Yes, we’re all very excited for first-round picks like Ashton Jeanty, Tyler Warren, and Emeka Egbuka. Those guys should get an opportunity right away, given where they were drafted. But they also come at a premium price at any level of your fantasy football drafts. You’re paying up for access to the unknown upside that comes with rookies.

Every once in a while, however, we have a rookie that comes from the depths of the NFL industrial scouting process to surprise us. Guys like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Kyren Williams, or Puka Nacua. Heck, even undrafted players like Adam Thielen and Austin Ekeler can surprise us. And those guys are naturally much cheaper to acquire. 

Best Late Round NFL Draft WRs & UDFA Wide Receivers 

Whether you play redraft, best ball, or dynasty, you’ll at least want to have potential deep sleepers on your radar. So, with preseason games winding down, roster cuts looming, and the season on the horizon, I figured it’s time we put together a list of “names to know” from the deeper parts of the draft and rookie free agency. Here are some names of wide receivers to keep an eye on that were either drafted on Day 3 of the NFL Draft (4th round or later) or were signed as undrafted free agents following the draft. We’ve got six names you need to know and six more honorable mentions (because we’re sickos like that). The odds for these guys to breakout this year naturally aren’t that great, but you never know - the next Puka Nacua could be on here!

 

 

 

Tory Horton, Seattle Seahawks

Despite being a 5th round pick, which usually have pretty tough hit rates, the drumbeat continues to grow for Tory Horton. In fact, he’s been operating ahead of fellow field-stretching veteran Marques Valdes-Scantling at times, and many are projecting him to finish ahead of him on the depth chart. Considering that MVS had the leg up as he operated in this scheme for Klint Kubiak in New Orleans last year, that would be quite the feat.

Horton may have gone earlier in the draft if it were not for injury concerns coming out of Colorado State. But he actually did manage to get healthy in time for the combine, where he ran a 4.41 at 6’3”, nearly 200 pounds. That had analysts excited for the next step for him, including Matt Harmon of Reception Perception, who was quoted saying he’s the “best true sleeper of this class”. 

Klint Kubiak’s offense uses a fullback and blocking tight ends, which is not good news for the WR3. But it does highly consolidate the targets among the top two WRs. Right now, that’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp, but one injury or issue with one of them, and now Horton is in one of those top two chairs where there’s a lot of upside in fantasy land. Horton needs to be on your radar, even if he’s just on the watch list. 

Isaiah Bond, Cleveland Browns

Let’s be realistic about some of the breakouts that have either been undrafted or from the later rounds - most of them slid for a reason other than on-field talent. We wrote an article back in 2022 digging into it, along with the hit rates. Most of the top guys didn’t slide because teams didn’t think they were good. 

For example, Antonio Brown and Stefon Diggs had pretty well-documented character concerns. Pierre Garcon played Division 3 football. Julian Edelman didn’t even play WR in college - he played QB. And we all know why Tyreek Hill slid.

If not for character issues, Isaiah Bond might have been a Day 2 pick. He was a good enough prospect that he played for both Alabama and Texas in the SEC. He had a pending case for sexual assault during the draft that was recently dismissed. The Browns turned around and gave him a three-year, $3 million deal that is unprecedented for an undrafted rookie. That’s the kind of situation that should absolutely catch our attention for fantasy football.

 

 


 

Dont’e Thornton Jr, Las Vegas Raiders

Thornton is technically a Day Three pick, but, as the 6th pick of the fourth round, he was one of the earliest players to go.  He spent his college career at Oregon and Tennessee, where he didn’t put up gaudy catch totals, but it’s what he did with those catches that was impressive. Despite only having 65 total catches in college and never more than 26 in a season, he racked up 1,426 yards, which is a crazy 21.9 yards per catch. He also scored 10 TDs on those receptions. 

What makes Thornton’s situation unique is that he lands on a team that has plenty of slot/flankers in guys like Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker, and the newly drafted Jack Bech, but they don’t have an obvious split end. At 6’5”, 200+ poundsThornton impressed folks at the combine when he ran a 4.30 forty-yard dash. That speed at that height and weight is a literal 100th percentile speed score per Player Profiler.
 

On the Raiders' first unofficial depth chart, Thornton was listed as a starter along with Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker. He’s continued to impress through camp, further solidifying the possibility that he holds down that spot. The question now is what happens in games when the Raiders go with two tight ends in Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer. Will it be Thornton across from Jakobi Meyers in two WR sets or Tre Tucker?

Elic Ayomanor, Tennessee Titans

Elic Ayomanor was a Day Three pick selected in the compensatory picks following the fourth round. It is worth noting that the Tennessee Titans traded back up into that position with the Baltimore Ravens to get Ayomanor, so they did make him a priority of sorts in that round.

Ayomanor was productive in his two seasons at Stanford with a decent breakout age and a big 30% college target share, per Player Profiler. At 6’2, 206 with a 4.44 forty yard dash, he has the size to potentially play an outside role at the NFL level if given he chance.

And that’s one of the most appealing things for Ayomanor - the chance he has. After Calvin Ridley, the Tennessee Titans don’t really have a clear-cut WR2. His competition is an aging Tyler Lockett, a journeyman in Van Jefferson, and fellow rookies like Chimere Dike and Xavier Restrepo. Like Ayomonar, all of those players I just mentioned are brand new to the team, so the competition for that WR2 chair is wide open. If Ayomanor gets it, he could quickly become a favorite target for rookie QB Cam Ward. 

 

 


 

Jalen Royals, Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs knew that a suspension for Rashee Rice was nearly a certainty. And, after missing him for virtually all of 2024 with an ACL tear, they wanted to make sure they had options ready to go. Last year, they essentially played field-stretcher Xavier Worthy out of position in Rice’s role. This year, the best option to fill in for Rice might be Jalen Royals.

Royals is 6’0” 205 with a 4.42 forty, while Rice is 6’0, 200 with a 4.51 forty. Royals had an impressive college career, including an insane four-game stretch in his final year at Utah State, where he amassed 666 yards and 5 touchdowns on 40 catches. Now in his early preseason work, he’s played a role similar to what Rice usually plays, which has included a couple of the signature wide receiver screens that the Chiefs love.

Royals is currently dealing with a little knee tendonitis, which could keep him sidelined for a little while. The intriguing part of the Rashee Rice saga is that it now seems he will play the first four games or so of the season while they wait for his next hearing. Word is that the league is pushing for an unprecedented suspension length that could be upwards of double-digit games, meaning that the Royals could find himself in a key role in one of the league’s best offenses for an important chunk of the NFL season.  

Efton Chism, New England Patriots

The Patriots have been known for finding certain kinds of players. Namely, the unheralded scrappy lunch pail guy that comes out of nowhere to play a key role. And Efton Chism is that exact kind of guy, according to Patriots executive Eliot Wolf.

Meeting with your position coach early in the morning isn’t enough to make the team, though. You have to make things happen on the field. And that’s what Chism has been doing. Drake Maye joked that “Chis had like 50 catches in OTAs” in spring practices. Now he’s come out in the first two preseason games, catching 6 passes for 50 and a touchdown, then 6 passes for 71 and a touchdown. That easily leads the team this summer.

It’s no secret that the Patriots have been one of the worst teams at drafting wide receivers. In the entire league. That’s partially why they’ve needed to scrounge for castoffs from other teams and undrafted guys. This team isn’t exactly loaded at the position as is and if Chism can make the team, he might be able to carve out a role. Here’s the list of wide receivers drafted by the Patriots over the last 15 years, sorted by PPR points, per Pro Football Reference. It’s somehow worse than I imagined.


 

 

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Beaux Collins, New York Giants - After Malik Nabers, the Giants don’t necessarily have an insurmountable depth chart. After catching a classic Russell Wilson moon ball for an 80-yard touchdown against the Jets in preseason, people are starting to take notice. Collins played for both Clemson and Notre Dame in college, so he’s coming from some big-time programs and could make the final roster in New York. 

Darius Cooper, Philadelphia Eagles - The reigning champs have their key weapons locked up with AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, and Dallas Goedert. But that WR3 spot isn’t super sturdy with Jahan Dotson being the incumbent option. Johnny Wilson was just carted off with an injury recently, so he may be out of the running. The Eagles traded for John Metchie over the weekend, so Cooper is competing with him and Ainis Smith for a roster spot. He’s made some noise in camp, so it will be interesting to see what happens. 

Jaylin Lane, Washington Commanders- Like most of these guys, the former Virginia Tech Hokie has an uphill battle. He first needs to make the team before we can even consider him. But he’s been turning heads in camp. And, as of now, Terry McLaurin is still not signed. Washington is pretty thin at WR after McLaurin and Deebo Samuel, and Jayden Daniels is an exciting young QB, so we want access to some sort of connection to him, especially in dynasty. Daniels will be hitting his passing prime when guys like McLaurin and Deebo are gone.

Jimmy Horn Jr, Carolina Panthers - We want to look towards these thin depth charts for upside plays. And the Carolina Panthers definitely have some question marks. An aging Adam Thielen, a rookie Tet McMillan, Xavier Legette coming off a disappointing year, and another UDFA in Jalen Coker are the guys. Some even speculate that the Panthers could break from tradition and keep more WRs than usual, given the issues at the position. And Horn could be a beneficiary of that. 

Isaac TeSlaa, Detroit Lions - TeSlaa is actually a third-round pick, but we are sneaking him on here. When the back-to-back NFL Executive of the Year, Brad Holmes, says a player is his “favorite in the draft,” we take notice. I thought TeSlaa would operate as a backup to Amon-Ra St. Brown, but he’s actually taken 80 snaps out wide with only 17 in the slot this preseason, suggesting that he might be able to push Tim Patrick for snaps.

KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Los Angeles Chargers - The re-addition of Keenan Allen has made things crowded in Los Angeles. Yet the WR pecking order oddly still seems pretty fluid behind Ladd McConkey with an older Allen, a rookie Tre Harris, and a polarizing Quenton Johnston. The guy they call KLS keeps turning head in camp and that could earny him a roster spot as a fifth round pick. More of a dynasty stash than anything but definitely a name to know.

Nick Nash, Atlanta Falcons - (EDIT - Nick Nash has been released) The converted quarterback had a long and interesting journey at San Jose State, but put up crazy numbers in his final season with 104 catches for 1,382 yards and 16 touchdowns. That earned him a look with the Atlanta Falcons, who already released DJ Chark, one of his key competitors. If he makes the team, it’s likely as a backup to Drake London, but a guy who caught 100 balls in a single college season is one we need to know