Veteran WRs Who Might Lose Their Jobs During the 2025 NFL Draft

As we look at the 2025 rookie wide receiver class, there are probably 4-6 wide receivers who will take meaningful snaps and push aside an established veteran. While this wide receiver class isn’t as strong or as deep as the running back class, there are still some veteran wide receivers who stand to lose their jobs on draft night.

I am going to keep it to wide receivers taken on Day 1 and 2 of the NFL Draft. That is not to say Day 3 players can’t make an impact; I am just looking to keep things consistent and straightforward for the sake of this article.

While it’s fair to argue that those wide receivers don’t hold the current value of, say, Chase Brown or Tyrone Tracy Jr., who both warranted mention in the RB version of this article Tuesday, there are certainly some wide receivers who people are counting on in April who just might be riding the bench come September. 

WRs Who Could Lose Their Job in the 2025 NFL Draft

Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders

Kicking this list off with Meyers, as likely the top wide receiver to lose their job on draft night, tells you right away that this will have more of a real-life football impact than a fantasy one. Meyers has been a respectable fantasy asset for the last three years, finishing as a top-28 wide receiver in the previous three years and finishing WR23 last year. He’s eclipsed the 100-target mark in each of the past two seasons, logging 129 targets and an 87% snap share last year — that’s a key role in any offense.

While everything is pointing toward phenom running back Ashton Jeanty going to the Raiders at pick 6, stud rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan currently sits at the fifth-best odds of landing in Las Vegas. Hayden Winks of Underdog notes that not only did McMillan have an official visit with Las Vegas, but assistant Brennan Carroll — now on staff in Vegas — was his OC at Arizona in 2023, where McMillan posted a 90-1,402-10 line. He’s is an elite option and may be too much for the Raiders to pass up with freshly extended Geno Smith and a new front office. 

McMillan landing in Las Vegas would likely not hurt Meyers’ snaps as much as the target share, as Brock Bowers and McMillan would be a dynamic 1-2 punch. Like the rest of this list, you are probably not going to get much of a haul for moving the veteran wide receiver in your dynasty league, but these are things to keep in mind as you approach your drafts and roster management.

Even if the Raiders pass on McMillan, they also sit as picks 37 and 68, putting them in range to draft a wide receiver with the talent to make Meyers a clear third option on this ascending offense.

Stefon Diggs, New England Patriots

While Diggs likely has a safer role when competing against a Day 2 rookie wide receiver, the Patriots have the fourth overall pick and are squarely in range to add Travis Hunter, the 2024 Heisman and Biletnikoff winner (college football’s best wide receiver). I’ve mentioned in past articles that it’s more likely Hunter ends up a full-time corner with part-time wide receiver duties. It doesn’t mean a team won’t turn him into a full-time wide receiver. I have been wrong before.

Diggs’ appeal is that he has no one to compete with and looked more than serviceable in limited work with the Texans. Adding a blue-chip prospect like Hunter would certainly hurt Diggs’ stock and reduce him to more of a flex-level or matchup-dependent play. The Patriots certainly have a terrible track record of drafting wide receivers, but Hunter is one of the best wide receiver prospects and overall players in this draft, and that can be tough to turn down.

The Patriots should absolutely look to add a wide receiver on Day 2 if they pass on Hunter at pick 4 and will likely target one with their trio of Day 2 picks. The Patriots currently have the 38th, 69th and 77th picks. There will be some quality rookie wide receivers available, but I would likely be more concerned about their ability to earn a role than Diggs losing his to a Day 2 guy. 

Khalil Shakir/Keon Coleman/Joshua Palmer, Buffalo Bills

While it’s tough to know which wide receiver exactly will lose their job, the muddiness of Bills’ wide receiver room casts some doubt on draft night for this group of veterans. Khalil Shakir is probably the safest of the three. His role is most likely safe regardless of who is selected at pick 30, but Coleman and Palmer are in prime spot to be warming the bench. 

With no real alpha wide receiver in the room, some really intriguing names could be available at pick 30 if a handful of teams ahead of the Bills pass on the position. Travis Hunter won’t be available, and Tetairoa McMillan will likely not either, but whoever the Bills have as their rookie WR3 could easily be staring them in the face at pick 30. 

Nothing Coleman or Palmer has shown us should lead us to believe their roles are safe. Rookie receivers Matthew Golden and Emeka Egbuka could easily take on a lead role in this Josh Allen-led offense. 

Jayden Reed/Romeo Doubs/Dontayvion Wicks, Green Bay Packers

Much like the Bills’ wide receiver room, no Packers wide receiver has been able to separate himself from the pack and prove to be a true No. 1 wide receiver. The fantasy community will lead you to believe Jayden Reed is the guy — I do not doubt his talent, but the Packers are the ones making the selection, and they have made it clear they do not see Reed as a full-time wide receiver. Reed is the safest of the three, but Wicks and Doubs are primed to be unseated. It is clear the Packers need more offensive firepower to compete with the high-firing offenses of the NFC North, even Josh Jacobs has publicly suggested there’s no alpha in that receiver room.

Picking at 23, 54 and 87, I could easily see the Packers grabbing a talented wide receiver on Day 2, leaving Doubs and Wicks to fight for scraps and snaps. 

Quentin Johnston, Los Angeles Chargers

It’s fair to say Johnston has fallen short of expectations after going No. 23 in the 2023 NFL Draft. The disastrous TCU-to-NFL wide receiver pipeline strikes again. And it’s not like he hasn’t been given opportunities; the opportunities have been plentiful. Johnston has just dropped the ball (pun intended). 

Justin Herbert is the future, and while the Chargers struck gold in the 2024 NFL Draft with Ladd McConkey, they have virtually no one behind Johnston. The Chargers pick at 22, 55 and 86, and while we know Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman lean run-heavy, the Chargers were about league average in pass rate last year and likely stay balanced in 2025. They need to add another pass catcher alongside McConkey, and all three picks in this upcoming draft are squarely in play to grab their WR2 of the future.