Sean Koerner — Fantasy Pros’ 4x Most Accurate Fantasy Football Ranker — breaks down his 2024 Best Ball WR rankings and tiers.
We’re in the heat of the summer, the 2024 NFL schedule is out, and training camp is right around the corner, so it’s time to start making my initial fantasy football rankings and projections for each position.
In this article, I’ll dive into my current Best Ball WR rankings and tiers for Best Ball sites like Underdog Fantasy, DraftKings, and Drafters.
Following my Tier 1 breakdown, you can find a 2023 BBPA (Best Ball Points Added) chart for all wide receivers, including how often they finished inside the top-12, top-30 and top-45. This is a cool, and hopefully helpful, way to see each wide receiver’s floor/ceiling profile from last season as you prepare to draft your 2024 Best Ball teams. You can also read more about Best Ball Points Added, a fantasy football metric that highlights high-variance fantasy football values specifically for Best Ball formats.
Editor’s note: Use the Underog promo code LABS to get a deposit bonus of up to $250 for your Best Ball fantasy football drafts.
Fantasy Football WR Rankings, Tiers
Tier 1
- CeeDee Lamb
- Tyreek Hill
- Ja’Marr Chase
- Amon-Ra St. Brown
- Justin Jefferson
Tyreek Hill and CeeDee Lamb are essentially “Tier 1a” and should be the first two wide receivers off the board, but Chase, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jefferson are elite WR1 options that would be ideal picks in the 1st round considering how critical it is to attack the receiver position at all levels of the draft.
Justin Jefferson is still arguably the best receiver in the league, but there is a chance his production will drop off a bit in the post-Kirk Cousins era. In five games without Cousins under center and a combo of Josh Dobbs/Jaren Hall/Nick Mullens throwing him the ball, Jefferson averaged 8.9 BBPA per game, which would have ranked 4th on the season. His Week 18 30-point eruption came when TJ Hockenson was out of the lineup, so there is a chance that with Jordan Addison/TJ Hockenson in the lineup and a drop-off in QB play, Jefferson may settle in as more of a mid-range WR1 rather than the WR1 overall caliber of fantasy asset we’ve seen to date.
Tier 2
- A.J. Brown
- Garrett Wilson
- Puka Nacua
Garrett Wilson finished as the WR31 in overall points, but just WR35 in BBPA and 43rd in BBPA. His lack of spiked weeks (6% top-12 rate, T61) was underwhelming considering his ADP last season, but we can chalk it up to Aaron Rodgers’ season-ending injury on the Jets’ very first drive. Assuming Rodgers stays healthy this time around, Wilson still has the upside to be a top-10 WR.
WR is a deep position and one you will want to target at all levels of the draft. Considering there is a pretty big dropoff before a MASSIVE Tier 3, you will ideally draft at least one WR before this tier is off the board.
Tier 3
- Mike Evans
- Davante Adams
- Drake London
- Chris Olave
- Brandon Aiyuk
- DeVonta Smith
- Cooper Kupp
- D.K. Metcalf
- Marvin Harrison Jr.
- Stefon Diggs
- Deebo Samuel
- Nico Collins
- Michael Pittman Jr.
- D.J. Moore
- Jaylen Waddle
Whenever you have a tier this massive, you will find a few players that are typically going off the board much later the draft, offering solid value if you are to land them closer to their ADP. Those players from this tier are Mike Evans, DeVonta Smith, and Cooper Kupp.
Mike Evans is showing no signs of slowing down and finished as the WR8 in BBPA/g last season. I’m not sure why his ADP is currently sitting at WR17 but it makes perfect sense to target him there.
DeVonta Smith offers the spiked weeks we want in Best Ball (11th in top-12 rate) while offering a solid weekly floor (5th in top-45 rate). He’s a solid target at his ADP of WR17.
Cooper Kupp looks to bounce back from a down year, where he was never truly at full strength. Puka Nacua is clearly the new alpha in the Rams passing attack, but that might allow Kupp more single coverage and an opportunity to return to fantasy football prominence in 2024. He’s still more than capable of offering spiked weeks as the team’s #2 option (15th in top-12 rate).
When it comes to a tier like this, you typically don’t want to be reaching for players. Use it as an opportunity to attack other positions instead. The luxury of knowing you can land 1-2 players a round or two later with a similar projection makes this a tier that I let the draft dictate which players “fall” to me later on.
Tier 4
- Amari Cooper
- Tee Higgins
- Zay Flowers
- Jayden Reed
- George Pickens
- Tank Dell
- Malik Nabers
- Christian Kirk
- DeAndre Hopkins
- Chris Godwin
- Terry McLaurin
Jayden Reed and DeAndre Hopkins are being drafted a bit lower than their rank here, so targeting them around their ADP would be optimal picks.
Jayden Reed ranked 25th in BBPA/g last season despite having his playing time capped as a strict slot receiver. I imagine the Packers scheme up ways to get him on the field more this season, especially with designed rush attempts. I’m sticking with my “Discount Deebo” nickname for Reed.
DeAndre Hopkins is starting to slow down and will be 32 years old when the 2024 season kicks off. However, the Titans offense will likely be much more pass heavy in the post-Derrick Henry era and the market seems to be failing to account for that with his ADP sitting at WR41.
Malik Nabers will likely establish himself as one of the better receivers in the game, possibly as early as his rookie season. However, I don’t love the landing spot as Daniel Jones and the lack of ancillary pass-catching threats could actually lower his ceiling a bit. His ADP is too steep at WR19, but he’s the type of player you will want to reach for on occasion. You don’t want to entirely fade Nabers, in case he does have an outlier rookie season that becomes huge for Best Ball teams.
Tier 5
- Calvin Ridley
- Keenan Allen
- Jordan Addison
- Diontae Johnson
Keenan Allen ranked 3rd in BBPA/g last season but enters a situation with some uncertainty as he will be playing with a rookie quarterback and competing for targets with DJ Moore and Rome Odunze. I think his ADP is about right as a mid-range WR3 option.
This is a mini-tier that serves as a nice safety net if you don’t have 3-4 WRs once Tier 4 is off the board. You really want to have at least 3-4 WRs before this tier is finished ecause the position does start to be taken at a faster rate here.
Tier 6
- Tyler Lockett
- Brandin Cooks
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba
- Courtland Sutton
- Ladd McConkey
- Marquise Brown
- Xavier Worthy
- Rashee Rice
- Mike Williams
- Brian Thomas Jr.
- Rome Odunze
- Keon Coleman
Tyler Lockett and Brandin Cooks can be drafted much later, making them solid value plays. Both of their best seasons are likely behind them, making them fairly boring picks at this stage in their career, but they’re still capable of providing value at ADP.
Marquise Brown, Xavier Worthy, and Rashee Rice‘s rankings will be very volatile as we await to see if Rice will be suspended at all this season due to his legal woes.
Rome Odunze is the best rookie WR in this tier, but Ladd McConkey is one of my favorite rookie WRs to draft based on ADP. He landed in the perfect situation with the Chargers as they need to find a way to replace Keenan Allen/Mike Williams/Austin Ekeler targets with all three players on new teams. McConkey seems the most likely WR to absorb Keenan Allen’s targets as he’s a capable slot receiver but he also has the speed to win downfield, making him a great fit with Justin Herbert who is an excellent downfield passer. I’m willing to reach on McConkey a bit because I want above-average exposure to him in my 2024 Best Ball drafts.
Tier 7
- Christian Watson
- Jameson Williams
- Rashid Shaheed
- Jerry Jeudy
- Jakobi Meyers
- Romeo Doubs
Christian Watson, Jameson Williams, and Rashid Shaheed get a boost in Best Ball formats because they are volatile receivers who offer a low floor/high ceiling weekly profile. However, in Best Ball you don’t need to try to figure out when they will have spiked weeks.
Tier 8
- Josh Palmer
- Curtis Samuel
- Adam Thielen
- Darnell Mooney
- Gabe Davis
- Demario Douglas
- Josh Downs
- Adonai Mitchell
- Khalil Shakir
- Quentin Johnston
- Dontayvion Wicks
- Wan’Dale Robinson
- Demarcus Robinson
Adam Thielen, Darnell Mooney, and Demario Douglas all show a bit of value using my rankings vs. ADP. However, my favorite target from this tier is Demarcus Robinson. Robinson came on late for the Rams and wasn’t a full-time player until Week 12. From Week 12 on, he averaged 5.7 BBPA/g which would have ranked 19th on the season. The Rams offense has supported three fantasy viable WRs in the past and with Tyler Higbee’s Week 1 status up in the air, they may lean on their WRs even more early in the season. Robinson is an excellent target at this point in the draft.
Tier 9
- Kendrick Bourne
- Michael Wilson
- Jahan Dotson
- Rondale Moore
- Xavier Legette
- Jermaine Burton
- Rashod Bateman
- Marvin Mims
- Roman Wilson
Marvin Harrison Jr. landing in Arizona is generating a ton of buzz, and rightfully so, he’s one of the better WR prospects we’ve seen — ever. However, Michael Wilson flashed his big play ability as a rookie and could be the perfect compliment to an alpha WR like Harrison Jr. Opposing defenses will have to focus on slowing down both Harrison and Trey McBride, which I think will actually help open up more big plays for Wilson. He should offer enough spiked weeks to be targeted in this range.
Tier 10
- Elijah Moore
- Jalen Tolbert
- Ja’Lynn Polk
- Odell Beckham Jr.
- Greg Dortch
- Darius Slayton
- Trey Palmer
Trey Palmer established himself as the Bucs’ no. 3 wide receiver in his rookie season. However, his upside was capped considering both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin were healthy for all 17 games. It’s unlikely both WRs manage to play all 17 games again, which means we should see some weeks where Palmer steps up as the no. 2 WR, offering more spike week potential. He’s a fairly sneaky flier in this range.
Tier 11
- Malachi Corley
- Luke McCaffrey
- Josh Reynolds
- Jalin Hyatt
- Troy Franklin
- D.J. Chark
- Ricky Pearsall
This is the range in my WR rankings where there are far more questions than answers when it comes to their projections. Over the next several weeks, when we get the start of training camp and preseason action, we will get a much better sense as to which WRs to target outside of the top 80. I’ll be sure to update my projections accordingly and highlight which WRs are shaping up to potentially be late-round values. In the meantime, this is more of a rough idea as to where I have my initial projections.
Tier 12
- Van Jefferson
- Kalif Raymond
- Michael Gallup
- Tyler Boyd
Tier 13
- Jalen McMillan
- Michael Thomas
- Tutu Atwell
- Jonathan Mingo
- Andrei Iosivas
- Nelson Agholor
- Calvin Austin III
- Treylon Burks
- Parris Campbell
- Donovan Peoples-Jones
- Tim Patrick
Tier 14
- A.T. Perry
- Brandon Powell
- Javon Baker
- Zay Jones
- Marquez Valdes-Scantling
