Wide Receiver Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Picks for Fantasy Football Week 1 (2025)

John's wide receiver start 'em, sit 'em picks for fantasy football Week 1 lineups (2025). Read his expert WR start/sit advice for Jaylen Waddle, Travis Hunter, Deebo Samuel, others.

The wide receiver position is always fraught with difficult start-sit decisions for fantasy managers, and this is especially true in Week 1, where much is yet to be known about players in their new landing spots, or WRs that just joined the league with the 2025 NFL Draft.

Predicting which players will perform well, other than your very early round picks in fantasy, isn't easy. That's why RotoBaller's start 'em, sit 'em picks for the 2025 season is here to help you start the right players, bringing relevant analysis and expert recommendations on who to put in your starting lineups.

I analyze deeply the film, advanced statistics, matchups, and other relevant information to make the best possible recommendations for your lineups among players that you have. So let's dive into my favorite starts and sits at wide receiver for Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season!

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Week 1 Starts - Potential Fantasy Football Booms

Travis Hunter, Jacksonville Jaguars

Hunter was selected with the second overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Jaguars, under new offensive-minded head coach Liam Coen, traded up to the No. 2 overall pick to ensure they landed the Heisman Trophy and Biletnikoff Award winner. The Biletnikoff is awarded to college football's best wide receiver.

Hunter burst onto the scene with a massive stat line of 96 receptions for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns. His remarkable final season in college came despite him playing on both sides of the ball and excelling as a cornerback. Though he'll be a two-way player in the NFL too, the Jags have made it clear -- he's primarily a WR.

Jaguars are planning to use Travis Hunter as an “every-down wide receiver and situational corner” in the season opener, per @AdamSchefter pic.twitter.com/LLV1XCacpS

— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) September 6, 2025

In a move that should have been obvious all along, the Jaguars are planning to use him heavily as a WR, while he plays limited snaps at cornerback. Hunter is now likely locked in to the Liam Coen slot receiver role, which is massively valuable in fantasy football.

Liam Coen slot receiver production history! In games before season ending injury:

2022 Cooper Kupp: 24.8 PPR points per game
2024 Chris Godwin: 20.7 PPR Points per game

2025 Coen slot receiver: Travis Hunter, Biletnikoff Award winner, 2nd overall draft pick. pic.twitter.com/WVQaiO5Z4B

— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) August 24, 2025

Not only was Hunter a wizard at winning his routes, he was sublimely talented at making contested catches. Usually, these are hard to project as translating to the next level, but Hunter's ability to make tough catches while his body is contorted and while playing through meaningful contact is remarkable.

Travis Hunter is legitimately UNFAIR at the catch point

➖ 68.8% contested-catch success
➖ Only 4 career drops

He’s so good at separating that we rarely even get to see this skill from him… pic.twitter.com/LxxWJF3fq2

— SCOUTD (@scoutdnfl) December 18, 2024

It's now absolutely clear what should have been absolutely clear from the beginning and what the Jaguars have been saying all along -- Hunter is destined for a massive role, and he has the talent and is in the perfect situation to capitalize massively and have a league-winning season.

Start him starting in Week 1 without regrets, and leave him in your starting lineups. Of course, he's a rookie, so he could have a rough start, but he should start off with a meaningful target share.

Deebo Samuel Sr., Washington Commanders

While in deep leagues, Samuel is almost certainly getting the start, in leagues of 10 or fewer teams, Samuel might be on the "start bubble" of several fantasy squads. It's probably a good idea for you to start him, and there are several reasons why.

For starters, we've seen multiple wide receivers who hold out for contract extensions have slow starts to their seasons. The Commanders' WR1, Terry McLaurin, missed much of the offseason program due to a contract holdout that was only resolved recently. It's safe to assume he'll be rusty to start the season.

Something to watch if McLaurin's holdout extends:

The WRs who held out last year were targeted less often early in the season, despite still getting separation.

Feel free to dismiss on sample size grounds, but have to wonder if this affects QB/WR chemistry. https://t.co/IeIY1tWLlX pic.twitter.com/ndNNLMyDT3

— Ryan Heath (@RyanJ_Heath) May 21, 2025

Samuel could be in line for a massive target share, even bigger than the one he'll maintain throughout the season, in the first few games of the year. He's a veteran, so he won't need time to adjust to the NFL like a rookie would. And he's in a great offensive environment.

His new team plans on using him as a runner and a receiver, and Commanders' offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is perfect for scheming up room to run after the catch on short throws. Additionally, quarterback Jayden Daniels is coming off an offensive rookie of the year campaign that featured a massive first-year breakout.

Deebo Samuel did not look slow on this jet sweep last night 💨 pic.twitter.com/sDDCJSUeTS

— brandon (@JayDanielsMVP) August 19, 2025

Samuel appears fully healthy and ready to go, so lock him into your lineups in all leagues.

Darnell Mooney, Atlanta Falcons

UPDATE: Darnell Mooney has been ruled OUT for Week 1

Mooney (shoulder) led all Falcons receivers in route separation score and route win rate against cover 3 defenses in 2024. With a matchup against the porous Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense coming up on Sunday, Mooney could have a solid day, as that team runs a very high rate of Cover 3 defensive shells.

Darnell Mooney led Atlanta Falcons receivers in Average Separation Score (0.102, WR34/122) and route win rate (13.6%, WR35) against Cover 3 in 2024.

This week, the Falcons will face the Buccaneers, who ran the highest rate of Cover 3 (46.7%) in the NFL in 2024.

— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) September 6, 2025

Last season, Mooney scored a whopping 31.5 PPR fantasy points against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5. The Falcons' passing attack absolutely gashed the hapless Bucs to the tune of 509 passing yards and four passing scores, and all Falcons WRs benefited massively from the shootout win.

Mooney racked up 18.6 PPR fantasy points the next time the two teams met, in Week 8. It seems like their defensive shells were quite beneficial to Mooney's style of play, and with the team retaining its defensive-minded head coach from last season, it seems that things aren't about to change quickly.

Mooney is dealing with a shoulder issue, though, and will be a game-time decision. It's not known how much he'll be targeted even if he does play, so there's risk in starting him, but as your flex player in deeper leagues, you could definitely do worse.

Week 1 Concerns - Potential Fantasy Football Busts

Jaylen Waddle, Miami Dolphins

This is a bit of a bold sit recommendation to make. But Miami's offense absolutely floundered last year. They transitioned from one of the heaviest deep-passing teams in the league to having its absolute lowest average depth of target on passes.

Miami's offensive line is also in shambles and is even worse off now after the departure of elite pass-protecting left tackle Laremy Tunsil. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the team's starter, seems to have transitioned to a role of getting the ball in his playmakers' hands on short and intermediate routes.

Opposing defenses also seem to have adjusted to dropping a lot of defenders back into coverage in the areas of the field the Dolphins' passing offense used to exploit to complete deep passes to WR Tyreek Hill and the deep intermediate, where Waddle would grab huge catch-and-run plays.

Miami faced a league-high 58% two-high safety coverage in Tua Tagovailoa’s starts last season.

Jaylen Waddle yards per route run vs. two-high: 2.0
Tyreek Hill's YPRR: 1.5

Colts new DC Lou Anarumo faced Miami once back in Week 4, 2022 and played 67% two-high@FantasyPtsData

— Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) September 4, 2025

Waddle's efficiency was generally better against the types of coverages that the Colts run, showing even higher efficiency than Hill. My recommendation to sit Waddle is based solely on the counterpoint that the Dolphins offense simply isn't what it once was.

Even with his great efficiency against two-high safety coverage, Waddle struggled last year in games that Tagovailoa started. Waddle's great 2022 season is long in the past, and it's possible the Dolphins make some coaching changes after this season, considering how things have gone.

Zay Flowers, Baltimore Ravens

In the one game the Ravens played against the Buffalo Bills in the regular season in 2024, Flowers scored exactly 2.0 PPR fantasy points. That isn't a good mark for a team's WR1 at all. Flowers, unfortunately, is the victim of the Ravens' primary offensive focus -- to run the ball as much as possible.

In games where running back Derrick Henry performs well, the Ravens can lean very heavily into the run game. And the Bills have had a vulnerable run defense for many seasons now. Their undersized defenders are often no match for Henry's size and speed combination.

Man of the match: Week 4 (Bills)

- Derrick Henry vs The Bills

Rush Yds: 199
Long: 87 yds
Rec. Yds: 10
TD: 2 pic.twitter.com/PWNU85HLjR

— RavensMuse (@Ravensmusee) July 11, 2025

The Ravens crushed the Bills 35-10 last season, with their defense holding strong and the run game working to perfection. In games like this, Baltimore sees very little reason to heavily target their wideouts. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson only completed 13 passes, with six of those going to running back Justice Hill.

The team ran the ball 34 times compared to just 18 passes. Baltimore's excellent run-blocking offensive line and the rushing prowess of future Hall of Fame players Henry and Jackson, both arguably the best rushers at their positions in the NFL, are too much for teams with bad run defenses to handle.

This game could be more competitive, but if the Ravens can score 35 points on the Bills while hardly passing the ball, it's hard to see them deviating from that game plan. Buffalo has a much better pass defense than rush defense, too. It's very risky to start Flowers, in my opinion, and I wouldn't do it this week.

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