When looking forward to the 2025 fantasy football season, the position that often brings the most intrigue to most fans is the Wide Receiver position. When we think about this position, I often break them down into archetypes. This week, let’s take a look at some of the guys who don’t offer a ton, but still have a space on fantasy football rosters.

 

 


 

What Defines A Boom-or-Bust Wide Receiver?

Much like the name implies, these are wide receivers who will either win you a week or put up a dud. These players still have a place in fantasy, but how can we identify these players before drafts? It’s pretty simple, honestly, as we’ve previously discussed how aDOT and Target Share are fairly sticky stats. Players in this archetype typically hover between 15 and 18 percent target shares, and they often have aDOTs over 11 yards down the field. While these players receive high-value targets, they struggle to truly earn elite levels of targets.

Jordan Addison is a prime example of a player who falls into this category, especially in his rookie season. Addison debuted in 2023 with an 18.1 percent target share and an aDOT of 12.5, which led to his rookie season of 13 PPR PPG. While his performance was more consistent than most in this category of player, it becomes clear when you notice that in this season, he had two weeks as the WR1 overall, but had just as many weeks outside the top 100 receivers. While in 2024, he received a higher target share at just over 21 percent, his performance was arguably even more boom-bust than the year prior, with just 4 weeks inside the top 20 WRs and 5 weeks outside the top 50. While this player clearly can fill a position in your starting line-up, it’s important not to over-invest in these players.

 

 

 

Draft Strategies and Top Boom-Bust Wide Receiver Targets

When it comes to this type of player, I typically don’t want these players to be any more than my wide receiver 3 or a flex option for my team. While you can invest more heavily than I do, you need to ensure that you have extremely high floors from the remainder of your players if that is your plan of attack. Typically, I want to secure some elite high-end players before even entertaining this tier of WR. Some players who I do like in this tier exist, though.

Jameson Williams, WR, Detroit Lions

This is probably the first season I’m in on Jameson Williams at cost. Jamo has shown that he’s a more capable wide receiver than I gave him credit for, and last season put up over 1000 yards and recorded 7 touchdowns on just an 18.9 percent target share. While this offense will likely look very different in 2025 with the departure of Ben Johnson, Jamo has clearly earned a bigger role on this team, and their recent trade of Tim Patrick to the Jacksonville Jaguars opens up even more chances for Jamo to shine, especially at his WR25 ADP.

George Pickens, WR Dallas Cowboys

Pickens is another player whom I haven’t ever been a huge fan of, but I love his potential in this Dallas offense. While his target share jumped in Pittsburgh last season to 26.5 percent, I expect him to fall back into the 16-20 percent target share he had in the years prior with CeeDee Lamb, Jake Ferguson, Jalen Tolbert, and the running backs in this offense being higher octane options than he had prior. Pickens has still been able to hover around 1,000 yards each season, and if the TDs click for him in this offense, he can smash his WR30 ADP. 

Calvin Ridley, WR Tennessee Titans

Ridley is another player who I’m finally interested in again after years of fading the talent. Coming off the board this season at WR28, Ridley presents a great boom potential with rookie QB Cameron Ward at the helm for the team this season. Ridley will likely see his target share stay the same as last season, where it hovered around 23 percent for most of the season, but I do expect his aDOT to drop for the 15.7 yards he recorded last season with Will Levis at the helm. 

 

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