With the teeth of draft season just around the corner, it’s a good time to get the Shuffle Up series going. This week, I’ll offer my player tiers for the four major positions in fantasy football. Consider them as you get ready for your drafts, or self-scout the teams you’ve already assembled. The quarterback and running back boards went up earlier this week; today, we handle the wideouts. Friday will be the tight end day.
What matters is how the players relate to one another, where the talent clusters and where it drops off. Players at the same salary are considered even.
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Before you step into your draft room, examine your league settings closely — especially the WR requirements. If your league mandates three or more starters at this position, I want you to attack the pool aggressively — bully the wideouts. I want your WR room to be the envy of your entire league. If your pool requires just two wideouts on a weekly basis, it’s probably better to focus on your RB room first.
Tier 1: The Big Tickets
Chase is my No. 1 overall player and, obviously, I have plenty of company there. It’s a good time to be Chase — he’s coming off a triple-crown win, he’s tied to an elite QB in Joe Burrow, the Bengals have one of the most narrow usage trees in the league and the Cincinnati defense looks bad again. Get your popcorn ready, weekly pinball appears likely.
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Jefferson has been a superstar with every QB the Vikings have paired him with, so why should life with J.J. McCarthy be any different? And let’s not treat McCarthy as some journeyman lottery ticket — he was a top recruit into Michigan and the 10th overall pick in the previous draft. Kevin O’Connell is one of the right answers when it comes to play design. Minnesota’s offense is a safe place to park your money.
The Rams haven’t unlocked Nacua as a touchdown scorer (just 10 in 31 career games, including the playoffs), and they had little success with Nacua around the goal last year. And now Davante Adams joins the offense, a player put on the Earth to score touchdowns. Nacua also has more injury risk than the average player — he missed six games last year, and all four of his college seasons were injury-riddled. I understand the upside of Nacua — if healthy, he has a fair chance to lead the league in receptions. But he’s currently commanding a top-10 pick in Yahoo leagues, and I won’t sign off on that.
The market gets nervous when someone like Ben Johnson leaves Detroit, but Jared Goff is a tenured quarterback in Detroit — he’s essentially a coordinator for this offensive unit. Goff isn’t going to forget what’s worked with St. Brown the last four years. The Sun God lost some volume last year but made up for it with a spike in his touchdown rate. But even if he regresses to the 2022 touchdown rate, we’re still talking about the WR9 here — a player with a very high floor.
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Tier 2: Legitimate Building Blocks
When Michael Penix Jr. took over for the final three games of 2024, he quickly focused on London as his primary read. London absorbed a ridiculous 39 targets over that period, en route to a 22-352-2 line. Falcons OC Zac Robinson was more comfortable with the play sheet at the end of the year, and Atlanta has a lot of reliable advantages for fantasy managers — an indoor-heavy schedule, narrow concentration of targets. I’ll be looking for London options in the second round all summer.
It took McConkey some time to figure out the pro game, and for the Chargers to figure him out. But things were cooking in the latter stages of the year — McConkey posted a 45-657-3 line over his final seven games in the regular season (that tracks to 109 catches and almost 1,600 yards in a full season), and then detonated for a 9-197-1 line in the playoff loss to Houston. The genie is out of the bottle. McConkey’s current Yahoo ADP is outside the top-20 overall, a screaming buying opportunity.
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Kyler Murray didn’t make great use of Harrison or Trey McBride last year — Harrison didn’t see a lot of layup targets, while McBride’s touchdown count was laughably low. Murray at times struggles to see over-the-middle throws, a nod to his limited size. And it’s not like Murray got any taller in the offseason. I understand all the scouting praise thrown at Harrison before last season and I respect that the Cardinals will be trying to unlock their most dynamic receiver in Year 2. But maybe this is as good as it gets with Murray, and it caps Harrison’s upside. I can’t draft MHJ proactively into the fresh season.
Has the cheese gone bad on Hill? He didn’t have a 30-yard reception after Week 1, a shocking stat. Obviously Miami had to retool the offense to the limitations of Tua Tagovailoa, but I don’t see what’s different with Tua going forward. The offensive line could also be a problem — this isn’t a unit that encourages deep drops and long-developing routes. Hill wanted out of Miami when the season ended, then walked it all back with some reflection time. But I worry that if Miami gets off to a poor start in 2025, Hill could go off the reservation again. I won’t be targeting Hill in his age-31 season.
Tier 3: Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down
Ridley is no longer an exciting fantasy player entering his age-31 season. But he’s also the best target in the Tennessee receiver room, and now that the Titans have a credible QB starter in Cam Ward, Ridley could be an interesting value play. Ridley currently holds an affordable sticker price of WR32, something he can easily beat in a healthy season. This is also a show of faith in play designer Brian Callahan, who knew how to utilize Ridley last year.
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The Buccaneers can’t be that worried about Godwin’s return from ankle surgery — they gave him a three-year deal in March, after all. But the team also isn’t guaranteeing that Godwin will be ready to play Week 1. The Yahoo draft market has kept Godwin in the top 80, which might be optimistic given the crowding in this passing game — Evans is still here, Emeka Egbuka was drafted in the first round and Jalen McMillan had moments in his rookie season. It’s also worth noting that Godwin has not been a dynamic touchdown scorer with Baker Mayfield, spiking a modest seven times over their 24 games together. Unless the draft price comes down, I’ll be avoiding Godwin in August.
As bad as the Cleveland QB room looked last year, it’s certainly not improved this season — and could easily be worse. Jeudy has never shown the traits of a consistent touchdown scorer and at times, he shies from physical contact. I also suspect the Browns will try to win ugly this year, turning every game into a rock fight; they’ll try to win 13-10, focusing on defense and the running game. Jeudy’s cheap ADP obviously is tempting, but I’m likely to resist it.
Tier 4: Some Plausible Upside
Occam’s Razor carries the day with Kupp — he’s entering his age-32 season and he’s missed 18 games in the last three years. Now he’s on a new team, ostensibly as the team’s No. 2 target. I’d rather be a year early than a year late. Player development isn’t always linear, but player decline almost always is.
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I toyed with ranking Downs earlier — it’s the Indianapolis QB room that gave me pause. But he’s a splash play waiting to happen. Downs was especially explosive last year when Joe Flacco played, and it’s plausible that Daniel Jones — for all of his flaws — represents an upgrade over Flacco. But if Anthony Richardson Sr. has to play for the Colts for any extended period of time, all bets are off.