5 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Winners From the 2025 NFL Offseason

May 19, 2025

Andrew Ball's fantasy football offseason winners and risers at wide receiver. His top WRs who gained value and 2025 fantasy football draft targets.

A relatively weak rookie and free-agent class at wide receiver made the list of offseason losers short.

Quarterback upgrades and vacated snaps make the winners stand out.

Below, we look at offseason winners at the wide receiver position, who at least maintained their long-term value following replacement concerns.

Calvin Ridley, WR, Tennessee Titans

Tennessee's wide receiver depth chart, as it currently stands, isn't impressive.

The new regime in Tennessee replaced touchdown machine Nick Westbrook-Ikhine with Van Jefferson (on his fourth team since 2023) and 32-year-old Tyler Lockett. Former first-round pick Treylon Burks caught four passes in five games last season. A pair of day three draft picks joined the fold: Florida's Chimere Dike and Stanford's Elic Ayomanor. It's the Calvin Ridley show.

Calvin Ridley might have 500 targets this season pic.twitter.com/KCCs9Mic6J

— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) April 27, 2025

Not to say it wasn't a similar case last season. Ridley more than doubled Westbrook-Ikhine in the yardage department (1,017 to 497) and commanded 50 more targets than the next pass-catcher, tight end Chig Okonkwo (120 to 70).

But the biggest boon to Ridley's stock is the changes to the quarterback room. 2023 second-round pick Will Levis was a disaster, committing more giveaways than touchdowns and leading Tennessee to a 2-10 record in 12 starts. Veteran quarterback Mason Rudolph filled in the gaps, whether due to Levis' injuries or benching. He was marginally better (1-4 record) with a one-to-one touchdown-to-turnover ratio.

Just 71 out of Ridley's 120 targets were catchable (59.2%), and he led all wide receivers in unrealized air yards. As much as he was involved in the offense, getting the football in his hands was challenging.

While first overall pick Cam Ward should help in that department, the offense is still a work in progress. That places Ridley as a safer-than-last-year WR3 heading into the summer.

Jakobi Meyers, WR, Las Vegas Raiders

Jakobi Meyers has increased his fantasy points per game every season of his professional career, yet remains perpetually underappreciated by the fantasy community. Last year's WR19 is currently being drafted at the end of the WR3 range.

Jakobi Meyers in 2024:

87 REC
1,027 YDS (68.5 YPG)
4 TD

Career-highs in receptions and receiving yards. pic.twitter.com/wP2zFXClnV

— StatMuse Football (@statmusefb) April 1, 2025

And that's because the Raiders could shift to a ground-based offensive attack with Ashton Jeanty? Or because the team spent a second-round draft pick on receiver Jack Bech?

The positives outweigh the negatives. Yes, the Raiders added Bech (and fourth-rounder Dont'e Thornton Jr.), but out of necessity. Tre Tucker and DJ Turner aren't part of the franchise's long-term plans. Meyers may not be, either, as he's entering a contract year. But that's even more motivation to compile another strong campaign to earn a bag from Las Vegas or another franchise.

None of the above receivers will usurp Meyers as the second option behind tight end Brock Bowers. Meyers is, and will be, Geno Smith's go-to at the wide receiver position.

Speaking of Smith, he's the best quarterback Meyers has played with since his rookie season. It's not a hard bar to clear (late-career Cam Newton, Mac Jones, Aidan O'Connell, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Gardner Minshew II). Amazingly, Meyers accomplished all he has with that ragtag group under center.

Smith averaged a completion percentage over 67% in games under Pete Carroll in Seattle, a notable increase over the 63.6% O'Connell, Minshew, and Desmond Ridder averaged in 2024. Meyers saw a 71% catchable pass rate. Jaxon Smith-Njigba (78%), Seattle's most similar receiver to Meyers, held a much better rate in 2024 and did it with Smith in 2023 as well (76%).

Smith averaged 33.4 pass attempts per game in his two starting seasons in the Pacific Northwest. That number could remain consistent under offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who has slowed down his pace since his days coaching the Eagles and 49ers. It could cause Meyers' total targets to slip, but he can make up for it by securing accurate attempts.

Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall, WR, San Francisco 49ers

As of this writing, the (healthy) 49ers receivers may be the biggest values in redraft leagues.

Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall are ranked and being selected behind Brandon Aiyuk. This will change as Week 1 approaches, given that Aiyuk is unlikely to be healthy to begin the season after tearing his ACL and MCL in October.

By the end of his San Francisco tenure, Deebo Samuel Sr. was a fraction of the weapon that made him an All-Pro in 2021. He's now in the nation's capital, clearing the way for snaps for other receivers.

Pearsall, a first-round pick in 2024, started his debut campaign on the NFI list due to a gunshot wound during a botched robbery attempt in late August. He missed six games and was bound for a quiet rookie season. When given the opportunity, however, he soared above projections, recording 5.5 receptions, 80.25 yards, and 0.75 touchdown splits in his four starts. Although it's a small sample size, we got a glimpse of his potential in San Francisco's final two games (8-141-1, 6-69-1) once he adjusted to the NFL game.

Jennings, a former seventh-round pick, was the bigger surprise. He more than doubled his previous career-high marks in receptions (77) and yards (975) en route to a WR24 finish (14 PPR points per game) in 15 appearances. His fantasy points per game jumped to 17.36 in the 10 games without Samuel or Aiyuk.

"If you ask Jauan, he says 'I'm number one. And that's his mindset, and that's why we love Jauan. That's how he sees himself. He sees himself as a dominant player." - Klay Kubiak, San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator

Brock Purdy will soon be locked in as San Francisco's franchise quarterback (with an extra $50M a year to boot), keeping continuity and familiarity in the offense. Tight end George Kittle and running back Christian McCaffrey remain among the NFL's top weapons at their positions. A good NFL offense is always good for fantasy football.

Because of San Francisco's injury-riddled 2024 season, the 49ers have the easiest strength of schedule entering the new year. The 49ers won't face any of last season's top 11 scoring defenses.

Cedric Tillman, WR, Cleveland Browns

Is Cedric Tillman a priority target in redraft leagues this year? No.

Is his dynasty value still intact after an offensive overhaul in Cleveland? Yes.

The 2023 third-round pick gave us the briefest of flashes during his second season. During a four-game stretch (Weeks 7 through 11), Tillman was always on the field, scoring three touchdowns, and averaged 10 targets and 18.6 PPR points per game (WR7). Head coach Kevin Stefanski and then-quarterback Jameis Winston made him an offensive priority.

Cedric Tillman weeks 7-11 (post-Cooper trade/pre-injury):

🔸24 rec./302 yards/3 TD
🔸 75.5 receiving grade
🔸20.1% target share
🔸23.8% first-read share

Ready to watch this guy put it all together in year 3 📈📈📈

🎥 via @Ihartitz
📊 vis @PFF pic.twitter.com/07ZNi115jS

— SleeperBrowns (@SleeperBrowns) April 2, 2025

Wide receiver is the only position Cleveland didn't make big changes to in the offseason. The Browns drafted their future starting running back in the second round, Quinshon Judkins, and added a complementary piece, Dylan Sampson, in the fifth round. Nick Chubb, third on the franchise's career rushing list, isn't likely to return to the team.

Tight end David Njoku remains on the roster and will likely be second in the target department behind Jerry Jeudy. He has new competition in rookie Harold Fannin Jr., a finalist for the John Mackey Award, given to the nation's best collegiate tight end.

That's a lot of offensive firepower selected in the NFL Draft, but they notably didn't add any rookie wide receivers. The only new face in the locker room is veteran Diontae Johnson, on his fourth team in a year. He replaces Elijah Moore, who is now a member of the Buffalo Bills.

Tillman won't be drafted as more than bench depth (currently in the WR6 range) because of the quarterback room. Former first-round pick Kenny Pickett, the odds-on favorite to take the first snap in Week 1, failed out of Pittsburgh with a touchdown rate under 2 percent. Joe Flacco was a fantasy league winner the last time we saw him in orange and brown, but didn't carry that momentum into Indianapolis, and he's now in his 40s. The other options are two rookies, third-round pick Dillon Gabriel and fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders.

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