These Wideouts Could Finish as WR1 in 2025

The NFL expanded to a 17-game regular season in 2021. Looking at the four seasons since, there have been four different players to finish as the overall wide receiver on a fantasy points-per-game basis in PPR. Here’s a quick look at some of the numbers involved in doing so:

So, who is it going to be in 2025? There hasn’t been a player to finish as the overall WR1 in back-to-back seasons since Antonio Brown did it in 2016 and 2017. In fact, he did so in 2014 and 2015, as well. A lot of the same names remain in the mix in 2025 as they did in previous seasons with some rising stars to consider.

The following tiers of wide receivers aren’t a set of rankings. This is just a look at players with a chance of finishing as the overall WR1 for the 2025 fantasy football season. The players in the tiers below are just wide receivers with the ability to top the position in their range of outcomes, some much more than others.

Follow along with the rest of the series: QB | RB | TE (still to come!)

Fantasy WR1 Candidates in 2025

Tier 1: The Favorites

Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals
Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings

Ja’Marr Chase will look to defend his title as the overall WR1 after signing a massive four-year, $161 million extension this offseason. The elephant in the room here is that teammate Tee Higgins also signed an extension, with a total value of $115 million over four years. Higgins has played in just 12 games in each of the last two seasons. The question here is whether a full season from Higgins would cap Chase’s potential to repeat as the overall WR1.

According to our NFL Splits Tool, Chase has played just 15 total games without Higgins, including playoffs, since 2021. Believe it or not, there is generally no difference for Chase as far as targets, yards or fantasy points per game in whether Higgins is playing. In fact, looking at 2024 specifically, Chase actually averaged 12.57 more yards, 0.28 more touchdowns and 3.32 more PPR points per game on a similar target share with Higgins on the field. Chase carries minimal risk and should arguably be the first overall pick in every draft.

Justin Jefferson carries the same risk going into 2025 as he did last season. It’s all about the quarterback. There was some hesitance to select Jefferson in 2024 with questions as to whether 21-year-old rookie J.J. McCarthy or veteran Sam Darnold would be under center. After McCarthy’s season-ending knee injury in camp, it was clear Darnold would be the starter. That felt like a significant downgrade from Kirk Cousins in the four seasons prior.

Jefferson recorded a 103/1,533/10 receiving line on 154 targets in 2024 with Darnold. He has a career average of 9.48 targets, 6.42 receptions, 96.8 yards, 0.5 touchdowns, and 19.7 PPR points per game since entering the league 2020.

McCarthy is set to be the Week 1 starter in Minnesota. That gives him a full off-season and training camp to connect with Jefferson. The Vikings also have one of the league’s top offensive lines heading into this season, as well, giving McCarthy plenty of protection. There may be concerns that the Vikings lean into their run game a bit more in 2025. That shouldn’t matter too much as Minnesota ranked 18^th in pass attempts per game (32.2) in 2024. It’s hard to imagine them throwing any less than that. When they do, Jefferson is hands down the top target.

Tier 2: The Contenders

CeeDee Lamb, Dallas Cowboys
Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit Lions
Malik Nabers, New York Giants

CeeDee Lamb has three straight season of more than 150 targets. Unfortunately, Lamb has only had one full season playing with quarterback Dak Prescott during this time. Prescott missed five regular season games in 2022, played all 17 in 2023, and missed nine in 2024. It’s very much worth noting that Lamb actually scored the most total fantasy points (367.7) in 2023. He finished just 0.8 points per game shy of the overall WR1 behind Tyreek Hill who played in one less game.

The addition of George Pickens to the offense could be a slight ding to Lamb’s 2025 value. While I do think Lamb should keep his streak of 150-plus targets alive, Pickens should command 100 or more of his own. Lamb may actually see a better quality of target even if the volume isn’t overwhelmingly high. If you wanted to put Lamb in Tier 1 with Chase and Jefferson, there’s a strong case to be made. Fantasy managers should have a valuable opportunity to select Lamb in the middle of Round 1 behind Chase, Jefferson and a handful of running backs.

Amon-Ra St. Brown has finished as a top-10 wide receiver in points per game in each of the last three seasons. That includes top-five finishes in both 2023 and 2024, though he never inside the top-three. St. Brown did break out at the end of his rookie season in 2021. In Weeks 13-17 that season, St. Brown was the WR3 with 25.0 points per game behind only Davante Adams and Cooper Kupp. That was before Jameson Williams (2022), David Montgomery (2023), Jahmyr Gibbs (2023) and Sam LaPorta (2023) joined the offense.

In 2025, the Lions’ potent offense will be without former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, now the Bears head coach. His replacement, John Morton, was an offensive assistant under Johnson with the Lions in 2022. Morton spent the last two seasons as the passing game coordinator for the Denver Broncos. So, there’s a return of some familiarity for St. Brown in what should be a similar system lending to similar success.

Malik Nabers fits a lot of the criteria needed to be the overall WR1. He averaged a league-high 11.3 targets per game as a rookie. His 170 targets in 15 games still accounts for a 30.6% target share on last year’s Giants offense. Nabers’ competition for targets is no different in 2025. The biggest change is quarterback. Whether it’s Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston or rookie Jaxson Dart, they should all be looking to Nabers any chance they get. The volume and talent are there for Nabers. He could run away as the overall WR1 with competent quarterback play.

Tier 3: The Underdogs

Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams
Brian Thomas Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars
Nico Collins, Houston Texans

Puka Nacua entered the season with a knee injury suffered in early August. He then went down in Week 1 and was placed on IR with a knee sprain, not returning until Week 8. From that point on, he was the WR4 with 19.8 points per game. He established himself as the top target for the Rams, especially alongside a declining Cooper Kupp In 2025, Nacua will have a much stronger competition for targets in Davante Adams, with Kupp gone. While both have a shot to be top-12 fantasy wide receivers, Adams likely lowers Nacua’s chances at being the overall WR1.

After the Jaguars traded up to select Travis Hunter with the second overall pick, Brian Thomas Jr. has significant competition for targets in 2025, as well. Both Thomas and Hunter should be major factors in former Buccaneers’ OC Liam Coen’s first season as the Jaguars head coach. Consider, too, that Evan Engram, Christian Kirk and Gabe Davis are no longer on Jacksonville’s roster.

Thomas didn’t play more than 80% of snaps in a single game until Week 9 last season. He then did so until the end of the season. Thomas didn’t log 10 or more targets in a single game until Week 13. He then did so until the end of the season. We haven’t seen close to what his ceiling could be, and he still finished as the WR12 on a points per game basis as a rookie.

Per StatsHub, only three wide receivers averaged over 3.0 yards per route run last season: Puka Nacua (3.5), A.J. Brown (3.3) and Nico Collins (3.0). Only two players have recorded an average of over 3.0 yards per route run twice in the last four seasons: Tyreek Hill (2022, 2023) and Collins (2023, 2024). Collins is an obvious talent, but he has yet to reach an elite level of overall production. He has an average of 7.7 targets per game over the last two years, of which he missed seven total games.

As a result, Collins has career highs of just 109 targets, 80 receptions, 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns, all during C.J. Stroud’s 2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign. The Texans added rookies (and former Iowa State teammates) Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel to the offense this season. They’re no more of a threat to Collins than Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell were at the start of 2024. Additionally, Houston has a new offensive coordinator in Nick Caley, who spent the last two seasons in smaller roles with the Rams. A lot needs to go right for Collins to take the next step, but the potential is there.

There are a few darkhorse overall WR1 candidates who come to mind. If the Steelers sign Aaron Rodgers, then DK Metcalf’s stock should be up. Garrett Wilson has the potential for a career-best season with Justin Fields, though the Jets should be a run-heavy team. Drake London creeps into the back end of Tier 3 as more of an underdog in Michael Penix Jr.’s first full season as the starter quarterback.

London finished third among wide receivers in total targets (157) last season. He is one of just six wide receivers with 100 or more receptions from the 2024 season. More specifically, Penix started the final three games of the season. Penix attempted 100 total passes in his three starts. London was targeted on 39 of those 100 attempts. At 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, London serves as a big, trustworthy pass catcher for Penix especially in the red zone. London could see an insane amount of volume with Darnell Mooney, Ray-Ray McCloud and Kyle Pitts still in place as his most notable competition for targets.