Best/Worst WRs
Ten wideouts, five rounds, one question each time: who's worth the pick, and who isn't? Here's the case for and against, round by round.
Round 1: Ja'Marr Chase (CIN)/CeeDee Lamb (DAL)
Chase proved he doesn't need Joe Burrow to be great, while Lamb keeps sharing his own red zone with George Pickens. To be clear, Lamb is still an elite draft pick, he’s just capped more than the other Round 1 receivers.
Chase finished as the overall fantasy WR5 despite Burrow missing much of the season with a Week 2 turf toe injury, forcing Chase to catch passes from backups for long stretches.
Lamb extended his streak to five straight 1,000-yard seasons but slipped to WR17 overall, and the his 3 total touchdowns were a sign of how much George Pickens hurt his upside in 2025.
Pickens returns to Dallas on the franchise tag for 2026, meaning the same red-zone competition that capped Lamb's touchdown total carries right over into this season.
Chase's ability to produce elite numbers through total instability makes him the safer bet at the top, while Lamb's ceiling still depends on how often Pickens beats him to the end zone.
Round 2: A.J. Brown (NE)/Drake London (ATL)
Brown gets a fresh start with an MVP-runner-up quarterback, while London still has to share touches with one of the league's most productive receiving backs.
New England acquired Brown from Philadelphia for a 2028 first-round pick, ending the trade saga and making him Drake Maye's new WR1.
Maye finished as NFL MVP runner-up in 2025, completing 72% of his passes with a league-leading 8.9 yards per attempt… easily the best quarterback situation of Brown's career.
Bijan Robinson's 100 targets last season creates a persistent ceiling on London’s target share, and Atlanta's quarterback picture (Tua Tagovailoa on a one-year deal) remains a genuine wildcard.
Brown steps into the most target-friendly setup of his career, while London's ceiling hinges on an unresolved QB situation and how much volume Robinson keeps siphoning away.
Round 3: Nico Collins (HOU)/Zay Flowers (BAL)
Collins gets one of the friendliest schedules in football, while Flowers is stuck fighting an offense that simply won't throw enough.
Collins' schedule jumps from 10th-easiest in 2025 to 4th-easiest projected in 2026. It’s one of the most favorable slates for any receiver in the league.
CJ Stroud, DeMeco Ryans, and OC Nick Caley are all back, giving Collins the same quarterback and play-caller continuity that's made him Stroud's clear WR1 for three straight seasons.
Flowers' is hurt by Baltimore's 27th-ranked passing yardage, and the Ravens' 2026 schedule projects as the 7th-hardest in the league.
Collins profiles as one of the cleanest high-upside WR1s at his price if he stays healthy, while Flowers will need special efficiency just to overcome his own offense's reluctance to pass.
Round 4: Emeka Egbuka (TB)/Jaylen Waddle (DEN)
Egbuka inherits Tampa Bay's WR1 job outright, while Waddle walks into a crowded, unproven target competition in Denver.
With Mike Evans now in San Francisco, the vault lists Egbuka as "the consensus favorite to step into the undisputed primary receiving role" in Tampa Bay for 2026.
As a rookie, Egbuka posted 40 catches for 677 yards and 6 touchdowns through his first nine games and finished 2nd in the NFL in unrealized air yards a big efficiency ceiling still untapped.
Waddle was traded to Denver for a 2026 first, third, and fourth-round pick, but he's now set to battle Courtland Sutton for the top receiving role, among other more established targets in Denver.
Waddle is already dealing with muscle strains that have kept him out of workouts.
Egbuka gets a clean runway to lead a passing game from Week 1, while Waddle has to win a target competition and build new chemistry before his role is settled.
Round 5: Terry McLaurin (WAS)/Jameson Williams (DET)
McLaurin gets an offense built around him and a healthy quarterback throwing him the ball, while Williams' production is directly tied to whether Sam LaPorta is on the field.
New OC David Blough intends to build the 2026 offense around McLaurin, targeting a career-high 10 targets per game, while Jayden Daniels returns aiming to recapture his near-elite 2024 form.
McLaurin ranked 13th in yards per route run (2.29) and 9th in yards per catch (15.3) in 2025 despite a quad injury limiting him to 10 games… he enters 2026 fully healthy.
There’s a real red flag for Williams: with LaPorta active, his targets per game fall by 2.5 and his receiving yards drop from 80 to 52.5… and new OC Drew Petzing's tight-end-heavy scheme could lean into exactly that tendency.
McLaurin looks like a strong WR2 with real target-share growth on the way, while Williams' ceiling depends entirely on how often Detroit's offense features him over its tight end.
Five rounds, five verdicts. Draft accordingly.
-Joe