The Top 25 Fantasy Football WRs in 2020
We're rolling on with our fantasy rankings this week. I've already churned out DSTs and TEs. Here's the schedule the rest of the week:
Thursday 10:30am - RBs
Friday 10:30am - QBs
But without further ado, here are my top 25 Wide Receivers heading into the 2020 Fantasy Football season and a couple of sleepers:
Sleeper: Jerry Jeudy – the Broncos loaded up their offense for Drew Lock and Jeudy is a guy who has been called the best route runner in a decade. His teammates are already raving about how quickly he gets in and out of cuts and nothing translates as quickly as route running. I’m looking for him to make an immediate impact and approach 1,000 yards with about half a dozen scores in his rookie season.
Bonus Sleeper: Bryan Edwards – The 3rd round rookie has reportedly really impressed in camp and Tyrell Williams is now out for the year. Look for Edwards to be a streaming fantasy play this year with keeper potential.
25) DeVante Parker – I’m not as high on Parker as most are. In Weeks 1-8, Preston Williams was actually the leading target getter. The difference thereafter was Williams got hurt. And unfortunately for fantasy owners who draft Parker high with big expectations, Williams has been practicing and is due back for Week 1. So be careful when looking at his 1,202 yard 9 TD 2019 performance.
24) Jarvis Landry – ole reliable. You can even bump him up a little for PPR. He’s still only 27 and if we’re counting on Baker Mayfield bouncing back, Odell Beckham Jr. and Austin Hooper won’t be the only ones getting a bump. Landry is good for 80 catches and about half a dozen tudders.
23) Stefon Diggs – He’s been a 1,000 yard receiver the past two years and has some of the filthiest releases you’ll ever see off the LOS. He goes from a conservative offense in Minnesota with an accurate QB to a conservative offense with an inaccurate QB in Buffalo. That being said, it’s hard to imagine Diggs not making it three straight years with 1,000 yards. If John “Smoke” Brown can be 60 catches 1,060 yards and 6 TDs in Buffalo, there is no reason to think Diggs can’t be better.
22) Keenan Allen – Mr. Consistency the past three seaons with 97-104 catches for 1,199 – 1,393 yards and 6 TDs each year. But no Philip Rivers anymore. The Chargers will run the ball a lot and Tyrod won’t have as many passing yards as 2019, but Allen operates mainly in the slot and will be Taylor’s best friend. I don’t think he’ll have an enormous drop off in numbers, so 1,000 yards & 6 TDs seems safe for him.
21) Terry McLaurin – He missed two games but was only 81 yards short of 1,000 yards in his rookie season. He had 7 TDs also, but the concern would be that 5 of those TDs came with Case Keenum under center. Dwayne Haskins weill be in his second system in as many years and hopefully he can gel a bit more with his college teammate in 2020.
20) Calvin Ridley – Take a look at Mr. Consistency's numbers his first two seasons: 2018 - 92 targets, 64 catches, 821 yards, 9 TDs. 2019: 93 targets, 63 catches, 866 yards, 9 TDs. Now Year 3 is typically the breakout year for Wide Receivers and Ridley seems to have a relatively stable floor. Take him here and reap the gains.
19) Courtland Sutton – Another guy who broke out in his 2nd year and earned a trip to the Pro Bowl. The Broncos added a ton of weapons on offense this off-season, so you certainly worry about mouths to feed (see: my sleeper), but Sutton is a big-bodied big play threat in an explosive offense.
18) Cooper Kupp – It was a tale of two halves of the season for Kupp who started off his first eight games with 792 yards and 5 TDs, but in the final eight games he had 369 yards and 5 TDs. He didn’t have a single 100 yard game the final 8 games. Coincidentally the Rams moved to more 12 personnel in the 2nd half of the season. Rams HC Sean McVay is expected to implement more of that which could limit Kupp’s ceiling this season.
17) D.K. Metcalf – The other half of two of Ole Miss’ Nasty Wide Outs (now), Metcalf had 58 catches for 900 yards and 7 TDs as a rookie. But he came on towards the end of the season and in the playoffs with huge games like his 7 catch 160 yard 1 TD game in the wild card round in Philly. The arrow is pointing up for Metcalf to have a big year.
16) D.J. Chark – Chark broke out with 1,0008 yards & 8 TDs in 2019 and is moving into his 3rd season, which is typically a big jump for WRs. Looking forward to seeing him as Gardner Minshew’s #1 WR in a season in which they expect to be playing catch-up a lot. Remember, hollow, garbage time yards still count the same as regular yards.
15) A.J. Brown – Brown was a big play waiting to happen in his rookie season. He only had 52 catches but that was good for 1,051 (20.2 YPC) and 9 TDs. The Titans are a run based offense, but Brown finds a way to make plays. So while he’s less volume dependent, his YPC obviously shows he makes his catches count. The Titans locked up QB Ryan Tannehill for three more years so look for Brown to continue to grow.
14) Adam Thielen – He’s coming off an injury plagued 2019 that limited him to just 10 games. But he’s only 29 years old and his main competition for target, Stefon Diggs has left town. He hasn’t slowed down as his YPC actually went up by 1.7 last season. Look for him to bounceback in 2020.
13) JuJu Smith-Schuster – Let’s throw out 2019 for JuJu entirely. He was going into his 3rd season coming off a 111 catch, 1,426 yard, 7 TD season. He missed four games and only had 552 yards and 3 TDs in 2019, but he was catching passes from Duck Hodges and Mason Rudolph. This is crazy buy low territory. He’d be a fantastic WR2 on your team.
12) Allen Robinson – He had 154 targets last season and cashed in with 1,147 yards and 7 TDs. They Bears didn’t add any big time competition for targets outside of Jimmy Graham and rookie TE Cole Kmet, so he should be a target monster again no matter who in under center in the Windy City.
11) Odell Beckham Jr. – OBJ stunk last year, but he still churned out 1,035 yards and 4 TDs. Definitely not what his fantasy owners were hoping for based on his draft status, but we’re again hoping on a Baker Mayfield bounceback and Odell has gone back to the blonde hair to feel like his old self. But he had the 4th most end zone targets of all WRs, so I’m eyeing a return to greatness while also being cautious rating of WR11.
10) Amari Cooper – He’s been a different player since arriving in Dallas and I’m expecting the Cowboys to explode. He had plantar fasciitis all year and still had 1,189 yards and 8 TDs last season. I’m viewing that as a floor for 2020.
9) Julio Jones – He’s the best Wide Receiver in the league in my opinion, but I’m also not neglecting that he’s on the downside of his career. He’s never been a huge TD scorer which limits his fantasy upside. Despite his immense talent, at this point in his career I wouldn’t feel crazy confident with him as my WR1.
8) D.J. Moore – He also wasn’t a big TD scorer last year with 4, but he gets a bit of a pass considering he had an inept QB situation. Teddy Bridgewater is unquestionably an upgrade at the position. He’s going into that key year 3 and the arrow is pointed firmly up on this demon in the open field:
7) Chris Godwin – I actually had Godwin ranked as high as 5th a couple weeks ago, but he’s missed a few practices dealing with an undisclosed injury. Assuming he’s good to go for Week 1 and beyond, he should have a huge year. He plays a lot in the slot and that is where Tom Brady likes to go with the ball. He’s also in a contract year and just gave up #12 to the G.O.A.T. for free, so I’m pretty sure Tom is going to be paying him back on the field.
6) Kenny Golladay – He actually had three fewer targets in 2019 than 2018 but produced 1,190 yards and 11 TDs. He did this playing with Matthew Stafford for only half a season. With Jeff Driskiel and David Blough throwing passes he didn’t see a big decline in production. With Stafford’s expectations being pretty high going into the year, I see a big year for Golladay.
5) DeAndre Hopkins – Nuk is now in the desert with the Cardinals. There are a lot of darkhorse MVP chatter about Kyler Murray. I would even say he’s the most exciting player in the league, but his 6.9 YPA throwing the ball suggests he’s more of a dink and dunker. In Houston, Hopkins got fed the ball early and often by Deshaun Watson who only really had other viable options when Will Fuller was healthy, which wasn’t often. Kingsbury’s offenses has traditionally spread the ball around, so while Hopkins is a stud receiver, I’d don’t see him surpassing last year’s line of 104 catches, 1,165 yards & 7 TDs by much.
4) Mike Evans – I had him below Godwin previously, but everything I’ve been seeing is him clicking with Tom Brady on deep balls and in the end zone. Evans will be the best Wide Receiver TB12 has had since Randy Moss in his prime and the ceiling is enormous. A repeat of his 2018 numbers (86 catches, 1,524 yards, 8 TDs) seems very feasible.
3) Tyreek Hill – The Cheetah broke his clavicle last season and missed some time, failing to reach 1,000 yards. But he was healthy for the playoffs and dominated. 2018’s 87 catch 1,479 yards and 12 TDs seems like a floor if he can play all 16 games.
2) Davante Adams – Adams was banged up a lot of last season and didn’t get on track until late in the year. He finished 2nd last year (10.6) to Michael Thomas (11.6) in targets per game and the Packers did nothing to enhance his competition for targets. Look for around 1,400 yards and 14 scores if healthy.
1) Michael Thomas – 185 targets that resulted in an NFL record 149 catches. Yes, Drew Brees will be 41, but I’m not seeing anybody stopping this connection. Thomas works the short and intermediate areas best and that matches what Brees does best. While he only had 9 TDs last year, I’d look for him to get double digit tudders in 2020 further cementing his WR1 status.
See you back here tomorrow at 10:30am for my top 25 Runningbacks for the 2020 Fantasy Football season.