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This year's rookie wide receiver class was one of the most hyped ones in recent memory and the draft itself proved that, as 17 were taken in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft.
Now that we have landing spots for the top rookies, it's time to think about how those landing spots impact the players going forward.
So, let's re-rank the rookie receivers for fantasy leagues based on what we know after the NFL Draft.
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Pre-Draft Rookie Wide Receiver Rankings
I'm one of those people who wait until after the draft to actually rank rookies, so I don't have rookie receiver rankings of my own to compare my new ranks to. So, to get a sense of where these receivers were at before, let's look at what our site's rankings looked like. These were the final pre-draft rookie rankings from Pierre Camus , Andrew Lalama, Brandon Murchison and Phil Clark.
- Garrett Wilson
- Jameson Williams
- Drake London
- Treylon Burks
- Chris Olave
- Skyy Moore
- George Pickens
- Jahan Dotson
- Christian Watson
- John Metchie
Are all of those 10 names still in the top 10? Is there a new No. 1? Let's re-rank the wide receivers…
1. Drake London - Atlanta Falcons
Honestly, the top three were close before the draft and remain close after the draft, so don't judge me too harshly if someone else outperforms London this season.
Atlanta is a great place for a young receiver because the other wide receivers currently on the roster are Auden Tate, Olamide Zaccheaus, KhaDarel Hodge, Damiere Byrd...you know what, we don't need to finish this list.
Kyle Pitts will see a lot of targets, but there's still likely around 100 targets that'll go London's way. Hard to bet against that level of involvement when we're discussing rookie wideouts.
2. Jameson Williams - Detroit Lions
The torn ACL that Williams suffered could wind up impacting his availability this season, though signs point to him being back by training camp, which is why I have him ranked here.
The Lions have an okay quarterback situation with Jared Goff. I think the biggest issue last year was that Amon-Ra St. Brown was basically their only talented wide receiver. Williams will really help this offense out. I can see him getting somewhere around 90 targets if healthy.
3. Garrett Wilson - New York Jets
Let's all welcome Garrett Wilson to the complete mess that is the New York Jets receiving room!
The Jets have Corey Davis and Elijah Moore, plus Denzel Mims is still on the team—even though he's been incredibly disappointing—and Braxton Berrios is hanging around.
Wilson's combine performance suggests that the concerns about his speed were overblown, so now we turn to concerns about his route running. London and Williams feel more pro-ready at this point than Wilson, but if he can adapt to the NFL quickly and Zach Wilson makes a second-year leap at quarterback, then his ceiling is as high—if not higher—than any other receiver in this draft.
4. Treylon Burks - Tennessee Titans
Part of me wanted to push Burks higher than fourth. I think the gap between the top three guys and Burks shrunk tremendously due to where Burks landed.
Burks has been a contentious player throughout the draft process. He's got great hands and is a physical player, but he's not super fast and he's likely best suited for the slot, which limits his ceiling.
But looking at 2022, Burks joins a team where the other top receiver is Robert Woods, who is coming off of a season-ending injury and will be learning a new system, and the other top receiver is Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. Burks will step into a huge target share immediately.
(I'm assuming if you're reading this that you know the Titans traded away A.J. Brown.)
5. Chris Olave - New Orleans Saints
I like Olave a lot. Great route runner. Smart player. I don't think he has the same ceiling as the top three, but he's going to be a really consistent NFL receiver for a long time.
I worry about the landing spot, though.
Jameis Winston is a few years removed from last being a full-season starting quarterback, so we have to hope that he can still put up numbers like he did in Tampa to support his weapons. And then there's the fact that New Orleans has Michael Thomas—for now, at least. Thomas commands 100-plus targets if he's healthy, so unless he misses another season or gets dealt, Olave's target upside is capped.
6. Skyy Moore - Kansas City Chiefs
Skyy Moore dropped a lot lower than most people expected in the draft, but I'm not sure it really matters when it comes to fantasy because he ended up with a team that had a huge need at receiver and an elite quarterback.
Moore being undersized is probably part of why he dropped. But with Marquez Valdes-Scantling and JuJu Smith-Schuster on the outside and Travis Kelce taking most of the defensive attention up the middle, Moore is going to be able to eat on short/intermediate routes. He can also be used in some of the gadgety ways that Tyreek Hill used to be used.
7. Christian Watson - Green Bay Packers
The Packers continued their streak of not taking a skill position player in the first round, but they did grab Aaron Rodgers some help in the second round.
The North Dakota State product has a great combination of speed and size, though there are some obvious concerns about the level of play he's faced and how quickly he'll be able to adapt to the jump in competition in the NFL. But he's a good route runner who should earn Aaron Rodgers' trust pretty fast. If I was doing a theoretical "second half of the 2022 season rookie wide receiver rankings" article, I'd probably have Watson a couple spots higher. Just think there's some risk of him starting a little slowly.
8. Jahan Dotson - Washington Commanders
Washington traded up for Dotson, which is a good sign for him. I don't really trust this Washington offense enough for me to think Dotson will have a lot of fantasy value from the jump, but he's a productive receiver who'll excel in the slot.
Give it a month or so for Dotson to find his footing in an offense that also features Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel trying to carve out roles and will be working in a new QB in Carson Wentz, but I expect Dotson to be a really solid fantasy player over the second half of 2022.
9. George Pickens - Pittsburgh Steelers
Pickens has some of the highest upside in this receiver class, but since we're looking exclusively at 2022, we've got to weigh in some factors. One is injuries—not even necessarily the possibility of future ones but just the fact that injuries limited him to just five catches this season for Georgia. He's a couple seasons removed from his electric 2019 season and I wonder if Pickens is going to take longer to get going than some other guys.
Another limiting factor is that he's playing on an offense that'll either be quarterbacked by Mitchell Trubisky or Kenny Pickett, and that already has Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool to feed. Still, Pickens' upside puts him in this top 10, albeit last out of the nine receivers that I would consider to be a step above the rest of this class.
10. David Bell - Cleveland Browns
As I just said, there are nine clear top guys in this class for me. This meant when putting together a top 10 list, I had to figure out who deserved the 10th spot.
I landed on Bell. The Browns likely won't have Deshaun Watson for much of this season because he'll likely get suspended, but Jacoby Brissett is a good second option at QB who can get the ball to his guys. In terms of competition for targets, there's Amari Cooper, and then there's guys like Donovan Peoples-Jones and Javon Wims and Jakeem Grant, who...aren't really the biggest competition. Bell, who isn't the most athletic guy but who can produce solid stuff all over the field, should be able to have a role pretty quickly in Cleveland.
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