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Justin's rookie wide receivers to avoid in 2025 fantasy football leagues. His potential first-year WR fantasy football busts in redraft leagues, including Emeka Egbuka and more.
Rookie wide receivers tend to be a mixed bag in fantasy. There are always going to be some guys who break out, but others will take a bit to get going.
Who are the rookie wideouts who fantasy managers want to steer clear of in 2025 fantasy football drafts? These are guys who either find themselves on a team where targets will be hard to come by, or they're projects that aren't quite ready to reach their potential.
Here are some rookie wide receivers whom fantasy managers should avoid in 2025. These are all players drafted on Day 1 or Day 2 of the NFL Draft, since listing a bunch of sixth-round picks as fades would just be boring.
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Emeka Egbuka, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Emeka Egbuka was one of the top receivers in this class, and he landed somewhere that should be good for his long-term viability. However, he's likely to begin his career much more slowly than the other Day 1 receivers.
That's because Egbuka was drafted by Tampa Bay, a team that already has veterans Mike Evans and Chris Godwin at receiver. While both players continue to get older and should be less effective in 2025 than they have been in past seasons, that doesn't change the fact that the duo is locked in as Tampa's No. 1 and No. 2 options this season.
Emeka Egbuka here taking kick return reps: pic.twitter.com/r3thJIyzBa
— River Wells (@riverhwells) May 10, 2025
Egbuka has dynasty upside, but he'll begin his NFL career fighting with Jalen McMillan for snaps in Tampa Bay. I like Egbuka, but considering how McMillan looked toward the end of last season, I'm not convinced Egbuka is just going to step into that role. It's going to be a fight between the two for snaps and targets.
Jack Bech, Las Vegas Raiders
Jack Bech has a chance to be a really good slot receiver in the NFL. He's a hard-nosed receiver who isn't afraid to work through contact in the middle of the field. He can be the kind of chain-moving workhorse who thrives in full PPR leagues.
The problem for Bech right now is that the Raiders offense is a work in progress and we're likely to see the team go with a very run-oriented approach after drafting Ashton Jeanty in the first round.
Add in that Jakobi Meyers and Brock Bowers are the top two targets for quarterback Geno Smith and you get a situation where it's tough to really see where Bech's opportunities will come from.
The good news is that Vegas lacks wide receiver depth beyond Meyers, Bech, and Tre Tucker, so we should see the rookie out of TCU on the field plenty. However, that doesn't necessarily mean a ton. High snap rates don't always translate into production. Even if Bech gets on the field, it will be hard to earn targets in an offense that will likely rank fairly low in passing volume.
Isaac TeSlaa, Detroit Lions
Time for some brutal honesty: Detroit drafting Isaac TeSlaa was one of my least favorite picks of the NFL Draft.
The ninth receiver off the board in April's draft, TeSlaa was ... well, let's just say he wasn't one of my top 10 receivers in this class. I'm not sure he was one of my top 20 receivers.
He also joins a Lions team where he'll struggle to produce early on. Detroit has Amon-Ra St. Brown locked in as the team's No. 1 receiver while Jameson Williams has developed from solely being a big-play threat into someone who can produce on a fairly consistent basis.
TeSlaa reminds me a bit of Williams in that sense. The rookie out of Arkansas flashed big-play potential in college, but needs to show he can go out there and make plays on a weekly basis.
New Lions WR Isaac TeSlaa has some shocking movement skills and route running for a guy with such little production. pic.twitter.com/lsSTsKHheQ
— Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) April 26, 2025
There's also tight end Sam LaPorta, who hit a bit of a sophomore slump in 2024 but is still one of the top young tight ends in the NFL. Oh, and let's not forget a dominant run game. There are a lot of players ahead of TeSlaa in the pecking order.
With all that in mind, it's just tough to see what kind of role TeSlaa can have in this offense in 2025. Maybe he's long-term insurance if the Lions lose Williams, but that doesn't impact his 2025 fantasy value. He'll be battling with Tim Patrick and Kalif Raymond for the No. 3 receiver role.
Jaylin Noel, Houston Texans
The Texans entered the draft with a big need at wide receiver. With Tank Dell's injury issues and Stefon Diggs' departure, the team needed a true No. 2 outside receiver to join Nico Collins and Christian Kirk.
They found that player in the second round, drafting Iowa State wide receiver Jayden Higgins. Then, one round later, they took another ISU wideout, drafting Jaylin Noel.
The 5-foot-10 Noel could develop into a great weapon out of the slot for Houston, but with Kirk manning that role in 2025, we're going to be waiting a year or two for that to happen.
There could be a chance Noel pops up as a decent fantasy play late in the season, whether by a Kirk injury or just by slowly siphoning off Kirk's snaps, but that's not a scenario that fantasy managers need to be thinking about this far ahead of time.
Houston's decision to invest heavily in the receiving game this offseason is great news for quarterback C.J. Stroud, but it makes it tough to project fantasy value in this receiver room. Nico Collins is a WR1, but beyond that, the Texans receivers are mostly just low-floor lottery tickets.
Savion Williams, Green Bay Packers
The Packers had this problem where their roster had a lot of receivers on it, but none who they were sure could be the guy. After adding Matthew Golden in Round 1, it appears the team might have solved that issue.
But using a third-round pick on another receiver felt like a weird allocation of resources, with the team drafting TCU's Savion Williams.
Williams is a project receiver. He has the size and physical ability to be a very good wide receiver, but he has so much he still needs to refine, from route running to simply making sure that when the ball hits his hands, he actually catches it.
The good news for Williams is that he won't be thrown directly into the fire in Green Bay. In addition to Golden, the team's receiving unit features Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, and Dontayvion Wicks. Christian Watson is on the team, too, though it's unclear when he'll be back from his torn ACL.
Williams will have time to develop on the Packers bench. That's good for his long-term future, but it's not good for any fantasy managers who thought they'd get production out of him in 2025.
Tai Felton, Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings have one of the best one-two punches at wide receiver in the NFL with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, but the team entered this offseason without a clear No. 3 guy.
Third-round pick Tai Felton has a chance to be that guy, but fantasy managers shouldn't be counting on the rookie to make much of an impact in his first NFL season.
There are plenty of reasons to doubt Felton. First is just how tough it's going to be to earn targets on a team with Jefferson, Addison, and tight end T.J. Hockenson. At best, Felton enters 2025 as the No. 4 option, and that's assuming he beats out Jalen Nailor for snaps.
Next in the list of reasons to fade Felton? Minnesota's quarterback situation. The team is turning the reins over to J.J. McCarthy, who missed his rookie season with a torn meniscus. McCarthy could be fine, but there's also a huge amount of uncertainty with how this passing attack will look.
Tai Felton had one of the craziest touchdowns you will EVER see pic.twitter.com/ohDGdLZvv7
— Cam (@42Cyc) April 26, 2025
Finally, there's the fact that he might not be quite ready for the NFL. He only had one year of real elite production in college and needs to improve his strength if he wants to excel in the slot against NFL defenders. Maybe this will pay off in a couple of years for the Vikings, but Felton's unlikely to do much as a rookie.
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