Wide receiver rankings Week 1: Where do Michael Pittman Jr., Courtland Sutton, and others rank?

Our Week 1 fantasy football wide receiver rankings have us looking at the position slightly differently than we did heading into our drafts. With matchups to consider, no longer do you immediately just start the players you drafted highest. However, making those judgments can be tough when we have no sample size from the current season. That is why our Week 1 WR rankings are here to help you, as well as identifying three players we find the most intriguing this week.

Week 1 wide receiver rankings

The rankings below are from me (Senior Fantasy Analyst, Tommy Garrett). If you want to ask any of our fantasy analysts about wide receiver rankings or streamers for Week 1, then be sure to sign up for the PFN Pass, which includes daily personalized fantasy advice through the PFN Discord server.

The table is best viewed in landscape on mobile devices and can be sorted using the filters above the table. Within the table are rankings for PPR, half-PPR, and non-PPR. In order to select your scoring system, use the filters above the table. The overall ranking is based on Superflex leagues.

Intriguing players in the Week 1 WR rankings

Each week there are different names that intrigue fantasy managers. Should you trust a different player who you didn’t plan to start? Or maybe you should consider the decision to sit a player who you drafted to be a starter. Here are three players who are intriguing in the Week 1 wide receiver rankings.

Michael Pittman Jr., IND | @ HOU

Fantasy football is all about capitalizing when good players have great matchups, and that happens in Week 1 as Michael Pittman Jr. takes on a shaky Houston Texans defense. Pittman will be Matt Ryan’s top target, which has been very fruitful for fantasy as he hyper-targets his No. 1 to the tune of 150 to 160 targets a season.

Pittman is coming off a 1,000-yard season and now gets a boost at QB and should find more success over the middle, complementing his skill set. Last year, Carson Wentz attempted 44% of intermediate throws between the numbers. For Ryan, that was 74%. This is also a boost for Parris Campbell.

Houston struggled against WRs last year, ranking 21st against the position. And while Derek Stingley Jr. will be an upgrade at corner, neither he, Steven Nelson, nor Desmond King II will be able to stop Pittman from having his first top-10 finish of the year.

Courtland Sutton, DEN | @ SEA

There was no way I could look myself in the mirror if I didn’t shine the spotlight on Courtland Sutton in fantasy football rankings the first chance I got. The coronation starts in Week 1 as Sutton and the Broncos face the Seahawks after the NFL decided to rip the band-aid off early and send Russell Wilson to his former home for the season opener.

The minute Wilson joined the team, I was all in on Sutton and every single report coming out of camp has been nothing but glowing. Sutton is Wilson’s no-doubt No. 1 target and will be his new version of DK Metcalf.

Sutton is a former 1,100-yard receiver now over a full season removed from his torn ACL. No QB was better on deep throws (20+) and had a deeper AIYA (average intended air yards) than Wilson (9.9), and Sutton dominates in this area of the field.

Seattle, while decent against receivers last year, might have one of the worst CB rooms in the NFL. They will heavily rely on Quandre Diggs to take over-the-top responsibility as Jamal Adams will have his eyes downfield. Any lack of communication could lead to six points on the board and 10+ fantasy points on your roster. One hundred yards and a score are well within the range of outcomes for Sutton as Wilson tries to put on a show on Monday night.

JuJu Smith-Schuster, KC | @ ARI

The Chiefs are a team I am fascinated to see in Week 1 due to the offseason personnel changes. Clearly, I’m talking about the trade that sent Tyreek Hill to Miami. What will this offense look like without Hill, and what is the target pecking order? All signs point toward JuJu Smith-Schuster leading this WR room.

Smith-Schuster could be sneaky good in 2022. While he missed most of last year, Smith-Schuster is just one year removed from a WR17 finish, and we know the talent is there as you don’t put up 1,400 yards by mistake. Still 25 years old, Smith-Schuster bet on himself with another one-year contract and could return to the playmaker many of us thought he could be.

In a game where the first to 35 might win it (53.5 o/u), Smith-Schuster is a solid WR3 in Week 1 fantasy football rankings with upside. He matches up favorably against Trayvon Mullen and is the preferred option over Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore.