The 2024 fantasy football season is now over. Hopefully, there are many champions among our readers, but before a bunch of you check out until the summer, let’s take a way-too-early look at what the top 12 wide receivers for 2025 fantasy leagues might look like.
2025 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings
1) Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals
Wide receivers massively underwhelmed in 2024, but don’t include Ja’Marr Chase among them.
The Cincinnati Bengals’ WR1 led all non-quarterbacks with 23.7 fantasy points per game and won the WR triple crown — leading the league in receptions, yards, and receiving touchdowns.
Cincinnati’s defense won’t be as bad next year, but Chase remains a supreme alpha playing with one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
2) Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings
It speaks volumes about Justin Jefferson that “only” averaging 18.7 fantasy points per game feels like a down year. The perennial WR1 caught 103 passes for 1,533 yards and 10 touchdowns.
There’s really not much to say about Jefferson. He’s a sure thing with an incredibly high floor and overall WR1 upside.
3) Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Puka Nacua finished as the overall WR1 in 2025. In fact, I will probably predict it in a future article.
Nacua’s usage was incredible this year. If you remove the game in which he got hurt and the other when he got ejected, Nacua’s 17-game pace would have put him on track to earn 200 targets.
He’s an elite talent with the perfect QB in the perfect system. There’s no 1a/1b debate with Cooper Kupp anymore. Nacua is the 1.
This season, Nacua averaged 18.8 fantasy points per game, but that bumps up to 21.8 ppg if you remove the two games he did not finish.
4) CeeDee Lamb, Dallas Cowboys
For the first time in his career, CeeDee Lamb did not average more fantasy ppg than the previous season. Of course, that was to be expected after he averaged 23.7 ppg in 2023.
Playing half the season without Dak Prescott and through a sprained shoulder, Lamb still managed to average 17.6, though. He saw a 27.3% target share and was targeted on nearly 30% of his routes run, maintaining his status as an elite WR1.
5) Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit Lions
Before the 2024 season, I described Amon-Ra St. Brown as the safest player in all of fantasy, and that’s exactly what he was.
St. Brown posted 11 games with 18+ fantasy points, which was about his average (18.6 ppg), and mixed in a couple of underwhelming games with two mega explosions.
The 2025 Detroit Lions offense is going to look a lot like the 2024 Lions, which looked much like the 2023 version. St. Brown epitomizes reliability and is once again a worthy mid-to-late first-round selection.
6) Nico Collins, Houston Texans
Entering 2024, there were some wondering if Nico Collins’ 2023 breakout was a fluke. Now, we have our answer.
Collins followed up his breakout with an even better 2024. The Houston Texans’ WR1 was a clear alpha, having led the team in target share and being C.J. Stroud’s favorite player to go to.
Collins averaged 17.55 fantasy points per game in a Texans offense that really took a step back following Stroud’s stellar rookie season. Houston should bounce back in 2025, which gives Collins 20 ppg upside.
7) Malik Nabers, New York Giants
Think about everything that worked against Malik Nabers as a rookie. He caught passes from three different quarterbacks — Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, and Tommy DeVito — none of whom are viable NFL starters. And yet, he still managed to break the record for rookie receptions (which was subsequently broken by Brock Bowers later that day) despite missing two games.
Nabers averaged 18.2 fantasy points per game, which not only led all non-Jayden Daniels rookies but was good for WR5 overall.
There’s simply no way Nabers’ situation can be worse in 2025. Somehow, I actually think what he just did is close to his floor. I fully expect Nabers to be in the No. 1 overall pick conversation after next season.
8) Brian Thomas Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars
If you told the fantasy world last August that two of the 2024 rookie wide receivers would end up inside the top 10 heading into 2025, no one would’ve thought you were crazy. If you said Marvin Harrison Jr. wouldn’t be one of them, fantasy managers would’ve been arguing over who the other guy could possibly be.
It’s ironic that Harrison had the best QB and offensive situation playing with Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals, yet it was Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. playing with some of the NFL’s worst quarterbacks who not only overcame but excelled beyond all expectations.
Thomas had about an even split between Trevor Lawrence and Mac Jones. He averaged 14.9 fantasy points per game with Lawrence but an incredible 19.7 ppg with Jones.
We often see rookie WRs start to figure it out over the second half of the season. Thomas was a league winner in every sense of the term, posting games of 32.5, 28.2, and 23.9 during the three weeks of the fantasy playoffs. You can bet fantasy managers remember that.
With Lawrence likely not going anywhere, QB play will once again be a net negative for Thomas. Nevertheless, Thomas demonstrated elite talent and upside and looks to be a mainstay in the ranks of the WR1s for years to come.
9) Drake London, Atlanta Falcons
Last year, we paid for the Drake London breakout in advance, and he delivered. After two years outside of the top 40, London averaged 16.5 fantasy ppg and finished as the WR13 overall.
Toward the very end of the season, London demonstrated impressive rapport with rookie QB Michael Penix Jr. That connection will only improve as Penix gets a full offseason as the Atlanta Falcons’ clear starter, which means London should be even better in 2025.
10) A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles
A.J. Brown is such a difficult player to buy into. It has nothing to do with his talent — that’s there in spades. The problem is he keeps carrying a valuation near the top six wide receivers despite never demonstrating an ability or any semblance of 20 ppg upside.
No one is getting upset over their WR1 producing WR1 numbers. Brown does that every year. But he’s now 28 years old, and we know who he is.
Brown is someone who has averaged between 16.7 and 17.7 fantasy points per game in four of the past five years. Add in the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense runs through Saquon Barkley, as evidenced by their league-high 53% neutral game script run rate, and Brown can’t be a high-volume wide receiver.
In 2025, we should expect the same Brown we’ve seen for the past half-decade. He’s a WR1, but his ceiling is about WR6.
11) Rashee Rice, Kansas City Chiefs
I am quite confident I will be on an island with Rashee Rice, at least to start. His early-season injury kind of put him out of sight, out of mind, but lest we forget what Rice was doing before Patrick Mahomes launched himself into his knee.
Rice posted games of 17.3, 18.5, and 29.1, respectively, with an average of just under 10 targets per game.
Xavier Worthy came on strong late in the season, but his production was mostly layup targets with the Kansas City Chiefs scheming him the ball. A healthy Rice won’t be threatened by Worthy, and there will be plenty to go around for both of them.
As managers may recall, the Chiefs want to reduce Travis Kelce’s role if he even returns for another season. With all of their receivers healthy in 2025, they’ll be able to do that. Regardless of whether Kelce, Hollywood Brown, or DeAndre Hopkins come back, Rice is going to be the alpha.
We still have the specter of Rice’s looming suspension hanging over us, but I will factor that in once the NFL shows any indication they will punish him.
12) Tyreek Hill, (Probably Not) Miami Dolphins
It’s safe to assume Tyreek Hill won’t be playing football for the Miami Dolphins in 2025. After all, I can’t remember a wide receiver ever being so blunt in wanting out.
Hill is now 31 years old but certainly looks far from done. His 13.4 fantasy ppg in 2024 were a career low, but that had more to do with the disastrous QB situation than anything else. With Tua Tagovailoa, Hill still averaged 15 points per game, but with Skylar Thompson and Tyler Huntley, he sunk to 10 ppg.
Wherever Hill ends up, he should still be the alpha. Of course, landing spot will matter.
Nevertheless, based on Hill’s comments following the first year of his career in which his team did not make the playoffs, he wants to win. Thus, it stands to reason he will join a team with a good quarterback, and therefore, I’m willing to rank him under that assumption.