Last year, the fantasy football world was flipped on its head. For years, Zero and Hero RB were the predominant strategy. We had more split backfields than ever, with running backs still suffering injuries at a higher rate. Then 2024 came around and pulled the ole switcheroo. We saw elite wide receivers get hurt at a higher rate than ever. And running backs, even the older ones like Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley, stayed healthy and destroyed leagues.

That has led to a bit of an ADP shift in 2025. Elite running backs are going earlier with more “Robust RB” drafters. And that’s led to a significant discount on wide receivers. It’s easier than ever to build an elite wide receiver group. But, as always, their ADP is crucial in deciding where and when to strike. 

Fantasy Football ADP: 2025 Wide Receivers

I’ve already shared my Target Totem Pole, predicting the target pecking orders for these teams. And my color-coded rankings are available in the Dynamic Tier Rankings.  Wyatt Bertelone has us covered for the Best Late Round WR Options. In this article, I’m going round by round to let you know who we love, who we like, and who we might be fading. 

What Does ADP Stand For In Fantasy Football?

For those who may be new to fantasy football, ADP in fantasy football means “Average Draft Position”. It serves as a valuable tool for fantasy enthusiasts, indicating where a player is typically selected in various drafts. Luckily for you, we have a Composite ADP Tool that pulls data from six of the top current platforms in the industry. We’ll be referencing the industry average in this article, but you can also use that to look at the specific site you play on to get an edge!

Now let’s dig into the current ADPs for wide receivers in 2025 and lay out our approach for attaching this position. 

WR ADP 2025 Tiers: Round 1 Wide Receivers

I can picture your faces right now, seeing Justin Jefferson and Amon-Ra St. Brown listed as “fades”. 

But we have to consider how ADP truly works. It’s not that we hate these players. They are great. But Justin Jefferson currently goes as the WR2 in ADP. I rank CeeDee Lamb ahead because he has more certainty - he’s playing with Dak Prescott still, who routinely feeds him 150+ targets. Lamb had the WR3 season all-time in fantasy under those conditions. Jefferson has Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson to deal with, along with a complete unknown at QB in Justin Jefferson. And, if you rank Lamb over Jefferson, you will only get Jefferson in leagues where Lamb goes first. We’d happily take him as the WR3 if that happens, but these are the hairs you have to split at the top.

With Amon-Ra St. Brown, he’s a full PPR star, but I do worry that the Lions don’t need to throw as much as they used to with their run game and defense. Plus, the other weapons like Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta are ascending. ARSB is also in the most likely position where I can take an RB at the end of the first and maybe get him at the start of the second.

The other options give me that safety and certainty that makes me feel comfortable. Ja'Marr Chase is my 1.01. Puka Nacua and Davante Adams can likely both thrive in that scheme. And Malik Nabers is the clear number one with a quarterback upgrade this year, one way or another.  No one in this round is a full “do not draft” fade, but you can only pick one.

WR ADP 2025 Tiers: Round 2 Wide Receivers

Again, we’ll start by addressing the “fade”. There are no full-on fades this early in a fantasy draft. You take the best guy available while you build your team. By the nature of ADP, our ranking A.J. Brown over Drake London makes us less likely to have him, but we’d still love to have him.

Nico Collins and A.J. Brown are simply the two guys who have shown superstar seasons in this league. Collins is the clear best option for C.J. Stroud as Brown is for Jalen Hurts, two premier quarterbacks. The Eagles were dead last in the league in pass attempts, and Brown was a guy you still felt great about having in your lineup every week - he’s that good. 

The upside of Brian Thomas Jr in a Liam Coen pass attack makes him too appealing to pass on as well, but if you are hesitant about Trevor Lawrence, as our own Howard Bender is, maybe you don’t go there. That leaves London as the guy we rank fourth in this crowd. He has as much upside as anyone and could easily be a top-five option this year if Michael Penix is a stud, but we KNOW Jalen Hurts is a stud - with Penix, we are still hoping. Like we said, this range of the draft, we are splitting hairs, and I’d happily have any of them.

WR ADP 2025 Tiers: Round 3 Wide Receivers

Ladd McConkey proved to be a fantasy stud as a rookie, and he’s clearly the best option on that team for Justin Herbert. In full PPR, he’s a guy I’ll take in the second round as his ADP of 25 puts him right at the swing. 

Tee Higgins, Tyreek Hill, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba go back to back to back in ADP. Obviously, Higgins and Hill have big upside. Some might fade them for injury concerns, but that’s not something we really do here. Our choice of JSN over them is mostly based on the scheme that Klint Kubiak runs. We wrote about it in full here, but the short and sweet is that the scheme with a fullback and blocking tight end highly consolidates the targets among the top two guys, which is great for JSN and even Cooper Kupp. The Seahawks moved on from Geno Smith to bring in Darnold, a guy who got MVP votes last year, so JSN could be in line for a big year.

Garrett Wilson is our first true fade of this article. Howard Bender is in on Wilson, so you can go with his take if you’d like. But I’m simply terrified about the passing ability of Justin Fields. If you look at sportsbooks like BetMGM, every QB has an over/under passing yard total that is over 3,000, except Justin Fields. And Fields is down closer to 2,500. That’s basically a prediction that he will fail. Too risky at this high of an ADP for me. 

WR ADP 2025 Tiers: Round 4 Wide Receivers

I love this tier of WR. I did a full film study on Marvin Harrison Jr, explaining in full with stats and clips why I’m in on him, so we don’t need to go crazy there. Rashee Rice looks healthy and is unlikely to be suspended, so he should honestly be going in the second or third round, given his targets in the back half of 2023 and first half of 2024. And, in Sean McVay’s scheme, BOTH Davante Adams and Puka Nacua could thrive. I’ll also quietly say now that there is no guarantee that Nacua gets more targets over the veteran Adams, a guy who has averaged 10 targets a game for five straight years. Adams doesn’t need to get more targets than Nacua to be worth his ADP, but it could be closer between those two than some people think.

Terry McLaurin is definitely a little better in half PPR or standard than PPR - he did a lot of damage on only 117 targets in 17 games last year. Mike Evans is still a stud, but there were some signs of him slowing down a bit last year, even before the injuries. The team now has Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan, and Cade Otton, so they might not lean so heavily on him. I wouldn’t bet against him getting his 1,000 yards, but I just see more upside in the other options.

One comment has been stuck in my head all off-season regarding DJ Moore. A reporter asked him last month about setting goals for this season, and here’s what he had to say. 

"I don't even know if I'm going to touch the ball as much as I did some years or if I'm going to be used the same way," Moore said, declining to give out specific numbers. "So I mean, I just go from there.”

If he said that before the meetings and camps, and practices started, that would be one thing. But Ben Johnson was named the head coach back in January. DJ Moore should have a good idea of what they want to do. And he’s pouring cold whatever on himself for fantasy football, kind of the way Miles Sanders did back when Jalen Hurts was with the Eagles. There’s already enough uncertainty there with the new offense, young QB, and a bunch of new weapons that I just don’t find myself clicking that button. 

WR ADP 2025 Tiers: Round 5 Wide Receivers

If you start heavy at RB, there’s still a good combination of safety and upside available in this round. Courtland Sutton and Zay Flowers are the top targets for quarterbacks we like. But DeVonta Smith is the one I like best. This is a super highly consolidated offense, and similar arguments can be made for Smith that we make for A.J. Brown. Things went exactly perfect for the Eagles last year, which led to such low passing volume, yet A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith were still relevant. This year, with a regression towards more normal volume, both players could be great picks at ADP.

The DK Metcalf pick inevitably boils down to how you feel about Aaron Rodgers. Arthur Smith has a run-heavy offense, and he loves to rotate guys, but Drake London gets play 81% of the snaps on average in that top chair for his 2023 Falcons. That’s not nearly as good as what you get from normal offenses, but if you believe in Aaron Rodgers, who was 8th in completions, yards, and TDs last year, then Metcalf could be in line for big targets.

Xavier Worthy is the one I’m not super interested in. This was supposed to be more of a boom/bust field stretcher with game-breaking speed. Injuries to Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice forced him into a role with more targets despite being a rookie, and… he didn’t really wow us. He didn’t have a game with more than 80 receiving yards. With those guys healthy and Travis Kelce still there, he’s going to need to hit some big shots this year. One saving grace for him is that they like scheming him up some carries, but it’s hard to rely on that outside of best ball. 

WR ADP 2025 Tiers: Round 6 Wide Receivers

Round 6 is really where we start having to choose between “safety” and “upside”. We’re also getting close to the point where we might be willing to reach outside of this round in terms of ADP. Early on in drafts, ADP is pretty tight, but at a certain point, it goes out the window.

My favorite of the upside plays here is the rookie Tetairoa McMillan. He’s the best pure wide receiver in this class and the most deserving of his first-round draft capital. He also landed on a team where he’s clearly the best pass-catcher on the team. Yes, Marvin Harrison Jr was in a similar position last year and disappointed, but he only disappointed people because he was going in the second round. Tet goes in the sixth round as the WR29, and if he were to have 62 catches for 885 yards and 8 TDs, finishing as the WR30 like MHJ just did, he’d actually be delivering on his ADP. And we think he could do better than that.

Our favorite “safe” play is Jaylen Waddle. The Dolphins use a fullback and blocking tight end, which highly consolidates the targets among the top two WRs, the tight end, and the running backs. Waddle was banged up last year, so a healthy season could see him back on top. We don’t mind George Pickens at ADP here either, as he should easily be the second target for a pass-heavy Cowboys team.

The other high-risk, high-reward guys are Jameson Williams and Travis Hunter. Like Xavier Worthy, Jameson Williams could be a boom/bust field-stretching option that gets some extra points from carries. That, to me, is better in best ball than managed leagues. Travis Hunter has intriguing upside, but there’s a unique risk with him that his usage as a two-way player could limit his snaps on offense. I can’t imagine they spend the whole year with Dyami Brown operating ahead of him, but he is still a fairly raw prospect as a receiver, so I don’t find myself clicking the button much here unless he slides. There are guys going in the seventh round that I like better. In fact, I don’t mind passing on most of the WRs in the 6th round for the next group. 

WR ADP 2025 Tiers: Round 7 Wide Receivers

Chris Godwin was the WR2 overall in PPR behind only Ja'Marr Chase last year when an injury cut his season short. He suffered a dislocated ankle, which he had surgery on, and is expected to make a full recovery. The Buccaneers were confident enough in his recovery that they gave him a new three-year extension in March that has zero caveats related to the ankle. They committed $44 million guaranteed as part of that deal. So I’m not really concerned with the battle between Emeka Egbuka and Jalen McMillan to be the WR3 for this team - the power slot player in Godwin is so important to the offense that it makes sense to have a backup/future option in Egbuka. Godwin himself needs to wait until Year 3 for a full-time role before breaking out, and I expect Egbuka to be on a similar trajectory. Meanwhile, I’m getting a guy in Chris Godwin in the 7th round at a WR33 price who was the WR2 overall last year when healthy? Perhaps the easiest WR draft pick in fantasy.

Calvin Ridley and Jerry Jeudy are both the clear top targets on their team - the question is about quarterback play. I lean towards Ridley here as the knocks on Cameron Ward as a QB are essentially that he takes too many risks, plays hero ball, and throws it up for grabs. I don’t really care if the Titans win games - that sounds pretty good to me for fantasy. Guys like Jameis Winston, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Jay Cutler had similar criticisms, but we never complained about their WRs in fantasy football.

The one concern with Jerry Jeudy is that the Browns could be terrible and start rotating quarterbacks down the stretch. If Joe Flacco can start the whole year, that would be great, but Jeudy could struggle if they go full clown car at QB at the end of the year once again. Vegas has its over/under set at 4.5. I’m still willing to take the risk on him and also Chris Olave at the right price. They are both clear top targets regardless of who the QB is.

I’m a bit torn on Rome Odunze. I did a full study on his first year, like the one I did on Marvin Harrison I actually like the player, but as the article points out in great detail, his role was not conducive to success. I have a suspicion he could be in the Jameson Williams role in Ben Johnson’s offense, which could once again make him an inconsistent field-stretcher. So I’m not going crazy trying to acquire him. Jordan Addison is kind of off my board at ADP because it’s pretty crowded with Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson, and him. We’ve actually only ever seen all three players on the field for more than 75% of the snaps in ONE game, and we’ve never seen them with JJ McCarthy, so it feels like too much risk for not a lot of reward.

WR ADP 2025 Tiers: Round 8-10 Wide Receivers

We have now entered the range where ADP does not matter as much - just get your guys. The bet on Stefon Diggs is simple. If he’s healthy, he should be Drake Maye’s favorite target. He was on pace for ~100 RECEPTIONS last year before he got hurt. For Cooper Kupp, the scheme benefits that we discussed with Jaxon Smith-Njigba also apply to him. And Michael Pittman is currently my favorite wide receiver to target at ADP, as we detailed in this full write-up here.

All three 49ers wide receivers go in this range. This team uses the fullback and blocking tight ends heavily, which means they use a lot of two WR sets, which leaves one guy on the back burner. With Brandon Aiyuk set to miss time, he could be the part-time guy when he returns. If he does take his full role back, that would likely come at the expense of Ricky Pearsall. That leaves Jauan Jennings as the only player I’m interested in, as I think he could be a full-time guy from start to finish. 

No Packers wide receiver has really taken charge the last few years and emerged as the alpha so it’s intriguing to be on the first round Matthew Golden showing up and being a stud. Darnell Mooney should be a full-time guy opposite Drake London, competing with Kyle Pitts for targets. Josh Downs is not a full-time player, but his analytics are great, so there is hope that he can get more snaps. I’m not taking him until Michael Pittman is off the board, though.

Deebo Samuel needs his new team to throw him the ball more, as he hasn’t gotten six targets per game since 2022. He does get some carries, which is appealing in best ball. Jayden Reed and Khalil Shakir are part-time slot guys who don’t play in two WR sets, which caps their upside. And the Raiders might not be a top-five team in pass attempts again in 2025, which has me concerned for the upside of Jakobi Meyers. He got a LOT of targets last year and was really just okay. 

WR ADP 2025 Tiers: Round 11-13 Wide Receivers

In this range, I only care about upside. I want guys who can outright be a top two target on their team. I’m not in the business of stashing guys who are the third or fourth target on their team, waiting for an injury - it’s hard enough to pick the right handcuff RBs. Emeka Egbuka is a good player, and I love having him in dynasty, but he needs one of Mike Evans or Chris Godwin to get hurt. Luther Burden could also be a part-time guy as a rookie competing with DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland, and Cole Kmet. 

If I’m fading Xavier Worthy because I like Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce, then I’m obviously also fading Hollywood Brown. Christian Kirk isn’t a terrible bet because there is some uncertainty after Nico Collins, but I like the idea of Jayden Higgins as the other full-time guy opposite Collins, so I’m going with him over Kirk. Kirk might actually end up getting pushed for snaps in the slot by rookie Jaylen Noel. 

When you look at the Bills' depth chart, Keon Coleman offers the most unknown upside. He’s actually built to play split end and be a full-time guy, unlike Khalil Shakir, who primarily just plays the slot. Tre Harris could immediately be the split end for the Chargers as well, with Ladd McConkey in his slot/flanker role. And Rashid Shaheed, assuming he’s healthy, will likely be the DeVonta Smith to Chris Olave’s AJ Brown in Kellen Moore’s offense. The quarterback play could be dicey, which is what puts him towards the end of that group for me.

WR ADP 2025 Tiers: Late-Round Wide Receiver Targets

Wyatt Bertolone did a full write-up on Late Round Wide Receivers, so I encourage you to pop over there and take a look. Here are some of the guys I like that are going outside the top 13 rounds. 

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