The talent pool for the Wide Receiver position in the NFL has exploded in recent years. Offenses in high school and especially college are more wide open and aerial, which is developing quarterbacks and receivers at a more advanced rate than ever before. NFL rule changes that favor passing attacks combined with more pro-ready receivers have created a surplus at the position. Teams are loading up on receiver talent, however being at the top of their team’s depth chart does not necessarily mean they are a true WR1.
Michael Pittman Jr., Courtland Sutton, and Amari Cooper are all examples of receivers who are listed and paid as WR1, but do any of them demand double coverage regularly? Or can they even beat double coverage consistently? A true WR1 tilts the field and is game planned against weekly. Players like Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb and Davante Adams are at the top of the class of wide receivers today. Each week, their offenses game plan is to repeatedly feed them the ball and even though defensive coaches know it, they still can’t stop them. That is the identity of a true WR1 – someone who can still make the play when everyone knows the ball is coming their way.
There are more WR1s in the league, but some of them have help from their WR2 counterparts. AJ Brown, Ja’Marr Chase and Tyreek Hill are all without question legit WR1s, even though they have WR2s who can help draw coverage away from them. DeVonta Smith, Tee Higgins and Jaylen Waddle are very good receivers who make their respective WR1s even harder to defend. That begs the question, would these WR2s be true WR1s if they were on another team and didn’t have the coverage being drawn away from them? Recent history indicates that they would not.
In 2017 JuJu Smith-Schuster was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He went on to have a good rookie season with a receiving line of 58/917/7 (rec/yds/tds). In his 2nd year he exploded for 111/1426/7 averaging 89 yards per game and was voted team MVP. This was all done opposite Antonio Brown who at the time was one of the top wide receivers in all of football and coming off 4 straight All-Pro seasons. Prior to the 2019 season the Steelers and Brown had a falling out and Smith-Schuster became the de facto WR1. Now drawing the double teams and being the offensive focal point, the pressure was on Smith-Schuster. In his next 3 seasons in Pittsburgh, he only averaged 48 yards per game, proving that he was never a true WR1. Since then, JuJu Smith-Schuster has bounced around the league and is currently a free agent.
In his short 3-year career, Amon-Ra St. Brown has already amassed 315 catches for 3,588 yards and 21 touchdowns and solidified himself as the main focal point of the Lions passing attack. Other young players like Puka Nacua, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and Nico Collins are well on their way to matching his success, but for different reasons just are not there yet. Nacua and Wilson already have defenses game planning against them, they just need to show the consistent ability to stay healthy and productive. Collins has the unfair disadvantage of sharing targets with so many other talented weapons while Olave has battled injuries and inconsistent QB play.
There are a few receivers with new homes this year who hope to make an impact and prove themselves as WR1s. Calvin Ridley and Diontae Johnson find themselves with new teams and are heading up their respective depth charts, but it remains to be seen if either will catch on as consistent game changers. Johnson spent 5 years in Pittsburgh but only managed a single 1,000-yard season while Ridley quit football, then returned to be suspended for gambling before being traded to Jacksonville and then signed with Tennessee this past offseason. D.J. Moore recently found success with new surroundings. In 2023 he was traded from Carolina to Chicago where he enjoyed breakout success with 96 catches for 1,364 yards and 8 touchdowns despite the constant QB woes for the Bears. Changing the game the way that Moore did in 2023 without consistent QB play magnifies his ability as a true WR1.
Tee Higgins appears to be playing his last season in Cincinnati. As I mentioned before, he has benefited from having an elite receiver on the field with him in Ja’Marr Chase. It appears to be the consensus that he will go on to be a WR1 next year with his new team, but I have my doubts. He may not have the fall from grace that Smith-Schuster has suffered, but I don’t see him as a game changer once the defensive focus is solely on him. Higgins falls under the category of a “WR1.5” – a receiver who is between a true WR1 and a WR2. They may be talented enough to earn the WR1 spot on the depth chart, but not the talent to be a dynamic game changer at the position. Below you will see Higgins and other notable receivers that I ranked in tiers according to where I believe they fall on an overall depth chart.
2024 WR Tiers
| WR1 | WR1.5 | WR2 |
|---|---|---|
| DeVante Adams📉 | Brandon Aiyuk | Keenan Allen |
| Amon-Ra St. Brown | Nico Collins📈 | Tank Dell |
| AJ Brown | Amari Cooper | Stefon Diggs📉 |
| Ja’Marr Chase | Tee Higgins | Chris Godwin |
| Mike Evans | Cooper Kupp📉 | DeAndre Hopkins📉 |
| Tyreek Hill | Terry McLaurin | Diontae Johnson |
| Justin Jefferson | DK Metcalf | George Pickens |
| CeeDee Lamb | Puka Nacua📈 | Deebo Samuel |
| DJ Moore📈 | Chris Olave📈 | Courtland Sutton |
| Michael Pittman Jr. | ||
| Calvin Ridley📈 | ||
| DeVonta Smith | ||
| Jaylen Waddle | ||
| Garrett Wilson |
Productive wide receivers are all over the NFL and the top of the depth chart will always read “WR1”, but only a handful of the 32 are dynamic game changing wide receivers. Since many of them will never reach that elite status, to me they qualify only as a “WR1.5”. They may sit atop the depth chart at their position but truly only make the impact of a WR2 caliber player. What do you think about the current state of the wide receiver position in the NFL and who did I misplace in my tiers? Please use the comment section below to discuss.
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