come back to you at the 5-6 turn.

The 3-4 turn offers a ton of flexibility this year.

You often will have the option to target those backs, but that spot is a potential hotbed to grab a Tier 1 QB or even George Kittle.

The wide receivers in that area of ADP are much softer.

I have a hard time taking the likes of Garrett Wilson, Marvin Harrison Jr, Terry McLaurin, Davante Adams, D.J. Moore, DK Metcalf, and Courtland Sutton, who are often the wideouts most often going in those spots.

Especially when it comes to taking any of those names over a Tier 1 quarterback.

After the Tier 1 options, there is a short list of players at the position where I am still interested in Ladd McConkey, Tee Higgins, Tyreek Hill, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

After Smith-Njigba typically goes in drafts, I really leave the following grouping of 8-10 receivers that usually go in the third round and early fourth alone.

My wide receiver rankings differ significantly once we clear Smith-Njigba, which allows me to find the players I am targeting at better pricing than we typically have to pay.

That doesn't mean that other teams in your league will value them the same way (ADP is a guideline, not a hard rule).

But I have a laundry list of wideouts who have an ADP on the WR2/WR3 line through the WR5 area that I am targeting more aggressively compared to all of the other fantasy positions.

To reiterate, while I do want a WR1, the strength of that WR20-WR50 area of the position is the foundation of my approach at the position this year.

You can almost label things as an Anchor-WR approach this year, over the Anchor-RB approach I have most often utilized while the running back position was depressed.

I am a far more balanced drafter this year, and in many drafts this year, I may only have one wide receiver through four rounds before taking 4-6 wideouts over the following six rounds.

If I am looking for a receiver and want to jump ADP in Rounds 3 through 6, these are the players I am targeting to either reach a bit ahead of ADP on or run to the podium to pick below their ADP:

• Tetairoa McMillan
• Jaylen Waddle
• Calvin Ridley
• George Pickens
• Ricky Pearsall

If I had my way, the wide receivers I want to get in as many drafts as possible are Tetairoa McMillan and Ricky Pearsall.

Those are two players who will receive attention from your league mates as well, so if you feel like you need to jump someone to get them, do it.

I also have one more receiver I want to target in that area of drafts.

The Curious Case of Rashee Rice

This one is not as clean and requires some risk aversion, but I also want to roster Rashee Rice in more managed leagues than not.

There is some volatility here based on the timing and length of Rice’s pending suspension.

This is operating with a level of hubris, but I believe in myself as a player (and you reading all this content should instill confidence in your play) to mitigate that risk and play for the upside outcome.

Especially now that Rice is going WR25-30 on average.

I inherently play fantasy football as if I am going to be wrong, but when I do place a bet on being right, I want it to be on an event that can shape leagues.

We want to win the league.

This is why I am still bullish on Christian McCaffrey.

It is why I am still interested in Tyreek Hill when he falls.

The same is true for Rice, at a much cheaper cost.

I don’t always stack all of those on top of each other, but you get the idea.

Let’s play out a few scenarios here.

Rice plays in the first four games of the year and then serves a six-game suspension.

In that event, Rice is available for the barbell of the fantasy season (start and end).

Yes, the timing of that suspension is worse than the start of the year, since you will have experienced injuries, busts, and will have to deal with bye weeks.

However, you can also boost your odds at a hot start to the season with a discounted WR1 and end the year with him in lineups.

The other element in play is that Rice’s ADP falling also prices in the impact of Xavier Worthy playing well and Rice failing to be a locked-in WR1.

That is already pricing in one of the negative outcomes, which is him just not being as good.

The worst-case scenarios are that Rice serves a longer suspension or the timing of that suspension is delayed to the point that it bleeds into the fantasy postseason.

That outcome is non-zero enough that we have to factor it in, but I also am betting that it is on the lower end of outcomes, and he is available for gamers in fantasy crunch time.

Later Round WR Targets

Other wideouts I am higher on than the field this season in those Rounds 5 through 10 are Chris Olave, Rome Odunze, Stefon Diggs, Deebo Samuel, Matthew Golden, Cooper Kupp, Darnell Mooney, and Keon Coleman.

Paired with opening 14 wideouts we covered at the front of drafts, that is a list of 28 receivers on my short list to target over the opening 10 rounds. We are looking at coming away with five to six of those players based on how the board falls.

You may not like all of those players and may have some names of your own to layer in, but that area of the draft is where you should be hammering wide receivers when team building.

When we reach the double-digit rounds, add any of the names listed earlier that may fall.

You will see Mooney dip into this part of the drafts.

He is one of my favorite picks at average cost this year.

By all accounts, he is on track to return for the start of the season (and is being selected as a bench option if not).

I have more than once laid out that Atlanta is an offense I believe is going to be pressed into high-scoring game environments this season based on their defense and schedule.

They also have next to no receiver depth.

When Mooney and Drake London were on the field together last season, they combined for 51.3% of the team's targets.

Mooney is also one of the cheapest contingency receivers attached to a Tier 1 receiver.

Tee Higgins, George Pickens, Davante Adams, Jordan Addison, Jameson Williams, DeVonta Smith, and Travis Hunter all require viable draft capital.

The other spots are Houston wideouts behind Nico Collins and the New York backups attached to Malik Nabers.

That is why when we are at this portion of drafts, I also have Jayden Higgins and Christian Kirk on my radar.

Wan’Dale Robinson and Darius Slayton as well.

This is an area of the draft where I want to add more rookie contract receivers, since they have been the most profitable later-round picks, and we are not requiring them to be good early in the season.

Kyle Williams, Marvin Mims, Luther Burden, and DeMario Douglas are players I am watching for the end of rosters.

If you are deeper formats, we also made cases for Josh Palmer, Dyami Brown, and Tutu Atwell, checking a few boxes we look for in later-career breakouts.

With that all out of the way, make sure that you have a firm grip on your league format and settings.

Understanding your format is the most important element in building out your top-down approach.

The 2025 Wide Receiver Draft Plan

I know many of you are here just to peruse the showcase of the players that I am looking to target at wide receiver, so let’s run through it.

1. Get An Early Round WR

I wish I had something groundbreaking here, but there are 10 wideouts I would be happy to have as my WR1.

Those are: Ja’Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb, Nico Collins, Puka Nacua, Justin Jefferson, Drake London, Malik Nabers, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Brian Thomas Jr, and A.J. Brown.

After those wideouts are gone, Ladd McConkey, Tee Higgins, Tyreek Hill, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba are the remaining firewall at the position before what I view as a gap.

2. Be cautious with the wide receiver room after these names in Rounds 3 and 4 versus the Tier 1 quarterbacks and running backs.

I am a far more balanced drafter this year, and in many drafts this year, I may only have one wide receiver through four rounds before taking 4-6 wideouts over the following six rounds.

3. The strength of the wide receiver room lies in Rounds 5 through 10.

The receivers targeted after the initial list of expensive options are: Tetairoa McMillan, Jaylen Waddle, Calvin Ridley, George Pickens, Rashee Rice, Ricky Pearsall, Chris Olave, Rome Odunze, Stefon Diggs, Deebo Samuel, Matthew Golden, Cooper Kupp, Darnell Mooney, and Keon Coleman.

4. The Mid-Round WRs I want in as many leagues as possible

• Tetairoa McMillan
• Rashee Rice
• Ricky Pearsall

5. Late Round WR Targets

Anyone who falls above, plus Jayden Higgins, Christian Kirk, Wan’Dale Robinson, Kyle Williams, Marvin Mims, Luther Burden, Josh Palmer, and DeMario Douglas.

In the deepest formats, add Darius Slayton, Dyami Brown, and Tutu Atwell.

2025 WR Keeper Targets

Rookie Wideouts: All of our rookie wideouts come at affordable costs this season. Tetairoa McMillan, Travis Hunter, Emeka Egbuka, Matthew Golden, and Jayden Higgins are the top standouts. Christian Kirk, Adam Thilen, and Mike Evans are unrestricted free agents after this season, attached to those rookies.

Jaylen Waddle: Room for a bounce back following the trade of Jonnu Smith, while there are solid odds that Tyreek Hill is either not on the team at the end of the season or in 2026.

George Pickens: Has an outcome where he is this year’s Tee Higgins.

Chris Olave: The cheapest he has been since his rookie season, while New Orleans has a fluid quarterback situation to upgrade entering 2026.

Ricky Pearsall: Entering this season with an opportunity to establish himself as a player that the offense is going to build around moving forward. Jauan Jennings is currently an unrestricted free agent for 2026. Christian McCaffrey (30) and George Kittle (32) will be a year older, and we still don’t know when and if Brandon Aiyuk rebounds.

Brandon Aiyuk: This year’s injury discount. I am not counting on a huge return for him in 2025, but he could be an impact player for the fantasy playoffs and still has the early-career resume and contractual investment to bet on for 2026 being a better layout.

Rome Odunze: A slight year two discount on a first-round receiver who can bounce back under Ben Johnson. The D.J. Moore contract is hard for Chicago to get out of through 2027, however.

Rashid Shaheed: While his 2025 outlook is hampered by limitations this offense could face based on their current quarterback room, Shaheed is a hyper-efficient player who is an unrestricted free agent after the year. He could find a healthy market to upgrade in 2026 if he is openly available.