6 Must-Draft Wide Receivers for 2024 – Fantasy Advice
In just a few days the long-awaited 2024 fantasy football season will finally kick off. Some of you still have last-minute drafts coming up this weekend, and maybe even next week. As we roll into Labor Day Weekend, the busiest fantasy draft weekend, I would like to present you with my 6 must-draft fantasy football wide receivers. If you have wrapped all of your drafts for the season you will want to keep your eyes on these players. Possibly construct a trade offer for one of them. If you already drafted them then congratulations!
6 Must-Draft Wide Receivers for 2024 Fantasy Football
There are three main strategies that we tend to follow when going into our fantasy football drafts… “Zero RB,” “Hero RB,” and “RB/RB.” No matter what strategy you decide to utilize, it is important to realize the vast depth at wide receiver this year. There is Week 1 startable wideout gold from the first round to the 11th round of fantasy drafts this year. Let’s discuss.
Deebo Samuel – San Francisco 49ers
ADP14.8 – WR14
Deebo Samuel is a YAC monster averaging 9.5 career yards after contact. Head Coach Kyle Shanahan has turned Samuel into a part-time running back. He may have only caught for 892 yards and seven touchdowns in 2023. However, he ran for 225 yards and five rushing touchdowns. Overall, that’s good for 1,117 total yards and 12 total touchdowns.
The 2022 season wasn’t fantastic for Samuel after being injured for essentially four games. However, he still managed 864 all-purpose yards. In 2021, Samuel put up 1,770 total yards and 14 touchdowns. Notably, this would put him as WR2 overall in half PPR leagues. Only a historic season from Cooper Kupp kept Samuel from the top spot that year.
Furthermore, the Brandon Aiyuk saga is over. He is staying in San Francisco. Ultimately, that is a good thing for Samuel and his fantasy football outlook. Aiyuk and Christian McCaffery‘s presence will keep defenses honest, and spread thin. Aiyuk missed the entire preseason, and we have seen how long it can take for those guys to get back into the swing of things. Samuel may be a “boom or bust” wide receiver, but those booms are unclear. Those booms will break your league-mates will to carry on.
Nico Collins – Houston Texans
ADP29 – WR13
You do not win your league in the draft. However, snagging Nico Collins at the end of the second round, or the start of the third could put you well on your way to the ship. We saw Collins’s 55.6% catch rate increase to 72.2% while averaging 16.1 yards per reception last year. That is better than both Justin Jefferson and A.J. Brown.
C.J. Stroud shows promise to be a legitimate top quarterback in the NFL. There may be a lot of mouths to feed in the Houston Texans wide receiver room. There were just as many, albeit, not as large mouths for Stroud to feed in 2023. Ultimately, Collins still thrived.
In the end, I am not worried about Stefon Diggs flushing Collins out of top wide receiver status this year. From what we’ve seen in recent years, he looks to be on the decline.
DeVonta Smith – Philadelphia Eagles
ADP43.6 – WR23
Yes, there is a notable increase in DeVonta Smith‘s usage when one of Dallas Goedert, or A.J. Brown are not on the field. Smith still has stand-alone value as your wide receiver two, or even three where he is being drafted. Over the past two years, Smith has caught for over 1,000 yards and scored seven touchdowns.
Furthermore, when Dallas Goedert was injured in 2022, both Smith and Brown finished the season in the top 10. In the past, either Smith had a good fantasy week, or Brown did. We rarely had a week when both of them went off.
Enter Kellen Moore who was able to keep Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup’s fantasy relevant in 2019 He also Cooper and CeeDee Lamb relevant in 2020. Moore brings with him a more complex offense that will actually utilize presnap motion to keep defenses on their toes. Finally, he has also mentioned wanting to get Smith more involved out of the slot. More importantly, that is where this fourth-year wide receiver thrives.
Calvin Ridley – Tennessee Titans
ADP32.6 – WR33
In 2023 fantasy football drafters around the world were all hyped for the return of the 2020 WR5, Calvin Ridley. I was one of them. Personally, I was all in on Ridley’s superior talent. I was more than happy to draft him as one of the top 50 potential fantasy producers, and the overall wide receiver 14. It made sense given his athletic prowess and history of dominance in the air. Unfortunately, some things don’t work out.
The Jacksonville Jaguars had struggled to nail down an alpha receiver since moving off of Allen Robinson in 2018. After Week 1 all of our predictions looked like they were coming true. Ridley caught eight of his 11 targets for 101 yards and a touchdown. He finished Week 1 as the WR6. Little did we know Ridley would never reach that pinnacle again except for Week 11 when he finished as the WR1.
On the surface, it looks like 2023 was a fantasy-bust year for Ridley. This is technically true. We drafted Ridley as the wide receiver 14, and he finished as the wide receiver 18. However, as Pro Football Network points out, Ridley was one of only 10 players with more than 75 or more catches, and eight or more touchdowns on the season. Ridley also caught over 1,000 yards last year.
We now find him in a Tennessee Titans office that believes in and wants to mold their sophomore quarterback Will Levis. The Titans brought Ridley in as a talented safety net for the yet-to-be-polished Levis. Ridley’s ability to create space between him and defenders coupled with Levis’s big arm should be a match made in heaven. This year Ridley is being drafted at his fantasy floor which is where you want to be taking players.
Terry McLaurin – Washington Commanders
ADP31.6 – WR31
We’ve all heard the jokes of Terry McLaurin wasting away like a Bugatti in a carport. Even he has shined light on his frustrations last year, “I ran a lot of cardio today…yeah it’s frustrating,” expressed McLaurin after the Washington Commanders lost to the Miami Dolphins. This was a game where McLaurin ran 100% of the snaps and was targeted twice. According to Player Profiler, McLaurin boasts a 40-yard dash in the 98th percentile. Additionally, a speed score in the 96th. Finally, a catch radius in the 77th percentile. They targeted him TWICE!
Notably, McLaurin has a yearly career average of 1,570 air yards and only 4.5 touchdowns since 2021. Who were his quarterbacks during this time? I am happy you asked. Since McLaurin was drafted by the Commanders in 2019 he has had the following slalom of quarterbacks: Case Keenum, Dwayne Haskins, Colt McCoy, Alex Smith, Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Carson Wentz, Sam Howell, and Garrett Gilbert.
With the second overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Commanders drafted quarterback Jayden Daniels out of LSU. In his Heisman-winning year, Daniels threw for 3,811 yards at a clip of 11.5 yards per attempt. He would throw 40 touchdowns and only four interceptions, earning him a PFF passing grade of 92, and an overall offensive grade of 94.7.
Khalil Shakir – Buffalo Bills
ADP133.4 – WR50
Next Gen Stats ranked Khalil Shakir third in yards over expected after catch with an average of seven yards after the catch. He ranked tenth among wide receivers in yards per reception while catching 86.7% of his targets. A clear standout in camp this summer, Shakir now finds himself in a wide receiver room where he is the only familiar face for quarterback Josh Allen.
Our very own Michael Hauff (@TheFFRealist) has stamped Shakir as the best 11th-round player you will draft this year. Personally, I stand with him on that. Ten toes down! The best part is the investment. Someone, please explain to me how, according to Fantasypros ADP, drafters are passing on Shakir for a DST? He is practically free in drafts and only has Curtis Samuel and the rookie Keon Coleman as competition.
The majority of the fantasy population is sleeping on Shakir. Let them sleep. Don’t hesitate to grab Shakir late in your fantasy football drafts this year.
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