Week 1 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings - Emeka Egbuka, Tyreek Hill, Travis Hunter, Tre Harris, Jayden Higgins, Kyle Williams, DK Matcalf, DJ Moore

August 25, 2025

RotoBaller's updated Week 1 fantasy football wide receiver rankings for 2025. Set your optimal lineups with our fantasy football Week 1 WR rankings and tiers.

We're getting very close to the start of the NFL's regular season, so it's no better time for our updated Week 1 fantasy football wide receiver rankings for 2025 to help you set winning lineups. Below, you will see the freshly-updated pecking order at WR for the opening week of the new NFL season, and the top WR matchups. In our WR rankings below, find out where key pass-catchers such as Puka Nacua, Rashee Rice, Emeka Egbuka, Matthew Golden, Calvin Ridley, DJ Moore, and Tyreek Hill stand, among all others.

For those of you who are still drafting, we're loaded up with 14 different types of rankings -- for example, be sure to also check out our superflex fantasy football rankings, best ball fantasy football rankings, and IDP fantasy football rankings. Whatever league format you play in, we got you covered. And stay tuned for more WR articles coming soon about Week 1 matchups including our WR/CB matchups chart.

Our WR fantasy football rankings for Week 1 are assembled by Nick Mariano, who leads the charge on all of RotoBaller's rankings. Below the rankings, you will find a summary of this week's important fantasy football news. There are always critical injuries to track, so check back until kickoff.

Week 1 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings

Bookmark our PPR rankings, Half-PPR rankings, and standard (non-PPR) rankings 

Wide Receiver Fantasy Football News

• Colts Expect Josh Downs to Practice Next Week
• Amari Cooper Signs One-Year Deal With Raiders
• DJ Moore Taking Reps as Running Back
• Jakobi Meyers Requests Trade
• Jauan Jennings Not Practicing, has Avoided IR for Now
• Stefon Diggs "Looks" Ready for Week 1
• Allen Lazard Expected to be Ready for Week 1
• Terry McLaurin Signs Three-Year Extension with Commanders
• Skyy Moore Eager for Fresh Start
• Ricky Pearsall Flashing Chemistry with QB1

Wide Receiver Fantasy Football Outlooks

Ja'Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase enters 2025 with the same team environment that supplied a season-leading campaign last year. With a healthy Joe Burrow and no defense around, Chase led the NFL in targets (175), receptions (127), receiving yards (1,708), and receiving touchdowns (17). Constantly in shootouts or playing catch-up, Cincinnati could be found atop most passing leaderboards. This allowed Chase to put up those career numbers despite Tee Higgins scoring 10 TDs in 12 games, his second straight year with only 12 games played.

Don't buy into Higgins sapping Chase's fantasy value, however. With both on the field, Chase saw 108 targets to Higgins' 107, putting up 2.54 yards per route run compared to 2.22 without Higgins. Cincy made sizeable financial commitments to both of them this March, with Chase becoming the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL. It's a deserving payday for the superstar who typically comes off draft boards as the top pick. His RotoBaller rank accurately reflects this, as any fantasy team will be fortunate to have Chase at WR1

Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua battled through a knee injury (PCL) to record 990 yards on 79 catches (106 targets) with three touchdowns last year. It was a disappointing follow-up to an incredible rookie campaign (105-1,486-6) on the surface, yet his usage remained constant. The 9.3 yards per target was identical, with a nine-percentage-point rise in catch rate that resulted in an extra reception per game. But only three TDs hurt his fantasy value, especially as Demarcus Robinson found paydirt seven times on 31 catches while Cooper Kupp scored six times across 12 games.

If variance sways his way in the red zone, Nacua could break fantasy matchups wide open in the upcoming year. That said, he'll now have to contend for RZ looks with Davante Adams instead of Kupp, with Tutu Atwell and Jordan Whittington vying for No. 3 duties in place of Robinson.

Perhaps the biggest vulnerability is relying on an aging Matthew Stafford, who has a laundry list of ailments over his long career. But there's plenty of good to outweigh the worries here.

Calvin Ridley, Tennessee Titans

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley secured 64 of his 120 targets for 1,017 yards and four touchdowns in his first season in the Music City. While catching passes from Will Levis and Mason Rudolph, the former first-round pick finished 36th among wideouts in half-PPR fantasy points per game (11.7). Ridley ranked No. 1 in unrealized air yards (1,097) and 97th in catchable target rate (59.2%). Needless to say, his quarterback situation was not conducive to fantasy production, so No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward could be a significant upgrade.

That said, despite the recent success of C.J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels, rookie quarterbacks traditionally struggle to support high-end fantasy football pass-catchers. Ridley has a wide range of outcomes in 2025, but his low-end WR3 cost in fantasy drafts makes him worth consideration.

He's the clear No. 1 option in Tennessee's pass-catching group, featuring the aging Tyler Lockett and a handful of middle-round rookie receivers. Ridley has WR2 upside due to overall projected volume, but expect plenty of down weeks if you decide to pull the trigger on him.

DJ Moore, Chicago Bears

D.J. Moore should sustain his role as Chicago's WR1 after a transformative offseason that should produce multiple improvements in the Bears' offense and increased competition for targets. The shortcomings in Chicago's coaching staff during 2024 contributed to the Bears' deficiencies on offense, but that issue should be rectified through the arrival of Ben Johnson. Caleb Williams should also operate more effectively under Johnson, while benefiting from the Bears' offseason additions to their offensive line.

Those factors could also elevate Moore's numbers beyond the results that he attained during 2024. Moore's 140 targets (8.2 per game) represented the second-highest total of his career, while his 98 receptions established a career-high.
 However, his yardage total dropped significantly when contrasted with 2023 (1,364/966), while he also registered career lows in yards per target (6.9), aDOT (7.1), yards per route run (1.44), and air yards share (25.1 percent).

Moore also finished 28th in points per game (14.0), after rising to sixth in 2023 (16.9). Moore's competition for targets will intensify after Chicago selected Colston Loveland (10th overall) and Luther Burden III (39th overall) during April's NFL draft, while Rome Odunze could exceed the 19 percent target share that he secured in 2024.

LIKE ROTOBALLER?

CLICK HERE, ENTER ROTOBALLER.COM, THEN CHECK THE BOX

More Fantasy Football Analysis