2025 Fantasy Football Rankings: Top 5 Wide Receivers

Forbes

a day ago

After diving into the top five quarterbacks in my last article, it's time for a new position. Today, we'll be breaking down my 2025 fantasy football rankings for the wide receiver position.
Wide receiver is one of the deepest positions in the NFL, but drafting an elite wide receiver can be a massive advantage for your fantasy team. Just look at Ja'Marr Chase last year. We'll be ranking these players in a PPR format.
Last year, Ja'Marr Chase was one of the best picks you could have made in fantasy football. Chase easily finished as the WR1 on the year, scoring a ridiculous 403 points.
Chase is one of the most talented receivers in the league, and his situation stays about the same. Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins are both returning, which should allow Chase to thrive yet again.
The Cincinnati Bengals defense hasn't drastically improved, especially when you take into account that Trey Hendrickson may not play this upcoming season with a contract issue. Either way, the Bengals allowed the 7th most points per game (25.5) last year, and the offense is going to be in favorable game scenarios for Chase.
While Chase is the clear-cut WR1, CeeDee Lamb is the WR3 on FantasyPros Expert Consensus Rankings. However, with Dak Prescott returning for the 2025 season, Lamb has jumped right back into my WR2 spot.
Let's not forget that in 2023, Lamb had 403.2 fantasy points and was the WR1 in the NFL. Justin Jefferson is great, but even when he was the WR1 back in 2022, he only had 368.7.
Even with the addition of George Pickens, Lamb should dominate in targets as he's the clear WR1. What Lamb misses out on in targets, Pickens should help him make up for in efficiency. When watching the film on Lamb, it was clear that he was held back at times due to the fact that he was the only weapon on the Dallas Cowboys.
When Pickens was the WR1 on the Pittsburgh Steelers, he still only drew 103 targets. Pickens operates much better as a boundary receiver, where he uses his 6'3' and 200 lb frame to create opportunities for the wide receivers running underneath concepts. Lamb should benefit in a big way from the addition of Pickens.
If you want to rank Justin Jefferson ahead of Lamb, that's totally fine. The two are very close, and Jefferson has the safer projection. That said, when playing fantasy football, I love to chase the highest ceiling.
Jefferson was the WR1 back in 2022, and in all three years he's played 17 games, he's been a top-five wide receiver. My main question is, how will J.J. McCarthy perform in 2025?
McCarthy has yet to take an NFL snap, and I wasn't a big fan of him as a prospect. In his first year as a starter, I expect McCarthy to be a much worse quarterback than Sam Darnold, who had 4,319 and 35 touchdowns last year.
Jefferson may be the most talented wide receiver in the NFL, so he's going to give you a great season either way. McCarthy makes me worried that Jefferson may have a capped ceiling in 2025.
While Amon-Ra St. Brown doesn't have the same ceiling as Jefferson, Lamb, and Chase, he's yet to have a season below WR3 since 2022. St. Brown dominates out of the slot (43.5% rate), which means he's going to get a consistent amount of targets and receptions each year.
That said, St. Brown doesn't break off as many big plays as the receivers ranked ahead of him. In a PPR format where receptions are crucial, St. Brown is still dominant.
There's a bit of concern about the Detroit Lions losing their offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson. Now coaching with the Chicago Bears, Johnson is considered one of the best offensive minds in football. St. Brown may not give you a 400-point season, but he's going to be an elite WR1 to have on your fantasy football team.
With all of these other players, we've seen multiple years of dominance. Puka Nacua had a legendary WR2 season as a rookie but struggled with injuries last year.
Nacua was limited to 11 games due where he finished as the WR26. On a PPG basis, though, Nacua actually improved. As a rookie, Nacua had 17.6 PPG, and in year two, that jumped up to 18.8 PPG.
It's not as if Nacua has had a long list of injuries before this, and even if he did, it's impossible to predict. Nacua is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, and he's still playing with Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay.
The only worry is that the Los Angeles Rams signed Davante Adams to replace Cooper Kupp. Even though Adams is 32 years old, he played much better than Kupp last year.
Kupp had 67 receptions for 710 yards in 12 games, while Adams had 67 receptions for 854 yards in 11 games. The Rams don't have many other weapons outside of Adams and Nacua, so it's not a massive worry.
However, when we're splitting hairs between the best wide receivers in the NFL, it's enough to give Nacua a slight knock. Nevertheless, Nacua is a great player and absolutely deserves to be a top-five wide receiver in my 2025 fantasy football rankings.