Alpha Fantasy Football Wide Receivers to Chase in 2025

Frank Ammirante's alpha wide receivers to target in 2025 fantasy football leagues and drafts, including Garrett Wilson, DJ Moore, and Zay Flowers.

While having a bell-cow running back who gets a high volume of touches is always a plus, it's also a good idea to have an alpha wide receiver on your roster as you try to build a contender for a fantasy football championship. These are pass-catchers who can earn targets at a high rate, providing you with a combination of weekly floor and ceiling.

In this article, I'll choose five alpha wide receivers to target for 2025 fantasy football leagues. I'm not going to include the usual candidates like Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson, or even Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. The five wideouts I'm focusing on are polarizing and debatable among the community.

With that in mind, find out why I'm targeting Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, DJ Moore, Zay Flowers, and Chris Olave. These are some of my favorite targets at WR, especially if you went RB-heavy earlier in your drafts. There's a strong combination of floor and upside here.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings (redraft)
• Dynasty fantasy football rankings
• 2025 NFL rookie fantasy football rankings
• Best ball fantasy football rankings
• Quarterback fantasy football rankings
• Running back fantasy football rankings
• Wide receiver fantasy football rankings
• Tight end fantasy football rankings

Alpha Fantasy Football Wide Receivers to Target

Garrett Wilson - WR, New York Jets

Underdog ADP: 28.7 (WR15)

Garrett Wilson has proved to be a high-volume target earner for each of his three seasons, putting up at least 140 looks every year, including 168 in 2023. Last season's slight dip was only because the Jets traded for Davante Adams, who Aaron Rodgers force-fed the ball for the rest of the year.

BEAUTIFUL sideline catch by Garrett Wilson at practice today, & even better job of keeping his feet in 🤌🏻#Jets | 🎥 @nyjets pic.twitter.com/1cvXmNNhzN

— Harrison Glaser (@NYJetsTFMedia) July 29, 2025

With Rodgers and Adams gone, expect new starting quarterback Justin Fields to pepper Wilson with targets. Remember that DJ Moore was able to have 136 targets with 14.2 yards per reception with Fields at the helm.

While the Jets will have a run-heavy offense, Wilson's target competition consists of Josh Reynolds and Allen Lazard at wideout as well as rookie tight end Mason Taylor. Expect to see Wilson put up a career-high in target share this year.

Let's say you started your draft with Bijan Robinson and Chase Brown in the first two rounds. In this RB-heavy build, Wilson would fit nicely at the top of the third round.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba - WR, Seattle Seahawks

Underdog ADP: 32.6 (WR17)

Jaxon Smith-Njigba showed why he was a first-round pick in the second half of last season. From Week 9 onward, JSN put up an impressive 27.5% target share, which ranked 13th among wideouts with at least 50 targets during that stretch.

Weeks 9-18:

Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 15.0 PPG (WR10)
Drake London: 13.8 PPG (WR14)

You can get JSN 15 picks later than London.

— Frank Ammirante (@FAmmiranteTFJ) June 4, 2025

Now, the Seahawks traded away DK Metcalf and replaced him with Cooper Kupp, swapping a deep threat for a slot wideout who doesn't win on the perimeter.

With Kupp specializing in the slot, we're likely to see an expanded role for JSN. Think back to his massive game vs. the Rams last year, where he caught 7-of-13 targets for 180 yards and two touchdowns, consistently making plays downfield. We're likely to see more of that in 2025, with JSN dominating targets for Sam Darnold and the Seahawks.

It also helps that Klint Kubiak is now the offensive coordinator. Remember how good the Saints looked when healthy at the beginning of last year? That was Kubiak putting on a clinic.

DJ Moore - WR, Chicago Bears

Underdog ADP: 43.4 (WR23)

DJ Moore is coming off a disappointing season, but he still put up a 26.6% target share. The former Panther has now racked up 135+ targets in three of the last four years. Despite Rome Odunze's projected improvement and addition of Luther Burden III, we should expect Moore to continue to be the WR1 in this offense.

Bears coach Ben Johnson on using WR DJ Moore out of the backfield: "He's really receptive to it." Says Moore is great with the ball, so getting it to him any possible way is a positive.

— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) July 29, 2025

As a yards-after-catch threat who can win underneath, we could see new head coach Ben Johnson use Moore similarly to Amon-Ra St. Brown. There have already been camp reports that state Moore is going to see backfield usage. Providing manufactured touches to a playmaker like Moore bodes well for his fantasy value.

Expect quarterback Caleb Williams to take major strides in his development with Johnson as his new play-caller, as well as an improved offensive line. That means we're likely to see much better efficiency from Moore this year after seeing his yards per reception plummet from 14.2 to 9.9 in 2024. I'm betting on a bounce-back for the 28-year-old wideout.

As someone who likes going RB-heavy with two in the first three rounds, Moore is one of my top targets to ride with a player with a track record to fill out my WR room.

Zay Flowers - WR, Baltimore Ravens

Underdog ADP: 54.5 (WR30)

Zay Flowers hasn't provided much more than boom-or-bust production as he's been held back by a run-heavy offense, but this is a talented wideout coming off a season where he registered an impressive 25.4% target share.

Zay Flowers

#24 in slot snaps in 2024

44 more targets in 2024 and 44 more in targets in 2023 than any other Raven

Top 15 in YAC the last 2 szns as a playmaker

Lamar Jackson is coming off of a career-year through the air. A bump in yards + TD's could be the breakout pic.twitter.com/qnP39kp46l

— Skrip (@P2WFantasy) July 27, 2025

While the Ravens are going to remain run-heavy, it's not out of the realm of possibility to see improvement from a player who is entering his age-25 season and has shown elite separation skills with target-earning ability.

Even if we get more of the same volatile production from Flowers in his third NFL season, you're still taking a player in an elite offense who has spike-week potential. This is a bet on an ascending talent in a hyper-efficient offense.

The best spot to take Flowers is in a full-PPR format where you loaded up on running backs earlier in your draft.

Chris Olave - WR, New Orleans Saints

Underdog ADP: 63.4 (WR34)

Chris Olave is coming off an injury-plagued season, but this is a wideout who has posted a 25.1% target share back when he was healthy in 2023. The former Ohio State standout can win downfield as well as within the underneath to intermediate passing game.

Chris Olave is WR9 in yards per route run since entering the NFL

Ahead of Ja'Marr Chase, Davante Adams, Drake London pic.twitter.com/dimpL9QAdS

— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) July 21, 2025

With new play-caller Kellen Moore taking over as head coach, expect Olave to see more layup targets, which is what the former offensive coordinator did for CeeDee Lamb in Dallas and Keenan Allen in Los Angeles. This bodes well for Olave's fantasy value, as he was held back by uncatchable targets downfield.

While the Saints are likely to get erratic quarterback play from Tyler Shough or Spencer Rattler, this is a team that's going to be playing from behind quite often, resulting in more passing volume and more looks for Olave.

At WR34, you're getting one of the cheapest prices on a player who is the heavy favorite to lead his team in targets. The question on Olave is health, not talent. Trust in Moore to scheme up some good spots for Olave en route to a profit at ADP.

More Fantasy Football Analysis